Any dieticians out there?

[MtnBikeChick]

I am considering a career change into Dietetics. This is something I have long been interested in, particularly the public health aspects. I have researched the courses available and I am looking at starting a FT BSC (4 years) in Sept 2017. I am slightly confused about the changes the government has made to funding for these courses. I understand the NHS will no longer pay the fees but that there will be tuition payable but loans available.
Does anyone know the ins and outs of this?

I currently work FT in my existing career. I have two children. By the time the course starts they will be age 4 and 7 and both at school. I will have a live in nanny who does the before and after school and extra full days in holidays. I am hoping the study will be do-able on this basis as I know other parents manage to study with a lot less help than this (I know I am lucky).

Can anyone advise?

Thank you

I've been a dietitian for over 15 years and apologies but I'm not sure what the current funding arrangements are. Have you checked the British Dieteic Association website? Where in the UK are you?

There are 3 placements in hospital/community setting. These may not be anywhere close to home although uni's always prioritise parents to be as near home as possible and you do get to specify where you'd like to go. The work required during this time is very full on as you'll be training full time which is exhausting and have a lot of placement paperwork and projects to complete. Sometimes the most difficult thing is actually getting feedback from someone who could be significantly younger than yourself!! However I always find that mature students get the communication aspects of the job a lot quicker than just out of school students, which makes the rest of the training much easier.

New junior(band 5) permanent positions can be difficult to find but if you are willing to travel a little and take short term contracts often getting your foot in the door makes getting a job easier. Initially you would probably start work in a hospital, some posts would have some health promotion aspects to it but pure public health dietetic posts are quite rare and people would generally have a lot of experience before gaining one of these positions.

As with a lot of jobs in the NHS morale can be quite low at present but I love my job it can be stressful, upsetting, demoralising but when you help a patient or family during a difficult time it is also very rewarding.

Good luck