Band 6 Infant Feeding Midwife in Walsall

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Walsall Manor Hospital is a busy district general hospital offering compete range of acute services. The Trust primarily serves the immediate population of Walsall with some patients requiring more specialised treatment at other, neighbouring Trusts. The Trust continues to invest in its facilities and services, supporting high-quality care for the communities it serves.

This role offers the opportunity to work within our integrated care model, contributing to high-quality services that help people remain independent in their own homes and communities.

We are committed to investing in our workforce and creating an environment where colleagues can learn, contribute and develop. Our new Urgent Emergency Care Centre, opened in March 2023, demonstrates our ongoing investment in facilities and services.

As an employee, you’ll benefit from an attractive salary and comprehensive benefits package (detailed in Employer Description above), plus access to NHS pension arrangements and staff accommodation where available.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is proud to be part of the Armed Forces Covenant, currently holding the Bronze Award, underlining our commitment to supporting the Armed Forces Community.

RESPECT – COMPASSION – TEAMWORK – PROFESSIONALISM

Job overview

The role of the Infant Feeding Midwife is to promote the uptake and duration of breastfeeding in accordance with Unicef Baby Friendly (BFI) Initiative Standards by ensuring the multidisciplinary team is appropriately educated, and mothers/parents are well informed and have access to skilled feeding support when required.

Main duties of the job

The role involves working autonomously to maintain the Standards of the Unicef Baby Friendly Stage 1 and preparing for achieving stage 2. This will require on-going staff training and regular auditing of staff practice, and the care mothers/parents receive. The post holder will have in depth knowledge and understanding of the Unicef Baby Friendly Standards for Maternity Services and the Audit process.

The Infant Feeding Midwife will be an experienced, competent practitioner who will take responsibility for ensuring the multi-professional team provide high quality evidenced based infant feeding support to pregnant women/individuals, mothers/parents and their babies. The post holder will provide visible support to staff and parents in the clinical areas to ensure the successful initiation and continuation of relationship building and breastfeeding.

Under the direction of the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife, the post holder will regularly assess, plan and implement specialist interventions for families experiencing urgent, complex or challenging infant feeding issues.

Together with the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife the post holder will take responsibility for the training and education of all health professionals within the Maternity Services and will share specialist knowledge with other groups and agencies.

Working for our organisation

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is an integrated Trust and the only provider of NHS acute care in Walsall, serving a population of 284,300. It provides inpatient and outpatient services at the Manor Hospital as well as a wide range of services in the community. Walsall Manor houses the full range of district general hospital services under one roof. The £170 million development was completed in 2010, and ongoing upgrades ensure the Trust now has state-of-the-art facilities, including a Critical Care Unit, Neonatal Unit, Obstetric Theatre, and Integrated Assessment Unit. A new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre, opened in March 2023, has significantly improved emergency care facilities and capacity, providing almost 5,000 square metres of additional clinical space.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL RESPONSBILITIES

To:

• monitor and maintain standards of care in accordance with the Trusts policies, Guidelines, Protocols and Professional Regulations
• actively participate in the promotion of breastfeeding and increasing the initiation and maintenance of breast feeding
• provide infant feeding support in line with the BFI Standards and WHT Infant Feeding Guidance
• obtain skills and knowledge to advise and support midwives, neonatal nurses, clinical support workers and volunteers with infant feeding in line with the BFI Standards
• ensure a high level of clinical visibility in the clinical areas, working alongside staff and supporting women
• ensure all Maternity staff are competent in supporting mothers/parents with positioning and attachment of the baby at the breast and assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of infant feeding
• have the skill to recognise feeding complications and deal with clinical problems in a safe and appropriate manner including making appropriate feeding plans
• provide support to women with complex feeding difficulties (following appropriate training)
• liaise with and advise members of the multidisciplinary team on the individual needs of mothers in relation to infant feeding and ensure that each mother has access to appropriate services
• make direct referrals to the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife, consultant obstetrician, paediatrician, safeguarding team as determined by the health needs of the mother and baby
• give information on accessing breastfeeding supporters/support groups when appropriate
• maintain accurate and contemporaneous clinical records using computer based clinical information system when appropriate
• identify and report any risk management issues, in accordance with trust procedures
• ensure timely referral of babies to the Tongue Tie clinic where tongue immobility is suspected to be contributing to feeding problems

MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Infant Feeding practitioner will:

• ensure that consistent care is provided throughout the maternity service in line with the BFI standards
• contribute to the creating and updating of evidenced based guidelines to support clinical practice and the BFI Standards
• assist to manage the BFI Audit programme, collate the information obtained and submit it to Unicef
• conduct Unicef BFI Audits of staff, mothers/parents, supplementation rates and the environment in all areas of the Maternity Service and ensure findings are discussed with the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife
• assist the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife in making Action Plans to achieve any BFI Standards which Audits indicate aren’t being met
• take responsibility for ensuring effective communication about relationship building and infant feeding with pregnant women/individuals and parents through approved social media platforms, including the Maternity Electronic Healthcare Record and visual displays in the Maternity Unit
• assist the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife with ordering, distributing and monitoring equipment and resources for infant feeding purposes
• ensure the safe working order of infant feeding equipment and teach and advise staff and families how to use equipment safely and appropriately following local guidelines and infection control policies
• assist in the training for the Volunteer Infant Feeding Children’s Champions programme
• liaise with Maternity staff to advise on changes to care plans
• provide regular feedback to staff on an individual basis with regards to compliance with BFI Standards through Practical Skills Reviews
• manage complaints sensitively and in accordance with Trust policy, referring to the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife and Maternity Service managers when appropriate.
• attend and contribute to BFI project meetings
• establish good communication/working relationships with multi-disciplinary agencies both internal and external to the department with the aim of providing a seamless service for women and their families

EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Infant Feeding practitioner will:

• participate in regular reviews of antenatal classes, ensuring they meet the needs of the women, partners and families attending and are consistent with the Baby Friendly Initiative Standards
• assist the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife with the review of infant feeding information available for staff and parents, ensuring all literature is based on the BFI standards and is available in languages appropriate to the local population
• take responsibility for maintaining and developing clinical skills and practices which enhance the role of the midwife and improve the care to the mother
• develop, deliver and monitor mandatory training programs for all staff involved with infant feeding
• fulfil the role of mentor to colleagues and student midwives by teaching, assessing and evaluating their skills and knowledge in relation to infant feeding
• advise and support clinical support workers in assisting mothers/individuals with their chosen method of feeding their babies, in accordance with the BFI standards
• advise and support the clinical support workers to demonstrate the principles of sterilisation, expressing breastmilk and safe preparation of formula milk
• apply evidence -based knowledge to practice
• update their own knowledge by continuing education and through personal and professional development

General Duties

• To provide short-term cover for colleagues during periods of leave.
• Undertake clinical shifts to fulfil the needs of the service at times of escalation.
• To maintain confidentiality at all times.
• To be fully aware of and adhere to the Trust’s Policies and Procedures.
• To ensure that all Trust standards are maintained and monitored to improve the quality of care to all whom come into contact with services provided by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
• Every employee has a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of him/herself and of other persons who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions at work, and to co-operate with the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust to ensure that statutory and Trust regulations are complied with.
• To participate in appraisals and personal reviews and work to achieve agreed set objectives.
• To participate in team, professional and personal development activities and promote commitment to continuous development and improvement.
• Ensure that all staff consciously review mistakes, complaints and incidents/near misses as well as successes to improve performance and the level of customer care.
• All employees will have an organisational and individual responsibility towards safeguarding vulnerable adults, young people and children. Where employees are working with children, young people and families they have a responsibility to cooperate in national safeguarding policy around early intervention activities appropriate to improving health outcomes.
• As a major provider of health care, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust operate a Smoke Free Policy by providing a totally smoke free environment to help aid patients’ recovery, promote health and wellbeing and minimize the risks of complications attributed to smoking tobacco and second hand smoke.
• Ensure that the Trust Smoke Free Policy is adhered to and that staff, patients and visitors are signposted to smoking cessation services.
• Identify any appropriate support or interventions for staff to support their wellbeing.
• To abide by Infection Prevention and Control policies relevant to their area of work, and undertake the necessary level of training. This will be appraised through the KSF review process or other relevant professional review process.
• To accept responsibility for the provision of effective infection prevention and control within the Trust in liaison with the Trust's Infection Control Team.
• To act as a role model in applying good infection control practice and ensure compliance with all Infection Control policies.

