Perinatal Mental health Midwife

Job summary

The post holder will be a member of the Maternity team, in partnership with the Adult, Children and Maternity Safeguarding team. We are a large team with a range of expertise offering an exciting opportunity to join us as a Specialist perinatal Mental Health Midwife.

This is a key role in developing and maintaining high standards of care for women with mental health problems in pregnancy and the postnatal period, and their families. You will have a high level of relevant expert knowledge and skills, which you will use to manage, develop and lead care for pregnant and new mothers with mental health needs.

The post holder will be a highly visible perinatal mental health midwife and as such, expected to provide specialist knowledge, advice and clinical expertise to all staff in maternity services.

The post holder will work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary team and partner agencies to ensure that pregnant women and their babies who come into contact with Croydon Health Services are safeguarded and that their welfare is promoted.

You will assist with perinatal mental health training for staff involved in maternity care, with a specific remit to ensure that all staff in Maternity are adequately trained and supported in their mental health practices.

You will work collaboratively with the local perinatal mental health community team and support the specialist consultant obstetrician with an ongoing caseload of women.

Main duties of the job

1. Develop individual care plans for pregnant women with mental health concerns.
2. You will provide direct clinical care for these women in conjunction with the Perinatal Mental Health Psychiatry Service through partnership working.
3. To be directly involved in complex mental health cases and attend multidisciplinary mental health care planning meetings.
4. You will provide a link between the maternity service and other services involved in mental health care.
5. You will ensure that relevant pathways, policies and processes to identify women with, or at risk of, or with existing mental illness are developed, implemented and audited.
6. You will support your colleagues through coordinating and providing training and guidance in maternal mental health for key maternity staff, to enable them to provide holistic care that optimises mental as well as physical health in all areas of maternity care.
7. Empower women to attend to their health care needs and act as an advocate, encouraging women to reduce their health risk and improve their health outcomes in relation to their our care and their baby. (reduction of low birth weight infants and improve compliance to breast feeding)
8. Refer users to other health care professionals as required and when the needs of women are beyond post holder's scope of practice.
9. Work in line with the London Child Protection Procedures and follow the guidance when applicable.

About us

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust provide hospital and community services from a number of community and specialist clinics throughout Croydon. The Trust was formed on 1st August 2010 through the integration of Croydon Community Health Services and Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust. Around 4,100 staff provide services for a population of over 360,000 people who are relatively young with a high level of ethnic diversity.

Our main hospital site, Croydon University Hospital is one of the busiest in London. Our experienced district nursing teams, Allied Health Professionals and community matrons look after people of all ages across Croydon and our Children's Hospital at Home cares for children with long-term conditions without them having to come to hospital.

Across the NHS everyone is working hard to meet growing demand and we're no exception. But with the right people on board, we are rising to this challenge, putting our people in the driving seat, encouraging innovation and transforming our services to give local people the quality of care they deserve. Croydon Health Services puts a great deal of importance on education and training. Croydon University Hospital plays an active role in training the clinicians of the future and works in partnership with major London universities

If you want the opportunity to have a real impact, challenge yourself and be part of an NHS Trust then a career at Croydon Health Services could be just what you're looking for.