Maternity Support Worker

Transformationunitgm; Preston; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a progressive maternity team at a leading hospital, dedicated to providing high-quality care to women and families. As a Maternity Support Worker, you'll support midwives, engage with patients, and contribute to excellent service delivery. This role offers opportunities for professional growth and skill development, ensuring a rewarding experience in a supportive environment.

Qualifications

• Must have completed the care certificate and GCSEs in Maths and English.
• Evidence of working at band 2 as a HCA/MSW required.

Responsibilities

• Provide personalized care for women and their babies under midwifery supervision.
• Support the maternity service in various settings including community care.
• Document care accurately and maintain confidentiality.

Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Compassion

Communication

Education

GCSE Maths and English

NVQ Level 2 in Care

Care Certificate

Job description

Employer Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Preston Hospital Town Preston Salary £24,169 - £25,674 Per Annum, Pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 01/06/2025 23:59 Interview date 19/06/2025

Maternity Support Worker

Band 2/3

Job overview

Would you like to work in a developing and progressive team, with a specific commitment to high quality care, offering choice to women and families, embracing change and development our Maternity Services?

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individuals with good inter-personal skills who are willing to work flexibly.

If you have a passion for providing high quality care then come and join our team of like minded experienced staff and contribute to the excellent service we provide for women, babies and families. We value our staff and understand the need for support and job satisfaction in your role.

This is a Band 2/3 post with opportunity for band 2 progression upon completion/demonstration of the competencies required to a Band 3 Maternity support worker and will require a commitment to working in various areas of the service.

*****PLEASE NOTE****

We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Main duties of the job

Under the guidance and supervision of the midwifery team you will be responsible for competently providing personalised care for women, their families and their babies including a range of clinical duties, providing information and support in an agreed timely and appropriate manner, and to accurately record and collate information ensuring the best experience possible of the Maternity Service.

You will be required to act at all times in a manner that upholds the Trust values working as part of the team to ensure that women and their families receive excellent care with compassion and must ensure that any concerns are escalated to the midwife.

Working for our organisation

You will support the maternity service on Preston Birth Centre, Chorley Birth Centre and in the community so full driving licence and use of a car is essential. The focus will be on providing support, guidance and care to new mothers and their babies.

You will work under the supervision of the midwives, supporting them with clinical, domestic and administrative duties.

A specific training package has been developed and concentrates on skill development focused around the needs of the mother, her baby and the family. The midwifery team will work closely with you to achieve the required skills to deliver high quality care.

You must have completed the care certificate, must have GCSE Maths and English at grade c/5 or above and an NVQ level 2 in care or equivalent. Evidence of working at band 2 as a HCA/MSW. You will be asked to provide the certificates if appointed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Proactively engages with patients and others in order to build and maintain positive relationships. Ensures all women and babies requirements are met with respect, privacy, dignity, sensitivity, empathy and recognising diversity at all times
• Provide good quality personalised care in accordance with agreed local and national standards.
• Support the adaptation to parenthood
• Understands and gains valid consent prior to action or providing care. Has the knowledge to document this promptly and clearly
• Recognises changes in either mother or baby’s condition and understands to report any concerns including those expressed by the women (or their families) to the midwife
• Ensures own clinical practice is safe and appropriate at all times
• Assists in the implementation of direct clinical care performing a range of relevant clinical skills
• Act within the limits of your competence and authority and adhere to local protocols and procedures
• Make use of supervision. Participate in regular supervision in line with local guidelines in order to continually improve your performance and gain support
• Demonstrates an understanding of and uses care plans during shift identifying and reporting women’s needs not included in the individualised care plan to the midwife in charge
• Communicate and work as an effective team member of the clinical team in order to achieve desired outcomes that promote the well-being of mothers and babies
• Have awareness of safeguarding issues and report any concerns to the midwife in charge immediately
• Demonstrates compassion by recognising the responding to individual needs in a warm, thoughtful, sensitive and helpful way
• Is able to maintain professionalism when dealing with aggressive, abusive or distressed patients or relatives
• Understands the importance of providing smoking cessation intervention training and sign-posting patients appropriately
• Understands the importance of both the physical and mental well-being of the woman and her family. Knows how to refer woman to appropriate interventions
• Competent in advising women and their families about Safe Sleeping
• Ensure personal fitness for work presenting a positive image of self and the organisation, Maintain professional conduct including appearance at all times
• Competent in the collection of blood spot sample for new-born screening
• Competent to support women in their chosen method of feeding giving clear and consistent information on infant feeding and following and revising feeding plans as appropriate
• Is able to recognise when to escalate feeding difficulties to midwifery staff
• Take responsibility for the self-development of skills and competencies through participation in training and development activities maintaining up-to-date technical and professional knowledge relevant to the post
• Is able to manage and prioritise own workload as appropriate
• Is competent to perform maternal and neonatal observations and other aspects of clinical care following appropriate training and / or until relevant competencies are achieved
• Recognise and respond appropriately to urgent and emergency situations ensuring the patient receives appropriate care and notifying the midwife in charge as soon as possible
• Maintain confidentiality with regard to the Data Protection Act for all information received
• Comply with legal requirements for maintaining confidentiality by maintaining strict confidentiality of all issues concerned with the service. Adhere to requirements of the Data Protection Act 1984, information governance and Caldicott Principles
• Recognises the importance of documenting all care appropriately and contemporaneously
• Is able to communicate effectively with staff, colleagues, patients and their families with sympathy and sensitivity where appropriate
• Actively participates in the appraisal process undertaking identified learning and development opportunities as agreed with the manager
• Takes personal responsibility to ensure own mandatory training is fully compliant
• Undertakes training and practice of agreed clinical competencies for designated area keeping up-to-date with changes in clinical practice and the effect of these changes on your role
• Act as an effective role model for new members of staff
• Provide support to the training of new members of staff
• Undertake coaching or mentoring with new staff to support them
• Support Trust values by ensuring that effective channels are used to canvas the views and concerns of all patients and their families
• Understand the importance of following all local and Trust policies and guidelines to ensure patient safety and well-being is not compromised
• Ensures awareness of when and how to report untoward incident and how to respond appropriately to patients or their families
• Understands to report accidents, incidents or losses as they occur to the midwife in charge
• Understands the importance of maintaining infection control standards and hygiene
• Make sure your actions reduce risks to health and safety by maintaining a tidy environment at all times, cleaning equipment before use and supporting the maintenance of equipment by reporting any faults as per local procedures. Adhere to health and safety policies and report incidents and risks identified through incident reporting or via line manager
• Ability to contribute to service development, participating in audit to measure that standards are achieved
• Recognises the importance of addressing and reporting behaviour that undermines equality and diversity
• Foster people’s equality, diversity and rights by being proactive against discrimination
• To have an understanding of different cultures, religions, etc and recognising any barriers to communication taking action appropriately to respect individual rights
  
