Care Coordinator | Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

The post holder will support the Lead Care Coordinator and the neonatal units across the designated Local Maternity & Neonatal System (LMNS) and Integrated Care System (ICS) on behalf of the London Neonatal Operational Delivery Network to implement Family Integrated Care (FiCare) initiatives, meeting the aims and key deliverables of the Neonatal Critical Care Review (NCCR) 2019, as per the Long Term Plan (2019) commitment.

The main focus will be to implement a strategy to improve and enhance family centred and integrated care (FiCare) in all neonatal units within the designated LMNS/ICS area. This will be achieved by developing and working with the London Parent Advisory Group, co-ordinating and linking with key staff to support their local work, fostering a culture where FiCare is embedded in everyday practice so that parents and families are at the heart of and fully involved in their baby’s care.

The role will also include assisting provider organisations with the improvement of accommodation, facilities and support available to parents and families during their baby’s in-patient stay, maximising the use of available funding for these purposes. This will help to standardise neonatal services across the network, as well as helping support parents in preparation for the transition to neonatal outreach and/or paediatric services.

The post holder will use expert knowledge and specialist clinical skills to carry out core duties and responsibilities on behalf of the London Neonatal Operational Delivery Network to enable the network to deliver and measure core objectives as defined within their service specification, achieve their network work plan and deliver on the requirements set out for Care Coordinators.

The key aim of this role is to work across a designated LMNS/ICS to help ensure that parents and families who have sick/premature infants being cared for are supported in their journey through neonatal services. This will be achieved by supporting work streams designed to ensure opportunities for FiCare are maximised and a core philosophy established within each neonatal unit.

The London Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (ODN) is hosted by The Evelina London Children’s Hospital. The ODN is a disease specific operational delivery network mandated in 2014 by NHS England to improve outcomes for neonates in London. Around 14,000 babies born in London every year need specialist care. Despite the commitment and expertise of the London hospitals and neonatal health professionals, services are often over-stretched, operating at full capacity. In addition, London has the highest birth rate nationally and one of the most diverse and complex population groups in the UK.

These challenges present an opportunity to support organisations, clinicians and parents by providing access to specialist resources and expertise, coordinating patient pathways, and improving objective data and guidelines on best practice. With the support of NHS England (London), the Neonatal ODN aims to deliver innovative services across pathways of care and work in collaboration with service users and the voluntary sector to improve patient care and experience, and shape future neonatal services in the capital.

The post holder will:

• Promote a philosophy of family centred and family integrated care (FiCare) across the neonatal units of the designated LMNS/ICS, ensuring this is embedded in each neonatal unit.
• Work with local leads and be responsible for the development of enhanced FiCare, maximising parental involvement in the care of their baby during their inpatient stay.
• Deliver agreed network strategies to ensure neonatal staff have access to appropriate teaching and education focusing on FiCare.
• Work with Network Lead Care Coordinator and local clinical neonatal leadership to deliver unit based clinical priorities for enhancing and maximising family centred care and integrated care, for example improving opportunities for parent engagement in skin-to-skin and the promotion of breast feeding initiation and continuation rates, direct involvement in the care of their baby and the decision making process for these aims.
• Support the neonatal unit and wider midwifery teams to work towards achievement of the Bliss Baby Charter and or other initiatives and standards e.g. UNICEF Baby Friendly initiative.
• Work with the Lead Care Coordinator and Network Lead Nurse and local teams to align network-wide initiatives and collaboration to share and spread best practice.
• Support the development of appropriate network policy and guidance, particularly in relation to FiCare. Seek to align policy and guidance where possible across the LMNS/ICS, linking in with other Care Coordinators to standardise practice.
• Use available data from GIRFT® and local benchmarking to review accommodation, facilities, resources and support available to parents and families during their inpatient stay. Identify areas for improvement. Working with the Lead Care Coordinator identify possible sources of funding to enhance parent and family experience. Support the development of business cases or bid proposals.
• Collaborate with NHS England and the Neonatal ODN management team to ensure that neonatal patient experience and feedback is collected across the LMNS/ICS and fed into the appropriate channels so that it informs future service improvement.
• Promote the London Parent Advisory Group and support its ongoing development in providing a robust platform for co-production of local improvement plans. Link with the relevant Maternity Neonatal Voices Partnership (MVP).
• Signpost parents and families to existing appropriate parental support facilities. Establish links to a wide range of healthcare professionals, charities and other organisations who have a remit for this. Support the development of parental resources where necessary, aligning across the LMNS/ICS/Network where possible.
• Link with other Care Coordinators within the London Neonatal Operational Delivery Network, and nationally to ensure effective peer support within the role and to improve communication across the region and other established groups, such as the Network Lead Nurses forum and Data Managers group.
• Deliver in partnership with the wider ODN education team, training on family centred and integrated care to all levels as appropriate.
• Play a key and active role at regional Neonatal ODN level and provide regular and ad-hoc reports and data for the ODN executive groups on agreed priorities and remit of the role.