Smoke Free Midwife

If you are looking for an exciting opportunity, then look no further! Maternity services at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust are exciting, innovative and woman centred. We now have an exciting opportunity for an experienced, enthusiastic and really special midwife to join our team as the Smoke Free Pregnancy Midwife on both sites. You will be working with a dedicated team who are continually evaluating the service so that it's a client centred, quality driven and responsive maternity unit.

We are looking for a Midwife with high levels of relevant expert knowledge, skills and well-developed leadership skills who can work independently and as part of the multi-disciplinary team. You will work as an expert in your role by developing and maintaining high standards of care for clients who continue to smoke during pregnancy and the postnatal period.

You will have excellent written and verbal presentation and interpersonal skills and be able to represent the service with key stakeholders to develop and progress relevant pathways, policies and processes.

Working with relevant professionals, services and agencies, along with experience of teaching and supervision you will ensure staff are competent and confident to deliver services to clients to enable them to provide holistic care that optimises pregnancy outcomes.

This post is not suitable for newly qualified or Overseas Midwives without at least significant experience of working in the NHS.

Main duties of the job

You will be involved in supporting, assisting, advocating for and advising women who continue to smoke during pregnancy to supplement the care provided by their midwives where necessary, whilst coordinating and facilitating clinics to provide tobacco treatment solutions to clients and their partners.

You will provide support and guidance to all staff working in Maternity.

You will be required to work clinically, providing direct clinical care within the maternity unit.

You will provide advice and training to all staff involved in maternity care.

You will work with colleagues to ensure that there is a pathway for women who continue to smoke during pregnancy and ensure that women and their families receive appropriate information about smoking during pregnancy and second-hand smoke in a sensitive way.

You will assist the Director of Midwifery in achieving the goals and objectives of the maternity service and LG NHS Trust and the NHS Long Term Plan.

You will provide a link between midwives, GPs, health visitors, obstetricians, local stop smoking services, public health, commissioners and other agencies in relation to the care of pregnant women and new mothers who continue to smoke.

You will be actively involved with relevant hospital and community stop smoking teams. This includes attending team meetings and planning meetings where appropriate.

You will have up-to-date knowledge of local services available to pregnant women who continue to smoke during pregnancy.

About us

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development.
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability.
• Improving the experience of staff with disabilities.
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development.
• Making equalities mainstream.

Job responsibilities

Including but not limited to:

This is a key role in developing and maintaining high standards of care for clients who continue to smoke during pregnancy and the postnatal period. You will have a high level of relevant expert knowledge and skills, which you will use to manage, develop and lead care for pregnant and new mothers/birthing people who smoke.

Smoking in pregnancy is the single most modifiable risk factor that affects adverse outcomes in pregnancy. These include miscarriage, pre-term birth, fetal growth restriction and stillbirth. At Lewisham and Greenwich around 7% of women/birthing people are still smoking at delivery, approximately 8-9% of women/birthing people at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 4-5% at University Hospital Lewisham.

The post holder will work in partnership with service users, their families, the multi-disciplinary team and local stakeholders to implement and develop robust pathways to facilitate women/birthing people to be smoke free before 15 weeks and continue to be smoke free throughout pregnancy and the postnatal period.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Registered Midwife.
• Mentorship Qualification (Practice Assessor level).
• Degree or equivalent.
• Evidence of ongoing education at Masters level or equivalent.
• Masters.
• NCSCT Full Advisor Certification + Pregnancy Speciality Module.
• SCTRP 3 day Course.

Experience

• Significant experience as a Band 6 Midwife.
• Proven leadership skills.
• Evidence of delivering high quality teaching to staff groups.
• Evidence of multi-agency working including external partners.
• Experience of supporting Pregnant Women/birthing people to quit smoking.
• Previous experience within a similar role at Band 7.

Skills and Abilities

• Good organisational and administration skills.
• Excellent and effective communication skills.
• Ability to prioritise a busy workload.
• Evidence of ability to influence and motivate others.
• Ability to apply evidence base in practice.
• Proven practice and service development skills.
• Ability to undertake audit.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£46,148 to £52,809 a year per annum pro rata plus HCAS.