Perinatal Mental Health Midwife

1w1 week ago

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

GB · Full-time · £46,148 – £52,809

About this role

The post holder will be an Advanced Practitioner (Specialist Midwife) of the newly developing Maternity Mental Health service attached to the existing Perinatal Mental Health Team. Able to act as a lead resource with expert knowledge of specialty required to provide clinical advice and support to staff, mothers, babies and other disciplines. The service will cover the whole county working with women before conception or during pregnancy presenting with birth related trauma including infant loss.

Assess birthing people during the perinatal period who have a moderate to severe mental illness. Use expert midwifery skills to support people who have experienced trauma during childbirth, experienced child loss or have tokophobia. Manage a caseload of women with birth related trauma and higher risk mental health needs in conjunction with the wider Perinatal Mental Health Team.

Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team ensuring robust communication pathways between the maternity service and other services involved in the care of women with mental health problems, including the local primary therapy service (IAPT) and perinatal mental health team. Collaborate to deliver high-quality specialist midwifery care and maintenance of standards in accordance with the UK Law, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Trust guidelines.

Receive specialist training as Somerset are national early adopters of this new service provision. Develop, implement and evaluate multi-agency and individualised specialist mental health birth plans in conjunction with women and their significant others. Contribute to the specialist mental health clinic in conjunction with existing midwife colleagues.

Requirements

Work according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Professional Conduct
Competent and confident in all areas of midwifery practice
Act as an expert specialist resource in the provision of care for birth related trauma
Interest in perinatal mental health field essential
Able to provide highly specialist advice to other midwives and junior medical staff in birth related trauma matters
Understanding of ethics, UK law, Midwifery Rules and Standards
Ability to assess care and health education needs as a named nurse or key worker
Knowledge to facilitate signposting to other services and support pathways

Responsibilities

Act as a lead resource with expert knowledge providing clinical advice and support to staff, mothers, babies and other disciplines
Assess birthing people during the perinatal period who have moderate to severe mental illness
Support people who have experienced trauma during childbirth, child loss or tokophobia using expert midwifery skills
Provide midwifery informed specialist assessment and implementation of short-term evidence-based interventions for women experiencing birth related trauma
Develop, implement and evaluate multi-agency and individualised specialist mental health birth plans in conjunction with women and their significant others
Ensure robust communication pathways between the maternity service and other services involved in the care of women with mental health problems
Work in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team to manage caseloads of women with birth related trauma and higher risk mental health needs
Contribute to the specialist mental health clinic in conjunction with existing midwife colleagues