Infant Feeding Support Worker Maternity

The post holder will work in the Infant Feeding Team in West Middlesex 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 between the Queen Mary Maternity department at West Middlesex hospital and the Public Health Team at Hounslow Borough Council.

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.

You will be a champion in the area you work in promoting the wide range of activities and services that are available to support parents in their journey to maximise the health outcomes for them and their baby. This role is a specialised feeding post and as such will also support the growth and development of colleagues and students who are also caring for families too.

This is a dynamic post within the Infant Feeding team and each day will be different, sometimes working directly alongside colleagues in the maternity department but also working independently facilitating workshops and groups within children centres in the community on others.

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 arePROUD to Carefor 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 best performing Trusts in the country. We’re also one of the top trusts to work for – our staff says 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 significant Capital year on 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 2 hour group antenatal workshops on breastfeeding and relationship building to pregnant women and their family/partners (group size up to 30 people) within the hospital and Children’s centres
• Organise, promote and deliver 2 hour group antenatal workshops on ‘Early days with your baby’ to pregnant women and their family/partners (group size up to 30 people) within the hospital and Children’s centres
• Facilitate teaching Antenatal colostrum collection, particularly to families with known risk factors for Hypoglycaemia- clinic and ward setting
• Support parents who mix or formula feed with the information they need to feed their babies safely and responsively
• Promoting the feeding service, identifying opportunities, and proactively suggesting ways to connect and engage with the local community Help prepare for, as well as participate and support with local and national promotional events (as appropriate) e.g Celebratory breastfeeding weeks
• Encourage parents to engage with local health promotion activities, signposting parents to the most up to date information about local activities with their communities
• Organise and deliver 30 min group postnatal workshops on breastfeeding and relationship building on the ward
• Promote and facilitate postnatal feeding support groups, within the community and hospital setting Have the skills to assess for a tongue tie if felt it may be impeding feeding and refer to the appropriate service if required
• Infant feeding support on postnatal ward whilst working alongside new staff members to support the implementation and embedding of best practice, ensure relevant documentation is completed.
• Provide 1:1 infant feeding support to families of newborn babies on paediatric wards or other wards in the hospital and ensure relevant documentation is completed.
• Provide 1:1 telephone advice on infant feeding and document as required.
• Refer to Infant Feeding Clinical Advisor or Infant Feeding Co-ordinator as appropriate for complex infant feeding issues beyond own knowledge or experience
• Supporting the learning and development of Students and Infant Feeding Volunteers
• Be aware of sources of infant feeding support external to the Trust (e.g National Breastfeeding Helpline, First Steps Nutrition Trust)
• Communicate with /refer to community midwives, 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
• Facilitate service user feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of the service on a regular basis
• Assess feeding and identify any problems, develop an appropriate plan of care with mother and document and communicate with the multidisciplinary team
• Work collaboratively within the Infant Feeding Team to support the development of resource and service development