Position overview

The Community Care Nutrition service sits within the Division of Rehabilitation, Aged and Community Services (RACS) within Canberra Health Services. RACS is a vibrant and diverse Division within Canberra Health Services providing multidisciplinary rehabilitation, aged and community-based care across a range of settings.

Community Care Nutrition provides exceptional personalised patient care to adults living in the community across the ACT through health centre clinic appointments, telehealth, and home visits. We are a team of dedicated and highly skilled Dietitians, Nutrition Allied Health Assistants and Administrative Support staff. The team provides nutrition assessment and interventions for a wide range of health conditions including home enteral nutrition; chronic kidney disease; malnutrition; avoidant restrictive food intake disorder; gastrointestinal; and chronic disease. Community Care Nutrition provides services for National Disability Insurance Scheme participants.

The Community Care Nutrition team is committed to the delivery of health services that reflect Canberra Health Service values: Reliable, Progressive, Respectful and Kind. We work collaboratively with other professionals and community workers to help our patients remove psychosocial barriers to achieve optimal nutrition.  We provide a supportive environment for staff to build and advance their clinical skills through providing clinical supervision and professional development. We are a high performing team that is engaged in continuous quality improvement and research. Staff wellbeing is a high priority, as part of the Community Care Nutrition team staff contribute to maintaining an inclusive team environment through active listening, showing empathy, and understanding towards each other and our patients.

Key Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Under limited direction of the Community Care Nutrition manager and indirect supervision of Dietitians within the team, Allied Health Assistants perform a range of responsibilities.

1. Provide safe, effective direct nutrition clinical care to patients under indirect or remote supervision. Care may be delivered in clinics, via telehealth or within a client’s home and may be individual or group based. Accurate and timely feedback to professionals regarding clinical care and client progress is required.
2. Undertake clinical tasks that are moderately complex and require problem solving, identifying circumstances that require additional input from Dietitians including indication for referral and suggesting appropriate interventions.
3. Contribute to a range of indirect clinical activities including but not limited to:
   • Organise oral nutrition supplement and home enteral nutrition product registrations as directed by the Dietitian.
   • Monitor stores and equipment inventories.
   • Liaise with nutrition companies for team professional development activities and product samples.
   • Assist with administrative tasks according to departmental policies and procedures.
4. Contribute to the evaluation of clinical processes and service delivery to ensure effective, safe and high-quality client care.
5. Organise and prioritise workload, set priorities as delegated by the Dietitian and actively manage identified complications according to departmental policies and procedures, consult when new issues are encountered before acting.
6. Contribute to patient clinical record according to CHS policy and procedures and the Territory Records Act 2002.
7. Assist the team with orientation, supervision, and training of AHA students, AHAs (all levels), Dietitians and work experience trainees including familiarisation to the AHA role.
8. Actively participate in clinical supervision, ongoing professional development, and performance framework activities.
9. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

Competencies

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following.

• Clinical practice: Ability to apply general nutrition principles in the provision of nutrition service delivery to health consumers.
• Communication and interpersonal skills: Effective communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with a range of stakeholders and provide health information targeted to the needs of clients and carers.
• Teamwork: Effective collaboration within and across teams and with external stakeholders to provide coordinated client centred care. Adaptability and flexibility to accommodate change and provide responsive services to meet client needs.
• Organisational skills: Displays strong organisational skills, self-motivation, and high levels of initiative.
• Safety and quality: Displays commitment to safety and quality principles in the practice of nutrition and dietetics.
• Continuous professional development: Shows commitment to continuing professional education, clinical supervision, reflective practice, and the performance framework activities.
• Ethical and legal practice: Demonstrates ethical and legal practice requirements in line with organisational standards and policies.
• Scope of practice: Demonstrates professional conduct and works within scope of practice.

Qualifications

Specific qualifications include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance or tertiary qualifications in Nutrition.
• Current Driver Licence.

Desirable

• For Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance completion of Nutrition units is desirable.
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.

Experience

Specific experience include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• A minimum of 3 years’ experience working professionally in a related/ relevant organisation/service.
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework and all other related frameworks.

Desirable

• N/A

Please note prior to commencement successful candidates will be required to:

• Undergo a pre-employment National Police Check.
• Current registration issued under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 is required.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.
• Comply with CHS credentialing and scope of clinical practice requirements for allied health professionals.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing the required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Proven high level knowledge and skills to deliver nutrition allied health assistance within scope of practice in community settings, under indirect supervision of a Dietitian.
2. High level verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, demonstrated by the ability to communicate effectively with a wider range of people including patients, carers, and staff in an interdisciplinary team environment to ensure effective clinical outcomes.
3. Demonstrated high-level organisational skills, including an ability to plan, set and prioritise competing workloads and maintain service stores.
4. An understanding of, or experience in, engaging in activities designed to ensure the provision of safe and high-quality service provision.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.