Job summary
Working Full/Part Time.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for enthusiastic and dynamic Midwives to join our Community Midwifery Team at The Countess of Chester Hospital.
We provide antenatal and postnatal care to women in the Ellesmere Port, Chester City and Chester Rural areas. Working out of Children Centre's and GP surgeries.
We are proud of our homebirth rate and keen to increase this Offering women birthplace choice and enabling women to birth safely in their home environment is especially important to us.
This post does include on calls; approximately 1 per week, for homebirths and escalation into the hospital.
You may have safeguarding caseloads depending on the area you work in and we have a fabulous Safeguarding Team supporting us.
Teamwork is particularly important to us, supporting each other and providing high quality care to women and their families is our ultimate aim. We are forward thinking team within our community and hospital settings.
We are committed to following the National programme and working towards the NHS three year plan, which includes developing a continuity of carer team. Please let us know if your preference would be traditional model or a continuity team, should you be successful with us.
If you feel like a new challenge, come and join our fabulous community team at the COCH.
We are also excited to announce we are currently working on plans for our new maternity unit which is planned to open in 2025
Main duties of the job
The post holder will assess the full range of care needs and as a result develops, implements and evaluates programmes of care throughout the ante-natal, intra-partum and post-natal period in either the community or hospital setting for women and their babies.
We ask all employees to be flexible in their role, to always ensure we are delivering Safe, Kind and Effective care. The list below is to outline the main duties; however this is subject to change and will vary within the given role. We ask all employees to be flexible in their role
1. Work autonomously within guidelines and Sphere of Professional Practice within a designated area whilst being responsible for performing a comprehensive assessment plan, implementation and evaluation of care delivery according to the health and social needs of women and their babies.
2. Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure women and their families' needs are met especially in relation to ongoing health/social requirements and discharge arrangements.
3. Work collaboratively to ensure care women receive is safe, kind and effective.
4. Establish and maintain effective communication with women and their families.
5. Collect, collate and report information, ensuring accurate records are maintained
6. Recognise and respond appropriately to urgent and emergency situations
7. Involve women and their families in the planning and delivery of care.
About us
The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:
8. The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds.
9. Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility.
10. Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.
The Trust employs over 6258 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 407,000. This includes 357,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.
The Trust is a busy district general hospital and in 2022/2023, there were more than 503,342 patient attendances (inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery. This is an increase of nearly 10,000 compared to the previous year when there were 494,387 patient attendances.
Job description
Job responsibilities
See Job Description for further details.
Recruitment selection processes are based on competence (see Person specification) and values.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £23 (standard) or £43 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first three months of employment.
You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee of £13 per year applies.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.
Good luck with your application.
Person Specification
Qualification
Essential
11. Registered Midwife
12. Degree /relevant experience
Desirable
13. Relevant speciality qualification Examination of the Newborn / NALS/relevant experience
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
14. Willingness to develop speciality knowledge if applicable to post
15. Able to maintain accurate records within the diversity of midwifery
16. Able to present factual information and deal with questions
Desirable
17. Experience of working within a continuity of carer model and keen to work within tis model
Skills and Abilities
Essential
18. Ability to communicate in a variety of midwifery settings
19. Ability to develop effective interpersonal relationships with colleagues in a variety of health care setting.
20. Able to deal with women and their families at times of emotional stress
Desirable
21. Understanding of quality and change in the clinical setting
22. Basic knowledge of Professional & NHS issues
23. Understanding of National targets related to Midwifery Practice