Job summary
This is a key leadership and specialist role within the Mental Health, Drug & Alcohol Misuse team. Involves maintaining / overseeing high standards of care for women with mental health problems / misuse substances through pregnancy and postnatally.

As Specialist lead your team will triage women with mental health or substance misuse concerns, providing a link between maternity service, multi-agency services and professions involved in mental health and drug misuse.

This will include a range of health education, support and special care advice relating to these specific issues. The role involves working in partnership with the named Community Midwife, the band 6 Specialist Midwife for Perinatal Mental Health, Drug & Alcohol Misuse and the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team and will involve a clinical aspect to the role.

Work closely with women and their families to plan and co-ordinate their care based on their individual needs taking into account any barriers to communication or inequalities which may be barriers to care.

As the Lead Specialist Midwife you will lead the team to support colleagues through training and guidance to enable them to provide holistic care that optimises emotional wellbeing as well as physical health.

This role will include the development of the service, correlating data and identifying factors to support the sustainability of the service.

Main duties of the job
Act as an advocate for women requiring specialist mental health/substance misuse support care, assist/support the team, developing/ communicating care plans in relation to mental health/ substance misuse.

Sign-post to appropriate local services. Be a point of contact to provide additional midwifery support to women with mental illness and those misusing drugs / alcohol.

Participate in multidisciplinary birth planning meetings for women with severe mental illness or those misusing drugs and/or alcohol and assist in developing care plans for pregnancy and postnatal period.

Contribute to the safeguarding of families who are a risk of harm due to maternal mental illness or drug/alcohol misuse. Provide advice and support to colleagues caring for women with mental illness during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period.

Ensure routine screening and early identification of women with or at risk of perinatal illness, and those who are misusing drugs / alcohol.

Input information and effectively using maternity clinical systems/ Trust information governance policies and keep contemporaneous records within the team systems.

Demonstrate a working knowledge of safeguarding issues and promote effective use of the Trust Safeguarding policy.

Act as a supportive professional role model for midwifery staff.

About us
Our ambition is to deliver excellent local and specialist services, to improve the health and well being of our patients, and provide a vibrant place for staff to develop, innovate and build careers.

We aim to make the most of our skills and experiences so we can become the best we can be. As one organisation we will recruit the finest and retain more specialist staff due to more employment opportunities across our Trust.

Job responsibilities
For full details about this varied and rewarding role, please see attached job description.

We look forward to your application.

Please be aware that we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a suitable number of applications.

Person Specification
Communication Skills

• Effective communicator with an ability to work within a multidisciplinary team

Qualifications

• Educated to a minimum of 1st degree level- with 2 or more years experience
• NMC registered Midwife - minimum band 6
• Safeguarding Children Training to Level 3

Knowledge and Experience

• Knowledge of national guidelines and key research relating to perinatal drug & alcohol misuse

Desirable

• Understanding of Better Births and the NHS Long Term Plan in relation to maternal mental health
• Knowledge and understanding of psychological therapies used in the management of perinatal mental illness.

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.

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.