Job overview

INTERNAL VACANCY ONLY

As part of the Healthy Pregnancy Support Service (HPSS), the Practitioner will work within Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin alongside midwives and independently within community settings and patients’ homes to provide an evidenced based behaviour change healthy lifestyle service. The needs of patients will be at the forefront of the service, which aims to improve the general health of pregnant women, by encouraging healthy life choices e.g. quitting smoking and healthy diet and exercise.   Working with women and their families  to adopt a healthy lifestyle in pregnancy, the main priority will be to focus on and support smoking cessation, as this is a proven modifiable change that will reduce the risk of perinatal and infant morbidity and mortality. Another key priority will be to educate and encourage a healthy safe diet and maintain a healthy weight gain in pregnancy; promote the use of healthy start vitamins, promote the benefits and encourage the uptake of breastfeeding and recommended vaccination programmes for pregnant women. 

Main duties of the job

• Providing an intensive behavioural support service to facilitate pregnant women through a structured evidenced based stop smoking support programme, including providing individual choices with stop smoking medications and inform on the use of e-cigarettes to reduce risk.
• Educating and giving guidance on how to reduce their baby and children’s exposure to second-hand environmental tobacco smoke in the home to protect them from the known harmful effects.
• As well as face to face, use a range of communication as appropriate to deliver support, e.g. text messages, video call and telephone calls.
• Discussing and demonstrating how to ensure healthy eating in pregnancy, to maintain a healthy weight gain in pregnancy and reduce excessive weight into the postnatal period.
• Informing women on which safe physical activity patterns can be performed during pregnancy and signpost to local services to access activities appropriate for pregnant women. 
• Discussing and encouraging the uptake of the routine offer of  vaccinations.
• Using a range of techniques and goal setting to motivate clients and to provide them with support, information and guidance which will contribute to reducing health inequalities
• Signposting women, members of their household and significant others to other healthy lifestyle services/organisations available locally.

Working for your organisation

The Healthy Pregnancy Support Service (HPSS) are looking for a band 4 advisor to join our well-established, friendly team.

As a service we have provided smoking cessation support to the pregnant women of Telford and Wrekin since 2017. Last year we expanded our services to provide this support for pregnant women across the entire county of Shropshire.

As a public health service, we have expanded our services even further, to include weight management support in pregnancy and a full vaccination programme delivered alongside maternity scans at both PRH and RSH. We also aim to signpost women to appropriate infant feeding support in their locality.

This is a multi-level public health service for SATH Maternity and an exciting opportunity to be part of the daily operation of these services. You will receive training to deliver the role of a Healthy pregnancy advisor eventually having your own caseload of women and be able to support families to make behavioural changes to improve their health and wellbeing. 

The integration of this service as part of mainstream midwifery services will ensure a seamless care pathway at a time when women are open to receiving advice and guidance around making healthy lifestyle choices, to promote a healthy pregnancy, with a positive outcome and healthy baby.