Baby Friendly Lead Midwife

The post holder will be the lead midwife for the Baby Friendly Service. Supporting both the maternity and Neonatal services with the ongoing development and support of infant feeding for the mothers and babies within east Lancashire.

Main Duties

The main remit of this project will be in maternity and neonatal services, however, the mothers’ journey across the Trust needs to be considered when planning service improvements. The postholder will lead on the achievement and maintenance of Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) accreditations in Maternity and Neonatal services and provide guidance for Paediatric services. Project management skills are essential.

The post holder will combine the education and training of clinical staff with expert direct clinical care. The post holder will provide professional and peer support leadership, and expert knowledge and advice around infant feeding and relationship building and according to the BFI standards. The post holder will identify, measure and monitor best practice standards for pregnant and postnatal mothers and their infants. The post requires a clinical component of direct specialist care to women and their families as per the agreed specialist referral pathways.

The post holder will lead and support several Trust BFI champions groups, strengthen links with health and social care agencies that come into contact with pregnant and new mothers, and have leadership and managerial qualities.

The post holder will ensure partnership working between primary and secondary care, and hence the delivery of consistent, evidence-based information and support to encourage the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding.

Established in 2003 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.

Our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 700,000 patients a year from the most serious of emergencies to planned operations and procedures. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work and achievements.

Our organisation is driven by our strategic objectives and organisation values and we look for people who are strongly aligned with them.

Within East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, we are a forward thinking maternity service managing over 6 000 births per year with four different birth locations and the provision of services across the East Lancashire footprint. Within maternity services, an exciting opportunity has arisen for a Baby Friendly Lead. This post is predominantly Monday to Friday, 8am - 4pm.

The Post Holder will provide expert information and contribute to the development of all who come into contact with pregnant and postnatal mothers, with regard to the skills and knowledge needed to promote, support and protect breastfeeding, or other chosen feeding methods.

They will provide expert clinical support as per specialist referral pathways, working autonomously, and as part of a wider team/s.

They will define a clear referral system for specialist information, supporting the development of breastfeeding initiatives across the Trust, and actively encouraging assimilation of new information / research findings, to improve the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding rates.

Through direct clinical care and influencing/leadership skills with other practitioners, the post holder will empower mothers/parents to make informed decisions about infant feeding.