Job summary
A MSW is a Senior Care Support Worker who:

• Behaves in a professional manner and ensures effective, sensitive and empathetic communication with colleagues, women, and their families.
• Works to promote individualised care, specific to the needs of the woman and her family, acting as her advocate within the multidisciplinary team in the absence of the midwife.

Whilst working under the indirect supervision of the designated midwife/neonatal nurse and part of a multidisciplinary team, undertakes the direct care and appropriate interventions to maximise a positive client experiences and promote the physical and mental health and well-being of the mother and baby.

Participates in the collection and recording of written and electronic data, in line with Trust guidelines and policies.

Works in partnership with clients and professionals both internally and external to the Trust to provide an effective network of care for the clients in their care.

Identifies and escalates deviations from normal when undertaking care.

Participates in delivering national health objectives and initiatives.

Acts as an advocate for the department, in promoting respectful and flexible team working across areas.

Who proactively, consistently, and meaningfully demonstrates the Trust values in their day to day interactions with colleagues and service users.

Main duties of the job
Band 3 Maternity Support Workers (MSW) provide direct delivery of clinical care to all women and babies accessing maternity services and may be based within specialist and integrated teams such as on postnatal ward providing transitional care to babies, SCBU and community hubs.

Band 3 MSWs may serve as a point of contact/support for women and their families and provide clinical, physical, psychological, and emotional care and support; they provide appropriate information and, where necessary, signpost to wider support organisations. They report to registered practitioners where planned delegated care has been provided.

About us
Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the 'golden thread' which runs through everything we do - they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronym ICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our 'Balance' programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.

Job responsibilities
The role holder possesses generalised knowledge to inform their understanding of the job role and specific knowledge related to tasks or activities within their scope of role. This may include cross professional knowledge. Through their practice, they must demonstrate an awareness of contemporary public health and health promotion initiatives, policy, and legislation, including where legal and ethical issues are relevant to their scope of role.

The role holder is able to make fact-based judgements requiring a comparison of options to effectively perform tasks and activities. The role holder will undertake well defined, familiar tasks. In some instances, workload is likely to include some complexity, but supervision and guidance should be available to assure safety. The role holder will demonstrate effective application of problem solving and planning skills and a broad skill base related to their practice. They will be required to document care appropriately, detailing actions taken, where support has been sought from suitably qualified practitioners or where concerns have been escalated. They engage in, promote and support others to undertake routine audits or surveys relevant to their work.

The role holder is able to independently plan tasks and workload activities whilst ensuring that their practice is guided by standard operating procedures and established protocols. Their practice will reflect the principles of woman and family centred care. They will demonstrate self-directed development, recognising own limitations, and work within the scope of their role at all times. They will prioritise their own workload and may be responsible for planned care and tasks delegated from a registered or Level 4 practitioner. Depending upon the level of complexity and risk present, the role holder may exercise an appropriate degree of autonomy, ensuring they present themselves in a credible and competent manner at all time.

Qualifications
Essential

• 5 GCSEs or equivalent
• Level 2 healthcare or equivalent

Desirable

• Clinical experience

Experience
Essential

• Clinical NHS healthcare experience

Desirable

• Completion of care certificate

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).