Job overview

A MSW is a Senior Care Support Worker who:

1.    Behaves in a professional manner and ensures effective, sensitive and empathetic communication with colleagues, women, and their families. 

2.    Works to promote individualised care, specific to the needs of the woman and her family, acting as her advocate within the multidisciplinary team in the absence of the midwife.

Whilst working under the indirect supervision of the designated midwife and part of a multidisciplinary team, undertakes the direct care and appropriate interventions to maximise a positive client experiences and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the mother and baby.

Participates in the collection and recording of written and electronic data, in line with Trust guidelines and policies.

Works in partnership with clients and professionals both internally and external to the Trust to provide an effective network of care for the clients in their care. 

Identifies and escalates deviations from normal when undertaking care.

Participates in delivering national health objectives and initiatives.

Acts as an advocate for the department, in promoting respectful and flexible team working across areas.

Who proactively, consistently, and meaningfully demonstrates the Trust values in their day to day interactions with colleagues and service users.

Main duties of the job

Band 3 Maternity Support Workers (MSW) provide direct delivery of clinical care to all women and babies accessing maternity services and may be based within specialist and integrated teams such as in theatre, on postnatal ward providing transitional care to babies, and community hubs.

Band 3 MSWs may serve as a point of contact/support for women and their families and provide clinical, physical, psychological, and emotional care and support; they provide appropriate information and, where necessary, signpost to wider support organisations. They report to registered practitioners where planned delegated care has been provided.

Working for our organisation

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the ‘golden thread’ which runs through everything we do – they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronym ICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women’s Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our ‘Balance’ programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.