Other Duties

The information supplied above is intended to summarise the key responsibilities and duties of the role. The post holder may be required from time to time to carry out other reasonable requests and duties as required, consistent with the responsibilities of their Banding and development as agreed between employee and manager.

Job Design and Review

This job description may be subject to change in the future. Any proposed changes will normally be discussed fully with the post holder with the AfC job evaluation process applied and confirmed via the issue of an updated job description.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife - Degree level or equivalent
• UNICEF BFI Breastfeeding and Relationship Building Course or equivalent experience
• UNCEF BFI Train the Trainer Course/Recognised Teaching Qualification or equivalent experience
• Advanced Clinical Skills in Tongue Tie (Ankyloglossia) Management
• Solihull Approach training
• Counselling certificate/diploma

Knowledge and Experience

• Significant experience of working with parents and babies with feeding difficulties
• Training and presenting with groups and individuals
• Detailed knowledge of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Standards
• Ability to assess maternal and neonatal wellbeing and infant feeding and implement appropriate feeding management plans

Skills and Aptidtude

• Teaching/presentation skills
• Leadership and motivation skills
• Ability to motivate self and others

Other

• Ability to work both on own initiative and within a team
• Committed to positively promoting the health and wellbeing of parents and babies
• Positive, professional role model
• Self-motivated and an ability to motivate others
• Self-awareness and ability to reflect and constructively challenge both own and others’ practices and behaviors
• Assertive and confident

Flexibility

• Flexibility to work days, nights, weekends and bank holidays

Please note your application will be transferred from the NHS Jobs system to the internal Walsall Healthcare Trac System. All correspondence will be sent via Trac.

Sponsorship and Visas

We welcome applications from all candidates with the right to work in the UK, including those on Health and Care Visas, Graduate Visas, or other valid permissions. All candidates will be considered on equal terms.

This Trust currently recruits successfully from the domestic labour market and has a sufficient pool of suitably qualified candidates for Band 3 roles. Visa sponsorship is therefore not available for this role currently. Candidates who already hold the right to work in the UK, including those on an existing Health and Care Visa, Graduate Visa, or any other valid permission are welcome to apply and will be considered on equal terms. This position is reviewed regularly in line with Home Office guidance. Right to work will be verified at each stage of the recruitment and monitored throughout employment. All candidates who are offered a position will be required to provide evidence of their right to work in the UK as part of the pre-employment checks process. Where a candidates' right to work is derived from another person’s immigration permission, the Trust will discuss the implications of this with the candidate before a permanent post is confirmed, to ensure that both parties understand the terms on which employment can be sustained.

Recruitment and Selection Approach

What to expect:

• Application screening: Your application will be reviewed against the person specification
• Interview: Typically, a panel interview with competency-based and values-based questions
• Assessment: Role-dependent assessments may include practical tasks or presentations
• Timeline: We aim to complete the process within 47 days of the closing date. Recruitment Journey is attached to all live vacancies.

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates at any stage. Please contact us to discuss your needs.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Application numbers

Please note this vacancy may close early due to high volume of applications

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