  Full job description available in attachments.

Person specification

Band 3 Qualifications & Education

• Care Certificate
• 5 GCSE’s Grade C/5 including English and Maths or equivalent qualification
• NVQ 2 or equivalent and commitment to development within role
• Evidence of completion of MSW Band 2 competencies
• NVQ 3

Band 3 Knowledge & Experience

• Previous experience in a similar role
• Previous experience as a band 2 HCA or Support Worker
• Experience of working with new-born infants

Band 2 Qualifications & Education

• Commitment to development within role including completion of Care Certificate (within 12 months of appointment)
• NVQ 2 in relevant subject
• GCSE Grade D/3 In English and Maths or equivalent qualification

Band 2 Knowledge & Experience

• Knowledge of NHS values
• Previous experience in a similar role

Thanks for taking the time to view this advert; we’re looking forward to receiving your application. You should be aware that the vacancy may close earlier than the published date if sufficient applications are received so it would be best to apply as soon as you can. We’ll contact you by e-mail to update you on the progress of your application so please check the e-mail account that you applied from (including spam/junk) regularly.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, neurodiversity or veteran status are encouraged to apply for this post. Our Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders is available Here

To support you in your application process we’ve created a What we can offer you guide that shows what you can expect when you join our hospitals. The guide includes links to our strategic aims and objectives as well as our values, development support and rewards and benefits. To help you get the best from your application we’ve also put together two guides to help you make your application the best it can be. Just click here and here to go through them, or have themopen as you complete your application.

We recognise that the recruitment process may present barriers for some and you may need personal adjustments to enable you to participate in our recruitment process. Please make contact with the recruitment team at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

If you choose to use AI or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting information section. While AI can help streamline the writing process, these tools cannot fully grasp the context or requirements of the job you’re applying for. There is also a risk that it can generate false or misleading information.

AI-generated job applications can often be generic, impersonal and may not accurately reflect your qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experiences. It is crucial that you personalise your supporting statement by articulating these in your unique voice. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting information section is not advocated by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it then they are required to declare this.

Supporting Information

The supporting information section is an opportunity for you to showcase how your qualifications, knowledge, skill and experiences align with the requirements and criteria outlined in the job description and person.

Our recruiting managers score applications based on the criteria listed in the person specification. They will be looking for evidence of how you meet these criteria. To increase your chances of securing an interview, provide examples of how you have applied your skills and knowledge in real-life situations. Share work-related successes and challenges you’ve navigated that align with the criteria. These could be from various aspects of your life, including work, education, and personal experiences.

Consider structuring your supporting information section with clear headings or bullet points. This approach will help both you and the recruiting manager navigate through your application more effectively.

Working Smarter pledge

We are reminded everyday of how important life is, so as part of our Working Smarter pledge we offer a variety of flexible working options and wellbeing support to enable our people to find and maintain the right work-life balance.

Secondments

If you are applying for a secondment role please ensure you have agreement from your current line manager prior to attending an interview. Also please ensure you have read the LTHTR Secondment Policy. A copy of this can be found on the intranet or by [e-mail]

Please note a young person must be in part-time education or training until they’re 18. therefore if you are under 18 we are unable to employ you on a full time basis, unless it is in an apprenticeship role.

Disclosure and Barring Service checks

If the role you’ve applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this on your behalf and the cost will be recovered from your salary, either as a one-off payment, or over 3 months. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £26.40 Standard DBS check £26.40 and Enhanced DBS check £54.40. You should be aware that if you are successful in obtaining a position that requires a DBS check but later withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check. DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions. The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here .

In line with guidance from United Kingdom Health Security Agency, all staff and volunteers are required to comply with Trust Infection Prevention and Control processes in relation to safe working. This includes mask wearing and adherence to social distancing at all Trust sites.

NO UNSOLICITED ADVERTISING COMPANY APPROACHES

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.