County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 6 Safeguarding Midwife to work within our wider Safeguarding Children Team and alongside our caring and compassionate colleagues across the maternity and children services and within the wider organisation. We are looking for a highly motivated, dynamic, and innovative Band 6 Midwife to join our supportive, hard-working, friendly, and committed team, working across the Trust.
As a member of the Safeguarding Children Team, you will be required to provide safeguarding advice and support; other responsibilities include supporting risk assessment, analysis, and decision-making within safeguarding practice. You must be confident to provide training independently and support the facilitation of safeguarding supervision with staff across the Trust. You will work closely with the Specialist Safeguarding Midwife and wider safeguarding team to deliver the maternity safeguarding agenda across the Trust, whilst also working closely with our multi-agency safeguarding partnerships.
Main duties of the job
The role will require cross-site working. The successful candidate will be experienced in caring for vulnerable women from a wide variety of backgrounds, including those with complex social factors and safeguarding concerns. They will have a good understanding of safeguarding processes pertaining to vulnerable women, unborn and newborn babies, and their families. They will have a sound understanding of national and local safeguarding procedures and key legislation, and its relevance within safeguarding. You will have a robust knowledge and experience around identifying vulnerability and risk during the childbirth continuum.
You will have a commitment to ensuring that safeguarding provision across CDDFT maternity service continues to develop in line with current learning from incidents, local and national reviews, and feedback from staff around their learning needs. You will utilise the evidence base, adopting a child/family-focused approach to practice, ensuring the Trust fulfills its statutory responsibility. If you have a passion for safeguarding children and vulnerable women, a keen desire to improve the outcomes for vulnerable women, babies, and families, then this is the post for you.
Job responsibilities
* An integral part of the Safeguarding Children Team.
* Working closely with the wider safeguarding children and adult teams.
* Supporting the Specialist Midwife Safeguarding and Named Professionals Safeguarding Children, to deliver the Maternity Safeguarding agenda, across the organisation.
* Support the identification of vulnerability for women, unborn & newborn babies and their families, to ensure early intervention, to improve outcomes.
* A child's right centred and Think Family approach to providing safeguarding support, advice, and guidance, within maternity.
* Work in collaboration with multi-agency partners to ensure robust planning, assessment, and risk management, prior to birth.
* Complete accurate and robust contemporaneous safeguarding record keeping at all times.
* Ensure that there is accurate and timely pre-birth assessment, in order to safeguard and protect vulnerable unborn & newborn babies and their families.
* Attendance at multi-agency meetings, including professional meetings, risk management meetings, Strategy meetings, Pre-Discharge Planning Meetings.
* Compilation of multi-agency chronologies, applying robust information gathering, risk assessment & providing analysis.
* Assisting in the development and provision of Safeguarding Training, which is bespoke to the safeguarding children and maternity safeguarding agenda, and delivered through a variety of methods, utilising current themes from learning and feedback from practitioners.
* A sound knowledge and experience in safeguarding, specifically across the maternity footprint and an understanding of the impact of complex social needs and multiple adversity within the childbirth continuum.
* Working closely with the multi-disciplinary team and our multi-agency partners to embed evidence-based safeguarding practice and ensure that local and national learning is implemented.
* Assist in the collection of robust data pertaining to maternity & safeguarding.
* Contributing to audit and quality assurance processes to improve outcomes.
* Support and assist the Specialist & Named Safeguarding Midwives in the review and evaluation of safeguarding practice, within maternity.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge of vulnerability assessment, analysis, and the importance of individualised decision making.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge and understanding of the key relevant safeguarding legislation.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge and understanding of local and national safeguarding policies and procedures. Support the update and compilation of new policy and procedure.
* Supporting the provision of Safeguarding Supervision and reflective discussion within maternity.
* Demonstrate an understanding and ability to apply the Signs of Safety framework within practice.
* Ensure that accurate and meaningful safeguarding contacts/referrals are made, with the support, education, and empowerment, for the maternity teams.
* Demonstrate the ability to seek outcomes of referrals/safeguarding contacts, apply analysis and critical thinking to determine safety, engage in respectful professional challenge/escalation, when appropriate, to ensure that unborn & newborn babies, children, young people, and vulnerable families are safeguarded.
* Recognising and responding appropriately to Bruising in Non-Mobile Infants, utilising the appropriate pathway to support practitioners.
* Recognising and responding appropriately to Domestic Abuse within pregnancy.
* A good understanding of the processes regarding Female Genital Mutilation.
* Recognising and responding appropriately to concealment of pregnancy.
* Support the functions of MARAC & MAPPA, relevant to maternity practice.
* Engage in risk assessment, management & planning when appropriate, to respond to risks around violence, identified in other arenas i.e. MARAC, MAPPA, information sharing in MASH/Strategy.
* Accurate and timely compilation of Birth Response Plans, to ensure the communication of key information to protect the safety of vulnerable babies, women, families, and staff members within the organisation and across the multi-agency.
* Demonstrates excellent communication skills within the Maternity Safeguarding Team, the wider organisation, and multi-agency partners.
* Has a good understanding of the importance of escalation and information sharing within the team, when concerns are identified.
