Community Maternity Support Worker

An opportunity has become available for a Band 3 Community Maternity Support Worker (MSW) working within the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust Maternity Department. The Community MSW will be providing care to birthing people and their families within their journey through maternity services under the supervision of the midwife. Good communication skills are essential with a willingness to embrace change and be passionate about offering a good quality service supporting women/birthing people in their choices.

Academic requirements for the post include;

Level 2 English and Maths or equivalent qualification

Level 3/4 qualification or the equivalent academic preparation and training relevant to the role of the MSW

Care Certificate ( if not you would need to complete this as part of your training and probation)

Will need to achieve Care Competencies relevant to a Band 3 MSW.

Good communication skills are essential and also a willingness to embrace change and be passionate about offering a good quality service supporting birthing people in their choices.

Candidates should have recent/current experience in healthcare at band 3 or above . Completion of Trust's Care Competencies (Care Certificate) or equivalent level of competence is required for this role.

Candidates must also having experience working as a MSW, either within the Hospital or Community setting.

Please note, this post involves lone working within the Community setting.

The primary role of the Maternity Support Worker (MSW) is to assist, support and work in collaboration with the midwife and the wider multidisciplinary team; in order to provide a safe and holistic approach to women centred care. The post holder will provide support to a maternity team, mothers and their families. He / She will carry out assigned tasks involving direct care including information giving, guidance and reassurance, assistance and support to women and their families to improve the quality of care as planned by the midwife.

Candidates will be required to work on calls to support the service and provide care to women/birthing people.

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is the main provider of hospital services for the population of Reading, Newbury, Wokingham and the towns and villages of West Berkshire.

At our heart we are a local hospital that works with NHS and social care partners to provide excellent healthcare services for over 500,000 people who currently live in our catchment area. We also provide specialist hospital services beyond the county's borders.

We employ more than 5,500 staff from 39 different nationalities and deliver care from a network of facilities across sites in Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames, Reading, Thatcham and Windsor.

Each year we are responsible for efficiently and effectively spending more than £400m of NHS resources on the services we provide.

As a founder member of the Berkshire West Integrated Care System, we are one of NHS England's demonstrator sites for integration between primary, community, mental health and acute healthcare services.

The Health Care Support Worker should complete the Care Certificate providing that care has been assessed against a specific set of standards and has demonstrated that they have the skills, knowledge and behaviours to ensure they provide compassionate and high quality care and support (HEE, Skills for Health & Skills for Care, 2015).

Provide support for women with infant feeding including breast feeding. Provide advice and recognise correct attachment. Teach mothers how to hand express breast milk. Support women experiencing difficulties. Provide support for women/birth people with formula feeding including how to prepare formula feeds.

To be able to achieve the competencies in relation to supporting the midwivessupport women/birth people in the birth process as described in the development passport for band 3 maternity support worker

Assists in the monitoring and maintenance of the health, safety and security of self and others in work area. The post holder must ensure that he/ she works within risk management/ occupational health legislation and…