Camden Baby Feeding Team Lead

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others. There’s a place for you at CNWL. We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people. We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you’re at, there’s always a place for you at CNWL.

To help your onboarding go smoothly, it’s essential that internal applicants:

• Use their NHS.net email address in their TRAC profile
• Ensure your application is marked to show that you are a current CNWL staff member

Applications using personal email addresses (e.g. Gmail or Yahoo) will not be recognised, and the process simply won’t work. There is also a charge to change new starter personal email addresses to their nhs.net email address.

Before you apply:

• Log into TRAC and update your email to your NHS.net address
• Check your application details and make sure you are identified as an internal applicant

This small step helps avoid major problems later.

Salary: £44,806 - £53,134 per annum pro rata inc HCAS

Closing: 30/06/2025 23:59

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who has knowledge and experience of providing breastfeeding / infant feeding peer support within an NHS setting. You will be leading an existing team consisting of Band 4 infant feeding peer support workers and a band 5 volunteer coordinator as well as liaising with Health Visiting and Early Years services. You will also be involved in wider promotion of breastfeeding in Camden and supporting the aims to maintain UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation.

The role will suit an individual with excellent organisational skills, as well as specialist knowledge of infant nutrition and peer support supervision experience. The role will also require ongoing service development, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Main duties of the job:

• Be the lead practitioner within the Camden Baby Feeding Team and provide line management and supervision for the Baby Feeding practitioners ensuring that a person-centred, strengths focused, compassionate and empowering care approach is maintained when delivering infant feeding support to families in Camden.
• Ensure effective partnership working with the Health Visiting and Early Years Services to achieve an integrated care approach, contributing to maintaining the UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation process.
• Ensure all Camden mothers referred into the service (including self-referrals) are offered infant feeding support using a person-centred, strengths-based, non-judgemental approach informed by experiential knowledge.
• Ensure that Camden Baby Feeding service provision continues to be offered to a high standard and is monitored against the required outcomes including face to face support either in home or group settings, individual telephone or video calls.
• Provide line management and facilitate supervision/reflective practice for the Baby Feeding practitioners.
• Hold regular team meetings to discuss operational matters and provide opportunity for feedback.
• Ensure documentation is accurate and up to date and monitor and promote high standards of documentation within the team.
• Carry out audit and evaluation of the service to inform quality and service improvement planning including supporting with Baby Friendly Initiative staff and mothers’ audits.
• Use Health Roster to manage the annual leave/study leave/sick leave of all team members in accordance with Trust policies and procedures, ensuring the service is covered and reporting shortfalls to manager as appropriate.
• Carry out appraisals and support team members effectively during personal development review process and enable them to meet their development objectives.
• Demonstrate effective delegation to areas of practice ensuring that delegation is accompanied by empowerment.
• Objectively analyse the work of individuals and the wider team using data driven tools such as performance reports, 6-8 week breastfeeding data and patient feedback data in order to provide clear, constructive feedback to the team in a manner most likely to maintain and improve performance.
• Oversee the Camden Baby Feeding Team Volunteer training programme, ensuring a high standard of training is delivered to volunteers.
• Support the Camden Baby Feeding Team Volunteer Coordinator with supervision and oversight of the Camden Baby Feeding Team Volunteers.
• Support recruitment and retention of new members of the Baby Feeding service team.
• Facilitate orientation, training and supervision for new members of staff.
• Work closely with the Community Infant feeding Coordinator to maintain the Baby Friendly Standards and ensure that all areas of the service adhere to the International Code of Breast Milk Substitutes.
• Work closely with the Health Visitors in Camden and update them on new initiatives or developments within the Camden Baby Feeding service.
• Work closely with Early Years services within Children Centres & Family Hubs, to promote high standards in infant feeding support across Camden.
• Liaise with Maternity services to oversee the attendance of the Baby Feeding Practitioners on the postnatal ward and promote the Camden Baby Feeding Service.
• Work closely with service user representatives, other partners and stakeholders, developing robust and effective working relationships.
• Analyse the feedback gathered from service users, partners and parent champions in order to plan and implement changes or improvements to service delivery that fit well with the wider Family Hubs programme.
• Attend the Start for Life and Family Hubs Transformation Group meetings.
• Attend the Infant Feeding and Early Nutrition steering group.
• Deliver infant feeding training sessions and co-facilitate the Baby Friendly 2 day training programme for Health Visiting and Early Years Staff.
• Provide regular updates at the Health Visiting Forum.
• Deliver infant feeding antenatal sessions as required in collaboration with the wider Early Years’ Service.
• Deputise for the Infant Feeding Coordinator to attend meetings as and when required.

Person specification:

• Educated to at least BTEC or equivalent in a healthcare related field.
• Qualification in Breastfeeding Peer Support from a recognised National Awarding Body, e.g. Breastfeeding Network Supporter, NCT Counsellor, or other equivalent Breastfeeding Support qualification.
• IBCLC qualification or is working towards the qualification.
• UNICEF Baby Friendly Breastfeeding and Early Relationship Building course.
• UNICEF train the trainer Training in Breastfeeding Peer Supporter Supervision.

• Extensive experience in an NHS hospital or community setting with service user contact.
• Substantial experience working or volunteering, paid or unpaid supporting parents with feeding their babies in a hospital, home and/or community setting.
• Knowledge of how breastfeeding works and how to support mothers effectively.
• Knowledge and understanding of the needs and difficulties of people experiencing challenges with Infant feeding.
• Knowledge of Baby Friendly Initiative standards for supporting all families however they are feeding their babies.
• Supervision and/or management experience.
• Experience of delivering training and/or presentations.
• Experience of service design and managing change.
• Experience of volunteer coordination.
• Experience of peer support supervision.
• Experience of conducting audit and service evaluation in order to improve the service.

• Ability to review a range of guidance and policy from multiple sources and analyse current systems of care within both Infant Feeding and Health Visiting against best practice.
• Ability to host and deliver online training for health professionals, peer supporters and volunteers.
• Strong organisational and time management skills, ability to prioritise workload and work to deadlines.
• Ability to maintain accurate records, collect data and produce reports.
• High level communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to support mothers to feed their babies using a non-judgemental, empathetic and person-centred approach.
• Ability to plan and develop infant feeding care plans and provide specialist infant feeding support.
• Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to provide clinical and non-clinical information in relation to sensitive or complex issues in a supportive manner.
• Ability to work across a variety of cultures, recognising and being sensitive to differing cultural norms and expectations.
• Excellent IT skills including experience of Microsoft Office applications.
• Ability to conduct data analysis.

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run. Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference.

We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff. We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible. Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period. If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.