Linda Head of Nutrition and Dietetic Services "I manage and develop dietetic services for Birmingham Primary Care Trusts (PCT)."

Linda works in a health centre with other health professionals. She's based in Birmingham, one of the biggest cities in the UK.

In very broad terms, what do you do?

I manage a team of about 50 people divided into specialist teams:paediatric, primary care, nutrition support, Food Net, and administration. Birmingham's community service is the biggest in the UK so in some ways mine isn't a typical job.

You spend a lot of time in the office?

About a quarter of my time. I also work with other colleagues and I do a couple of clinics a week, which keeps me in touch.

Where do patients for your clinics come from?

Usually they're referred by GPs, for a variety of reasons – diabetes, cardiovascular disease, food allergies or intolerances, irritable bowel syndrome... or they may be overweight or obese.

Obesity is a growing problem?

It is. At present one out of five children is thought to be obese and over 70% of men are overweight.

What things might come up in a day?

I'm responsible for overseeing policies and strategies and developing services. Like Food Net for instance; this is an initiative to encourage health promotion through healthy eating.

We carry out research here too. This might be what we call action research, for instance we're experimenting to see whether it's better to see newly diagnosed people with diabetes one-to-one or in small groups. Or it might be a 'big idea'; we have developed a tool for screening people to determine whether they are at risk of undernutrition – over 90% of Birmingham's district nurses use this tool which is excellent. We now need to validate this tool against a newly developed national tool to show that it's as good. For something like this I might need to find funds and even appoint someone to carry out the research.

We have a 'dream' to become a centre of excellence in community nutrition research. Part of my role is to help the team bring their research into day to day work.

Do you interview people?

With a large team like this we have a regular turn-over of staff; I'm involved in recruiting new staff.

Is it a good job?

Yes, marvellous. The variety for a start. I like the feeling of being able to make things happen and being respected as a specialist. There's nothing I really hate. Sometimes the increasing demands on your time can be difficult. And managing people, personnel management – that can be challenging at times.

I recently added another part to my job too. I became a member of the Professional Executive Committee of the East Birmingham PCT.

The Professional Executive Committee is the real engine within PCTs isn't it?

It shows that Allied Health Professionals can play key roles in developing ideas within the NHS.

How did you get to where you are?

I qualified in 1989 and worked in health hydros for a couple of years. Then I decided I wanted to work in the NHS so I worked in a hospital (most dietitians work in hospitals for a time.) In '93 I started working as a community dietitian.

Have you got as far as you can go now?

No. I could progress to manage a bigger team of therapists – this could include people like occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Or I could become a Consultant Dietitian – these are new posts being created. We are developing one in obesity. Consultants work in four areas – clinical practice, research, education and training (inside and outside the profession) and strategy.

What's the best bit?

No two days are the same.