Infant Feeding Support Worker

The post holder will work as an integral part of our Infant Feeding team to deliver high quality, family-centred support to the population of Medway and Swale.

The Infant feeding team are externally funded by Medway Council as part of their Start for Life funding. The aim of our team is to support all families who have care at Medway hospital from pregnancy until 6 weeks postnatally. We offer support through antenatal education, specialist clinics, inpatient support, home visits and social group facilitation.

As we are a Level 3 BFI Accredited Trust, the post-holder will work in collaboration with the Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife to uphold the UNICEF BFI standards. They will deliver evidence based infant feeding support, and have meaningful feeding conversations in both the antenatal and postnatal period. They will be willing to undertake training courses to enhance their existing knowledge.

Our values are Bold, Every Person Counts, Sharing and Open and Together. It is important that you understand and to refer to our values when completing your application and always reflect our values throughout your employment with the Trust.

We are committed to endorsing diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion; our policies / procedures ensure that all applicants are treated fairly at every stage of the recruitment process.

To contribute to our exciting future and become part of our team, apply today.

The post-holder will strive to support our families with the most complex feeding needs, and reduce the impact of the biggest risk factors for feeding related issues and readmission.

The post-holder will practice throughout the maternity unit but will primarily be based on the postnatal ward and within the community,

The post-holder will be eager to provide Antenatal and Postnatal education to our families in both small and large groups, virtually and face to face. Always complying with the Medway NHS Foundation Trust Infant Feeding Guidelines and policies.

To ensure all women receive appropriate support and advice with their chosen method of feeding

To support mothers to develop their relationship with their babies in the antenatal and postnatal period, to facilitate brain development and attachment

To work in collaboration with the Infant Feeding Lead and Support Midwife and assist them to give family centred support, and referral if appropriate

To help the Infant Feeding lead maintain the UNICEF standards throughout the trust

Offer specialist support and guidance to facilitate mothers to initiate and sustain breastfeeding - across a multitude of settings e.g. community, hospital, group settings and over the phone

Support mothers with complex breastfeeding needs e.g. multiple births, babies on NICU, pre-term babies.

Identify when feeding is not going well and refer to multidisciplinary services appropriately - e.g. specialist feeding clinic, health visiting, neonatal doctors

To support and/or facilitate breastfeeding support groups and provide antenatal and postnatal education

Working with antenatal women and their families to promote the service and the benefits of breastfeeding

Help collect data, statistics and feedback to use for audit and to improve the service

To provide face to face and telephone feeding support to families, up to 6 weeks post birth, both in the hospital setting and community setting.

Do you have the ambition and vision to deliver our mission of theBest of Care by the Best of People providing excellent care, every time?

Here at Medway, we pride ourselves on working together as one to ensure that our shared vision is achieved for our patients.

As a key partner in the healthcare of our local population, we are keen to deliver this as an outcome of our Trust-wide strategy - Patient First. Using an Operational Excellence approach to align our priorities and operational management structures, we are just over a year and half into our Patient First deployment. We are looking for creative, skilled people to join our Transformation Team and further support us on this journey.

Our culture and values define us here at Medway NHS Foundation Trust and are the heartbeat of who we are as an organisation.

Our BEST values underpin Patient First and are at the core of the care we give to our patients, the support we offer to our staff and our overall leadership approach:

B - Bold

E - Every person counts

S - Sharing and open

Our Trust is a great choice for people who want to develop their career in an ambitious and dynamic environment; our employees are able to choose the coverage and supplemental benefits that best fit their needs and those of their families. This includes the promotion of flexible working opportunities across the Trust.

Qualifications

Essential: - oUNICEF BFI Management Course/Peer Counsellor course or other equivalent higher breastfeeding training

Knowledge & Understanding

Skills