Maternity Support Worker

Job overview

Full & Part Time Posts available

We are seeking a motivated individuals to join our dynamic team of Nursing and Medical Staff at Whiston Hospital Maternity Department.

Previous experience working within a Maternity Department is essential for this role, and the successful candidate will have the ability to work independently; undertaking tasks, whilst remaining under the supervision of midwives.

The post holder will assist in providing 5 star patient care and support to antenatal/postnatal women and their babies, phlebotomy, breastfeeding support and advice, and maintenance of essential equipment.

Working as a Maternity Support Worker enables you to gain exposure to a wide range of skills and offers extensive scope for professional development under the supervision of midwives. The Trust provides an extensive range of in-house training and support in on-going professional development, with potential access to further opportunities.

An Enhanced DBS with barred lists for both Adults & Children is required for this post

Interview date - 05-Nov-24

Please note this vacancy may close early due to sufficient amount of applications.

Main duties of the job

• To help and support midwives in providing a high standard of care to women, their partners and babies, before, during and after birth.
• To work as a member of the ward/community team and assist colleagues with the care of women and their babies as directed.
• Provide care for a group of pregnant women or mothers and babies – documenting care and reporting findings to the midwife
• Provide consistent evidence based support and information in relation to Infant Feeding, following the Unicef Standards. Have a good working knowledge of services offered within the local area such as drop- in clinics, Breast feeding support groups.
• Provide parent education on a one to one or to small groups offering up to date advice to parents on safety issues such as reducing cot death, room temperature, positioning and bed sharing.
• Report any suspicions of abuse or domestic violence to the midwife or other health professional involved, eg; GP or health visitor.
• To maintain confidentiality and act professionally at all times
• To acknowledge limitations of competence and not accept responsibility for work outside the scope of the role.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• To help and support midwives in providing a high standard of care to women, their partners and babies, before, during and after birth.
• To work as a member of the ward/community team and assist colleagues with the care of women and their babies as directed.
• Provide care for a group of pregnant women or mothers and babies – documenting care and reporting findings to the midwife
• Provide consistent evidence based support and information in relation to Infant Feeding, following the Unicef Standards. Have a good working knowledge of services offered within the local area such as drop- in clinics, Breast feeding support groups.
• Provide parent education on a one to one or to small groups offering up to date advice to parents on safety issues such as reducing cot death, room temperature, positioning and bed sharing.
• Report any suspicions of abuse or domestic violence to the midwife or other health professional involved, eg; GP or health visitor.
• To maintain confidentiality and act professionally at all times
• To acknowledge limitations of competence and not accept responsibility for work outside the scope of the role.

CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To assist midwives with the provision of antenatal care by doing basic observations on women, recording the results of the observations correctly and informing the midwife of the findings.
• Be able to perform phlebotomy, urinalysis
• Following training, undertake neonatal blood spot screening advising mothers of the reason for screening. You will be required to have an understanding of the   performance indictors relating blood spot screening.
• To undertake observations on the mother and baby, document and report the findings to the Midwife.
• Undertake observation on babies who have a care pathway, record your findings and report to the midwife
• Provide sound advice to post natal mothers in relation to bladder care, including the removal of catheters, following service guidelines.
• To report to the midwife any concerns regarding the health of the mother or baby.
• Following lone community visits demonstrates clear documentation of findings and advice given, reporting back to the midwife who has overall responsibility for the mother and baby.
• Report to the midwife any concerns/worries in relation to parenting issues.
• Assist midwives in emergency situations, e.g. fetch equipment and telephone for urgent help, either through the hospital switchboard system or by calling an ambulance if in the community setting.
• If required be able to perform basic adult and neonatal life support competently until qualified help arrives.
• To assist in maintaining the safety of the environment and equipment for patients and colleagues.
• When working in the community setting is aware of the lone worker policy and safety issues pertaining to working alone.
• To check and maintain equipment used in dept/ward after appropriate training and to ensure all used equipment is decontaminated and sent to appropriate department as per Hospital policy.

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Respond courteously to women, relatives, visitors and others with whom they come in to contact in the course of their duties.
• To contribute to effective communication between all members of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Take an active role in meetings and be part of working parties that are relevant to the job role, in order to help facilitate changes in practice.
• To maintain accurate, legible and legally substantive records of all care given and countersigned by a registered midwife / nurse. (electronic and paper)
• To assist midwives with the entering of data onto the Electronic Patient Records System.
• Assist the Housekeeper / HCA’s in maintaining stock requirements for the team/department.

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES

• All employees have a duty and a responsibility to protect and safeguard children and vulnerable adults. You must have an excellent working knowledge of local safeguarding children and vulnerable adult procedures and act in accordance of these at all times.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

• To satisfactorily complete Band 3 competency based training programme
• Maintain competency and identify own development needs and using the annual appraisal system agree a personal development plan with the appraiser.
• To engage with on-going training and development needs identified at annual appraisal
• Participate in providing induction training and support to new and existing Maternity Support Workers

INFECTION CONTROL

• In accordance with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the post holder will actively participate in the prevention and control of infection within the capacity of their role.  The Act requires the post holder to attend infection prevention and control training on induction and at regular updates and to take responsibility for the practical application of the training in the course of their work.  Infection prevention and control must be included in any personal development plan and/or appraisal.

INFORMATION GOVERNANCE

• This includes Patient Confidentiality, IT Security, Data Protection and Freedom of Information
• You are required to respect the confidentiality of all patients, carers and staff, by not sharing any information (including data) obtained during the course of your duties. You have an obligation to report any noncompliance through the Trusts Incident Reporting process.

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• To consider cost improvement ideas and share these with the Ward Manager / Matron
• Utilise resources and supplies effectively and economically, reporting deficiencies to the Matron

RESEARCH & AUDIT

• To participate in research and audit topics as directed that would improve the service to women and enable learning to be shared.