Midwife Practitioner - High Risk Specialist Team (Tower)
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced midwife who wishes to further develop and broaden their knowledge and skills. You will enjoy providing woman centred care as a vital part of a truly multidisciplinary team.
Tower team midwives specialise in caring for women with severe mental health conditions, drug and alcohol dependency, sickle cell disease and those diagnosed with a fetal anomaly during their pregnancy.
The team provide a caseload model of care that encompasses the recognition of additional medical and/or social complexities while respecting the importance of an individualised, holistic experience of pregnancy, birth and postnatal care.
You will gain valuable experience in conditions outlined above as well as gaining experience in team midwifery working alongside all disciplines in decision making. The position is a permanent position. The shift pattern includes a mixture of days and nights, however there are no on call duties required.
**You must have a full driving licence as the team conduct postnatal visits for women in GSTT area, however a pool car is provided***
Closing date: 10th March 2025Interview date: 17th March 2025
Main duties of the job
We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated midwife that can incorporate kindness and compassion these couples need when facing very challenging pregnancies, labour and postnatal outcomes.
The team consists of 7 midwives who also work shifts on the labour ward to provide intrapartum care. Tower Team work extensively with the wider multidisciplinary teams and have supportive networks such as midwifery psychological support and PMA reflective sessions.
You will have the opportunity to participate and lead on antenatal education. You will be able to liaise with the wider multidisciplinary team, including obstetric medicine, neonatology, fetal cardiology specialists, perinatal mental health and safeguarding teams including social services.
You will be able to provide competent individualised and personalised intrapartum care on the labour ward, using physiological CTG and supporting the wider multidisciplinary team.
We look forward to receiving your application form and working with you in the future.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK’s busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and – as part of King’s Health Partners – we are one of England’s eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research.We have one of the National Institute for Health Research’s biomedical research centres, established with King’s College London in 2007, as well as dedicated clinical research facilities.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Duties and Responsibilities
The post holder will:
- Work in accordance with the NMC rules and code of conduct for midwives.
- Maintain and develop their professional knowledge and competence in accordance within the NMC recommendations.
- Work with the Trust policies and protocols and enable all members of the practice to carry out care within these guidelines.
- Maintain good standards of care within their designated practice and assist in the implementation of recommendations from Government and professional bodies in relation to maternity care.
- Work with the MPL in the monitoring of standards of care.
- Maintain efficient and effective communication and working relationships with other professional groups and staff working within the Trust.
- Utilise the full skills of a midwife (both integral and extended) in the provision of care to women and their families.
- In liaison with the MPL ensure that midwifery practice is in keeping with current research findings and is appropriate for each individual woman for whom care is being provided.
- Assume responsibility for the safe custody and administration of drugs in accordance with the Policies and Statutory Rules and Regulations.
- Assist the MPL with the co-ordination of the clinical activities of the practice and 'act up' when required.
- Assist with orientation programmes which familiarise new members of staff with the organisational and clinical demands of the unit and group practice.
- Supervise the work of the non-midwife, qualified or unqualified staff as well as midwifery, medical and nursing students.
- Maintain stores and equipment ensuring proper economic use.
- Report complaints, incidents and accidents to the MPL or midwifery manager and assist in their investigation and resolution.
- Ensure that working conditions are safe in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act.
- To be fully informed of the risk management strategy, be responsible for reporting incidents, risk assessment and development of action plans to reduce risk.
The post holder is required to follow relevant Trust policies and procedures.
Please see attached job description for full details.
Person specification
Values and behaviours
Essential criteria- Meets the Trust values & behaviours
Education/Qualification
Essential criteria- Registered Midwife
- Have completed a preceptorship programme
- Mentorship/SSSA
- BSc - Midwifery or Public Health
- Examination of the Newborn
- NLS
- HDU course
Experience
Essential criteria- Can practice as an autonomous midwife in the acute and primary care setting
- Good written skills, well presented and fully completed application
- Experience of working with women with mental health conditions or complex medical conditions
- Confident in teaching and assessing student midwives
- Able to act up for the Band 7
- Demonstrate forward planning, problem recognition, pre-emption and resolution
- Develops action plans and initiatives to improve the service
Skills
Essential criteria- Previous experience-worked in a variety of settings utilising all midwifery skills
- Can demonstrate a forward-thinking approach e.g. waterbirth and choice
- Experience of taking charge of the ward
- Experience of midwifery research and audit
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
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