Band 6 - Infant Feeding Midwife, Maternity

Asset Building Group P/L; Watford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

An exciting opportunity awaits a dedicated Midwife to join the Infant Feeding Team, where you will champion infant feeding practices and support families in making informed choices. This role emphasizes collaboration with colleagues to implement evidence-based approaches and maintain high standards of care in line with the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative. As a key player in a forward-thinking environment, you will engage in clinical supervision, education, and innovative practices to enhance patient experiences. Join a team committed to excellence in patient care and the well-being of families during their crucial early stages.

Benefits

Flexible Working Options

Staff Wellbeing Programs

Professional Development Opportunities

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife with expertise in infant feeding and clinical supervision.
• Ability to implement evidence-based approaches in clinical settings.

Responsibilities

• Promote and support infant feeding practices in maternity department.
• Provide education and clinical supervision to staff on infant feeding.
• Participate in training programs related to infant feeding challenges.

Skills

Infant Feeding Knowledge

Clinical Supervision

Evidence-based Care

Assessment Skills

Education

Registered Midwife Qualification

Job description

We are pleased to share an exciting opportunity for a passionate and dedicated Midwife to join the Infant Feeding Team at West Herts.

In this role, you will have the chance to promote and support infant feeding practices within the maternity department, in alignment with the trust's joint infant feeding policy. A key responsibility will be to help implement and maintain the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) standards, with the goal of achieving and preserving Gold Award status.

We are looking for a highly knowledgeable professional in the field of infant feeding who can provide valuable information and support to colleagues.

The role involves providing education and clinical supervision to assist staff in implementing evidence-based approaches to infant feeding and relationship building. Collaboration with the Infant Feeding team is essential to align with the government health promotion agenda and the NHS Long Term Plan vision for the Baby Friendly Initiative.

Establishing a visible presence in the clinical setting is crucial. The individual in this role will participate in relevant training programmes, as needed, to enhance clinical skills related to ankyloglossia (tongue tie), enabling effective management and operation of the tongue tie clinic.

With a new hospital planned for Watford and work underway to update theatres at St Albans City Hospital, this is an exciting time to join us.

We are building on the success of our award-winning virtual hospital and re-imagining models of care, working ever more closely with partners and making the most of advances in digital healthcare.

Staff wellbeing and development are a priority at our Trust, as is the role of innovation in improving clinical care, outcomes and patient experience.

Our vision is Excellent patient care, together and our values are to be empowered, compassionate, professional and inclusive. They capture an important balance across what we must all do as individuals and to support others.

At West Herts we offer a variety of flexible working options as we recognise the importance of a good work life balance and the ability to work flexibly.

We kindly invite you to consider submitting an application.

If you have a disability or long-term health condition and should you require support or guidance please contact.

If you are a Service Leaver, Veteran, Military Reserve, Cadet Force Adult Volunteer, or partner/spouse of those serving please tick "Member of the Armed Forces Community" on the application form.

If you do not hear back within 3 weeks of your application, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Ensure that all families receive support and information to allow them to make an informed choice regarding feeding.

Engage with colleagues and support them to enhance clinical judgement with infant feeding assessments of service users and babies needs and evaluate clinical care as appropriate.

Act as a role model and demonstrate evidence-based care in relation to infant feeding and relationship building.

Review cases of infant feeding readmissions (maternal/newborn), completing incident reports with feedback to staff with both positive and identified learning development needs.

Review trends of readmissions reports to support strategies to reduce likelihood of occurrence and present findings at relevant meeting in the absence of the infant feeding lead.

Be familiar with multi-disciplinary guidelines and policies relating to infant feeding and supporting staff to evolve if there are any changes in practice.

Undertake audits, using appropriate tools to evaluate and develop infant feeding practices with maternity services both BFI and internal.

Participate in group sessions for families both in pregnancy and the postnatal period where needed in person or virtually.

Develop resources on infant feeding and relationship building.

Foster harmonious relationships, liaising with colleagues and other agencies.

Deliver one to one support, guidance and care planning in feeding clinics for complex cases in the antenatal period.

Provide a responsive service for feeding clinics postnatally and manage accordingly.

Delegate to other members of the team to continue ongoing support.

Be an autonomous practitioner providing clinical leadership and direct clinical care to families who have significant infant feeding challenges or requirements.

Confident in making assessments of the clinical wellbeing of babies and making effective care plans as part of the multidisciplinary team.

Work collaboratively with the infant feeding team which includes transitional care to support continuity of care of complex cases from the antenatal to the postnatal period.

Support the discharge planning of women and referral process for providing specialist breastfeeding support for complexities.

Actively participate in the management, assessment and diagnosis of suspected restricted frenulum.

Provide clinic expertise within the in-house tongue tie service.

You may be required to support the unit clinically in times of escalation.