* Demonstrate knowledge and understanding, and provide support to practitioners, regarding the Mental Health Act & Mental Capacity Act.
* Supports practitioners caring for vulnerable women & their families; applies a sound knowledge regarding consent, Mental Capacity Act assessment, best interest decision-making, and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Also has a relevant awareness of Liberty Protection Safeguards.
* To support practitioners in the compilation of safeguarding statements and preparation for court.
* Support the Specialist & Named Safeguarding Midwives in the implementation of learning from internal incidents, local and nation reviews.
* Support the Maternity Safeguarding Team in the development and dissemination of relevant maternity resources, across the maternity agenda.
* Demonstrates an understanding and applies skills in conflict resolution.
* Maintain a current professional knowledge base and competency level, underpinned by current evidence.
* Identify personal development needs and promote personal professional development, by completing relevant reading and attending appropriate courses and study days.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge, understanding, and the ability to apply clinical governance standards.
Person Specification
Experience
* Significant experience working with children and families where there are identified vulnerabilities and safeguarding concerns.
* To have experience in facilitating training in Safeguarding Children or related topics.
* Experience in compiling referrals & making safeguarding contacts.
* Experience in adhering to and completing safeguarding policies and processes.
* Experience in preparing reports and chronologies, for safeguarding meetings.
* Demonstrate experience in safety planning and discharge planning for newborn babies.
* Experience in working with the wider multi-agency teams.
* Experience in identifying, assessing, and responding to risk.
* Experience of responding to complex safeguarding situations.
* Experience of attendance at court.
Qualifications
* 1st level Midwife with a first degree.
* Level 3 safeguarding children training. To have attended multi-agency training in Safeguarding Children and related topics.
* Significant safeguarding children knowledge and practical experience.
* Significant maternity safeguarding knowledge and experience.
* A formal adult teaching/training qualification.
* Safeguarding Adult specialist course.
Statutory Registration
* NMC - Registered Midwife.
Special Skills & Knowledge
* Ability to analyse information and make crucial decisions in complex situations.
* A children's rights centred approach to Safeguarding Children.
* Adopting a Think Family Approach to safeguarding.
* Understands and applies the principles of The Children Act 1989 and The Children Act 2004 and other key safeguarding legislation.
* Knowledge of all other relevant Safeguarding Children legislation.
* Demonstrates a knowledge of the local & national Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews & local reviews; their process and the current learning.
* Demonstrates a knowledge of the relevant local Safeguarding Adult learning.
* Provides evidence of innovative thinking around supporting the implementation of internal learning from incidents & local & national learning.
* Demonstrates a significant knowledge and understanding of local partnership multi-agency procedures, processes, thresholds, and guidance.
* Demonstrates knowledge, skills, and experience of applying safeguarding frameworks to practice, including Signs of Safety.
* Contributes to influencing changes in practice through the support of staff via education.
* Recognises the importance of safeguarding supervision.
* Is an evidence-based practitioner.
* Experience of quality assurance methods including data collection and audit.
* Understanding of clinical governance.
* Demonstrates the ability to support staff across the Trust through the provision of sound evidence-based advice and guidance to achieve the sound assessment of children and families, where there are safeguarding concerns.
* Applies knowledge and evidence to contribute to the recognition of children and families where there are safeguarding children concerns and can apply the appropriate action to achieve outcomes which are child-centred.
* High level of communication, written, oral, and presentation skills.
* Understands the importance of teamwork and has the ability to work alongside the wider Safeguarding Children Team & other Safeguarding Teams across the Trust.
* Experienced in effective multi-agency and partnership working.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge and understanding of the importance of safeguarding practice within Maternity; including safeguarding vulnerable women, unborn, and newborn babies.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge and understanding of the importance of pre-birth procedures, including planning and assessment.
* Demonstrate a robust knowledge and understanding of the importance of risk management and planning.
* Demonstrates experience of responding to domestic abuse, within the maternity setting, risk assessment, and planning.
* Demonstrates an understanding of Female Genital Mutilation; safeguarding implications and processes in pregnancy.
* Demonstrates an understanding of the impact of parental mental ill health and the safeguarding implications and processes in pregnancy.
* Demonstrates knowledge and skills pertaining to the risks around concealed pregnancy and the risk of flight during pregnancy.
* Demonstrates a knowledge and understanding of contextual safeguarding children practice.
* Ability to engage and relate to all levels of staff within and across the organisation.
* Ability to work in a mentally and emotionally demanding environment dealing with complex and emotive issues with frequent interruption.
* Demonstrates resilience and ability to apply initiative.
* Ability to respectfully follow professional challenge/managing professional differences processes when there are concerns about a child/young person/family.
* Robust knowledge of current issues in relation to information sharing, consent, and confidentiality.
* Experience of quality assurance and Clinical Governance methods, such as audit.
* Demonstrates knowledge of court processes and differences between private, public, and criminal proceedings.
* Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of safe recruitment, in relation to Safeguarding Children and the role of the LADO.
* Demonstrates an understanding of training needs analysis and impact evaluation.
Special Requirements
* Able to meet the travel requirements of the role.
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.
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
£37,338 to £44,962 a year per annum, pro rata.
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