Job overview
This post has been established to support the Smoke Free Pregnancy Programme at Barts Health NHS Trust.
The programme adopts a systems-based approach to enhance how smoking in pregnancy is addressed. It aims to:
Improve the identification and support of pregnant women who smoke.
Enable maternity teams to deliver more effective, evidence-based smoking cessation interventions.
Contribute to better maternal and neonatal outcomes by reducing smoking-related risks.
Main duties of the job
The Smoking Cessation Midwife will work to address smoking in pregnancy. They will work closely with Maternity Tobacco Dependence Advisors and support the Community Midwifery Teams and members of the Multi-Disciplinary Professional Team to ensure staff follow the smoke-free pregnancy pathway and refer pregnant smokers to the in-house stop smoking service.
As Smoking Cessation Midwife you will work as part of a team to contribute to the implementation of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle element 1 and support the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan. The Saving Babies' Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB) provides evidence-based best practice for providers and commissioners of maternity care across England, to reduce perinatal mortality. Element 1 focuses on reducing smoking in pregnancy by implementing NHS-funded tobacco dependence treatment services within maternity settings, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan and NICE guidance. This includes carbon monoxide testing and asking women about their smoking status at the antenatal booking appointment and, as appropriate, throughout pregnancy.
Working for our organisation
Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.
The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.
Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.
We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. Registered midwife with active registration
2. Evidence of post-qualification education
3. Mentorship / Practice assessor qualification or preparing for it
4. Understanding of NMC Codes of Practice
Desirable criteria
5. Awareness of current issues in maternity care and smoking as part of the public health agenda
6. Managerial / leadership qualifications
7. Public health qualifications NCSCT level 2 and level 3 Smoking Cessation Training
8. Counselling skills
Skills
Essential criteria
9. Good interpersonal and communication skills (both verbal and written) with ability to communicate at all levels across the Department and Directorate/Trust/Organisations
10. Ability to make independent decisions and work autonomously
11. Ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team
12. Ability to self-reflect, carry out tasks of own job and identify what s/he needs to learn to able to do current job better
13. Demonstrate good leadership and organisation skills.
14. The ability to communicate with women and families in an empathetic manner.
15. Can demonstrate an enthusiastic, approachable and friendly manner
16. Developed IT skills with good understanding of windows/Microsoft Office
Desirable criteria
17. Reporting skills, including managing and analysing data relating to KPIs or other targets
18. Motivational interviewing skills