The BDA Education & Professional Practice team and Health Education England are engaging with the dietetic profession to support employers and dietitians in returning to practice. Nichola Williams spoke to Richard Coleman-Taylor about his experience of returning to practice.
Q. Richard, tell me about you and your background.
I’m based in Plymouth in the south-west of England. I graduated in 2007 and it was a time when there were very few jobs, if any. My wife graduated as a physiotherapist at the same time; she got a job in Somerset, and I followed. My career path started in healthcare, but it wasn’t dietetics. Two years after graduating I looked at opportunities in dietetics, but conversations were not very encouraging so I thought that career door had closed.
Q. When did you consider to returning to practice?
Approximately two years ago. There was such little information about return to practice at that time. On researching the process, it appeared I needed to spend thousands of pounds doing various courses and this option was out of reach. I needed options that wouldn’t cost me thousands and that would fit in with work and my life.
Q. What were the barriers in returning to practice?
Cost implications because of having a job – this was a limitation for me. I work full time and I have a family, so I couldn’t give up work for three months. Also, the number of hours I needed to return to practice. I considered studying using my annual leave to get the hours required for supervised practice but I was unable to secure a placement due to lack of staff in a dietetic department.
Q. What information did you need about returning to practice to make an informed decision?
For me it’s been quite a drawn-out process. I think the information is much better than it was two years ago, but it is still all over the place. For me there was a lot of back and forth, looking at different information from universities, the HCPC, the BDA website and the Health Education England website. It wasn’t a smooth process at all. It wasn’t until I spoke to Health Education England that I found out I could do a virtual placement at Coventry or Birmingham University. The course is free and structured, and it also covers the amount of practice hours required to register with the HCPC.
Q. Are there any positives about your experience of returning to practice so far?
Yes, the course at Coventry is flexible and I can still work full time, which is great. I plan to do an hour of study a day and a couple of hours at the weekend, which fits in with work and family commitments. It’s a structured course, which means I know what I am doing, and I feel really confident. I found the thought of self-directed study a difficult concept.
Q. Do you have any suggestions to help improve the returning to practice process?
Make it an easier process and clarify all the options available for returners. When your time is pressured, you just want to know this is the process, this is what I’ve got to do, this is the next step; I’ve done this, and this is what I need to do now. Knowing what support there was available would have been helpful.
Q. Do you have any future career ambitions for when you are registered?
I know that being HCPC registered opens many job opportunities – I’m really interested in public health and training
The BDA Education & Professional Practice team and Health Education England are engaging with dietitians and workplaces across the four nations to help raise awareness, for both returners and employers, of the benefits returners can bring to the profession and the workforce. The project plans to scope different options to return to practice, including HEI routes, and to develop and streamline resources to support returning to practice. As part of the Returning to Practice project we are looking to engage with returners and dietetic managers through surveys so we can undertake a review of the current return to practice processes across all four nations. We encourage dietetic managers and returners to contribute to the two surveys to help us identify and develop useful resources to support the current workforce and those looking to return to it. We plan to share the outcome of our findings with dietetic managers and returners on 1 March 2023 through a series of webinars.