Go back Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Maternity Support Worker, Band 3
The closing date is 29 June 2025
A rare part time opportunity has arisen to join the maternity support worker team who works closely with the midwifery team and newborn screening team to deliver clinical and therapeutic care to women and babies within set protocols and remit.
The maternity support worker role focuses on the offering of the day 5 newborn bloodspot and hearing screen to the newborn babies, as well as offering support to the mothers' health and wellbeing postnatally.
The maternity support workers will work as part of a multi-disciplinary maternity team, delivering safe, compassionate, and competent care to women and their families both in hospital and community settings. They will travel to multiple locations within a working day across county to provide support. Under the guidance of registered practitioners, they will assist in the assessment, investigation, and provision of care, based on their acquired skills and training within the first year.
The role involves working with minimal supervision, often lone working, supporting women throughout the transition to parenthood. The post holder will contribute to a high-quality maternity service by collaborating with multi-agency teams, liaising with hospital and community services, and acting as a key point of contact for care delivery, support, and signposting.
Main duties of the job
The maternity support workers delivers a day 5 postnatal care to the women and babies, as well as other postnatal support within the midwifery team such as day 3/9 postnatal visits. As part of the day 5 responsibilities, the MSW will carry out the newborn hearing screening and bloodspot for the babies, provide safe feeding advice and support, check baby's weight and jaundice assessment. There are other clinical responsibilities, please see job description for all the details.
Training will be provided to ensure competency is met. The maternity support worker has to undertake a Level 3 health screening diploma to commence within 6 months in post. This comprises of 13 generic units to cover generic skills and knowledge to work in a healthcare setting including specialist units in newborn hearing screening. Time will be allocated within the work hours where appropriate, however, studying in your own time is expected.
About us
We work as a close team where communication is important to ensure all eligible babies are offered the newborn screening on baby's day 5.
There are 3 hubs, West (Gloucester & Forest), South (Stroud & Cirencester) & East (Cheltenham) to ensure all the babies across Gloucestershire are offered the newborn screening.
This available post is for the South hub which means at large, the post holder will be covering across the Stroud and Cirencester area. However, all the MSWs do cross cover across the county wherever staffing is required. You will be notified in advance where possible, however, sometimes cover is required at short notice.
Job responsibilities
It is important that babies are appropriately offered, seen and referred timely, so interventions and support can be in place during the babys early stages of life. Good organisation skills and time management are important for this role, as well as accurate data entry of information due to handling sensitive and important patient information. Good interpersonal skills are required when making contact with the families on the telephone and in person, to ensure information is communicated clearly and the families feel supported throughout each contact we make.
We are a 7 days service, which means your working pattern will vary throughout the weeks. The person will be required to travel around the county to attend clinics and home settings, possibly in rural areas not accessible by public transport routes..
Training and support will be provided. Competency assessments will be completed before lone working in the community setting. A health screening diploma is mandatory for completion in order to meet the job specification. This normally takes 12-18 months to complete.
Person Specification
Knowledge
* Relevent work/social environment within a health care/hospital setting
* Ability to demonstrate proficient use of IT systems/Microsoft/hospital systems
* Screening knowledge/experience
Clinical/Experience
* Good written and verbal communication skills with a good command and understanding of English, punctuation and grammar
* An excellent, professional telephone manner to minimise conflict, resolve queries and maintain the reputation of the organisation when dealing with all calls
* Understanding of information governance, confidentiality and data protection
* Ability to read notes, extract data and document accurately on the relevant systems
Qualifications and Training
* Educated to GCSE grade C or above (or equivalent) in literacy and numeracy
* L3 Health Screening Diploma
Personal Attributes
* Good interpersonal skills for dealing with people internal and external to the organisation
* Ability to work flexibly within a team/react to change/good time management
* Ability to use initiative and sound judgement when reviewing screening outcomes, quality data and screening outcomes
* Ability to handle occasional distressing circumstances and able to process the sensitive data accurately and contacting relevant teams
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
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
£24,625 to £25,674 a year(pro rata if part time)
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