Overview
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
Maternity Support Worker
The closing date is 14 October 2025
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our existing maternity support worker team on a permanent basis.
As a MSW, you will work closely with our midwifery team to deliver a high standard of safe, evidence based care. You will care for pregnant people, postnatal people and new-born babies.
Working with the multi-disciplinary team, you will be responsible for assisting the midwifery staff to improve and maintain high standards of safe care, health and well-being of women and their families using the maternity service.
Main duties of the job
* To undertake observations of mothers and babies and report to the midwife
* To support mothers to establish feeding for their newborn baby and to facilitate informed choice
* To carry out additional tasks as delegated by the Registered Midwife and once appropriate training has been given and be able to complete all documentation and inform the midwife of findings
* Maintenance and preparation of Antenatal/postnatal ward and delivery suite environments
* Cleaning of equipment
* Undertake venepuncture and cannulation
* Process umbilical cord pH
* Blood glucose monitoring in women and neonates
About us
Why Work With Us
Torbay hospital maternity unit has approximately 1800 births per year. We provide care to families from diverse backgrounds across Torbay and South Devon.
We have an 8 bedded delivery suite with a bereavement room, an 19 bedded ante/postnatal ward and we also have a 2 room midwife led birth centre in Newton Abbot Hospital.
Please note: This role is not eligible for sponsorship under the UK Home Office Skilled Worker visa route, due to the increased salary threshold introduced in early May 2025. Therefore, we are only able to consider applications from individuals who already have the right to work in the UK.
Job responsibilities
* Communicate appropriately with a wide range of people including staff, patients and visitors
* Answer the telephone, take messages and refer to the Midwife for instructions
* To reinforce professional advice given to women and their families
* Provide reassurance to new mothers and birthing partners when necessary
* Provide high quality, safe care to pregnant people, postnatal people and their babies
* Recognising and responding to situations within the work area and report to the midwife in charge
* Assisting with the undertaking and implementation of risk assessments
* Organise own workload and prioritise care
* Carry out routine observations and blood tests as directed, documenting results in the notes
* Assist with chaperoning the doctors as required
* Carry out acquired nursing skills as directed, documenting care in the notes
* Be aware of the womans emotional, social and physical needs, reporting to the midwife as necessary
* Work autonomously within Trust guidelines and sphere of professional practice
* Only uses equipment following appropriate training, ensuring equipment register is updated appropriately
* Applies knowledge and skills of the Trusts Health and Safety Policy to clinical practice
* Adheres to the Trust Violence and Aggression Policies to ensure personal and maternity staffs safety
* Uphold the safety of the woman within a clinical governance framework
* Adhere to trust data protection and Information Governance policies
* To undertake observations of mothers and babies and report to the midwife
Person Specification
Qualifications and training
* Recent experience working clinically within a healthcare setting
* Adult vital signs
* Venepuncture
* Good Communication
* Training in neonatal life support
* Care Certificate
* Cannulation
* ECG
Knowledge and experience
* Trained to undertake phlebotomy, or working towards
* Willing to undertake additional training for clinical skills
* Experience in a customer focused environment
* Keen and willing to learn new skills to enhance patient care
* Understand the importance of Health and Safety
* Experience working as part of a team
* Experience working on a maternity unit
* Knowledge of infant feeding
Specific skills
* Ability to work within a team, undertake instructions from other professionals and appropriately report back to the midwife in charge.
* Able to demonstrate an excellent level of literacy, numeracy, verbal and written skills.
* Demonstrate skills in written and spoken English, adequate to enable the post holder to carry out the role effectively
* Excellent interpersonal and communication
* Ability to perform observations on newborn babies
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer name
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
£24,937 to £26,598 a year per annum pro rata
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