Infant Feeding Support Worker Maternity

We have an opportunity to join our teams in supporting families with infant feeding.

The post holder will work in the Infant Feeding Team in Chelsea & Westminster NHS Trust, maternity service and the local community services, to promote close mother baby relationships for the families and support infant feeding /breastfeeding. This post will encourage families to access services close to home that will support the feeding and parenting journey.

It offers the opportunity for the post holder to have continuity from antenatal engagement through the feeding journey, building supportive networks within the population.

This exciting job opportunity is a collaborative role across site.

This is an exciting role which will provide a seamless service promoting antenatal preparation in relation to feeding, understanding and caring for a baby in the postnatal period.

The postholder will work with the Infant Feeding and Community Midwife teams to promote, support and protect breastfeeding and close parent baby relationships. They will work closely with families in their homes and in community settings. There will also be an element of telephone support.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provide services from two main hospitals, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital, and a number of clinics across London and the South-East.

We have nearly 7,000 members of staff that are PROUD to Care for nearly one million people. Both hospitals provide full clinical services, including full maternity, emergency and children’s, in addition to a range of community-based services across London, such as award-winning sexual health and HIV clinics.

We’re one of the safest and best performing Trusts in the country. We’re also one of the top trusts to work for - our staff say they’re engaged, motivated, and would recommend us as a place to work and receive treatment.

Our Trust has been rated by the Care Quality Commission as ‘Good’ in all five of the main domains of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led, giving an us overall rating of ‘Good’. We’ve also been awarded an ‘Outstanding’ rating for ‘use of resources’ by an NHS Improvement inspection..

Our facilities are some of the best in the country. We have been investing around £10 million a year in our estate. We have recently completed a £30m expansion of our adult and neonatal critical care facilities at Chelsea and Westminster and are planning an ambitious £60m development of an Ambulatory Diagnostics Centre at West Middlesex.

Roles and responsibilities

Ensure teaching and parent information resources are stocked up, available and accessible for staff to use, in all clinical areas of maternity

Organise, promote and deliver (online or face to face) 2 hour group antenatal workshops on breastfeeding and relationship building to pregnant women/birthing people and their family/partners (group size up to 30 people)

Organise and deliver postnatal infant feeding and relationship building support groups

Provide 1:1 infant feeding support to families of newborn babies up to 28 days old in community or hospital and ensure relevant documentation is completed.

Provide 1:1 telephone advice on infant feeding and document as required.

Assess feeding and identify any problems, develop an appropriate plan of care with mother and document and communicate with the multidisciplinary team.

Refer to Infant Feeding Lead Midwife / Neonatal Baby Friendly Lead / Health Visitor Infant Feeding Specialist as appropriate for complex infant feeding issues beyond own knowledge or experience.

Be aware of sources of infant feeding support external to the Trust. Communicate with /refer to health visitors and Infant Feeding leads from other trusts to ensure families receive the support they need based on their geographical location.

Assist with Baby Friendly audits, including face to face, by telephone and documentation audits, after appropriate training.

Assist with investigation of incidents where babies have been readmitted with feeding problems, and auditing of readmissions.

Please see attached job description and person specification to this advert for further details.