Working in our system

Hear from the professionals directly about their roles within maternity in Lancashire and South Cumbria:

The links above provide further guidance, information and resources around working and being supported in working, in maternity services in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

“Why work for us?”

”A great place to be cared for; a great place to work”
We are a University teaching hospital full of hard working and dedicated staff providing community and hospital services across the Morecambe Bay area – an area covering a thousand square miles in south Cumbria and north Lancashire.
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay has a firm commitment to strengthening the diversity of our workforce, and therefore welcome and encourage applications from likeminded people who can support our ambition to become effortlessly inclusive. We are particularly keen to hear from protected groups – including BAME, LGBT+ and people with a disability.

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

As one of the United Kingdom’s largest coastal resort, Blackpool has plenty to offer its residents – it’s not just a good place to work; it’s a great place to live. In addition to its bustling centre and historic seafront, the town is world famous for its many attractions, including the famous Blackpool Tower.

Blackpool also offers a number of scenic cycling routes round our local parks and across the surrounding countryside, as well as boasting panoramic views of the coast on its picturesque Promenade. Due to Blackpool’s convenient location, Edinburgh in the north and London in the south can be reached within three hours by train.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust

Job Roles

Maternity Support Worker

Being part of a family’s journey, no matter how small, is a privilege and this makes working as an MSW is highly rewarding. The role is evolving and there are now progression pathways in place making it an exciting time to become part of the maternity workforce. 

A common misconception about being an MSW is that you are around babies all day, as lovely as this would be our main role is to support the midwives in giving care throughout the whole pregnancy and in the early weeks post birth.

There are many roles under the umbrella, some of these are Antenatal Clinic MSWs, Community MSWs or Health and Well-Being MSWs to name just a few.

All of these positions require excellent communication skills as well as compassion and care. There are also clinical skills required to being an MSW such as venepuncture, performing basic observations and new born blood spot testing,

However they can be taught on the job and you will be supported to gain these skills.

Community Midwife Manager

I have been the Community Midwifery Manager since 2018, after being a Community Midwife for 10 years.

Those 10 years gave me extensive experience of Community Midwifery, providing up to date, evidence based, individualised antenatal and postnatal care, as well as supporting and contributing in providing a home birth service and building good relationships with the women and families of Blackpool Fylde and Wyre.

It is an honour to now be in the position to support all our Community Midwives, whether experienced midwives or junior members of the team. Listening to the midwives and being accessible for support is essential, as well as enabling their voices to be heard and making improvements where necessary. This may involve working with the wider multidisciplinary team to update policies in line with best available evidence and research to ensure excellent safe and effective care.

I Deal with all community incidents/complaints, so lessons are learnt, and improvements are made to the service where necessary as well as dealing with and directing any compliments that are received by the women to the appropriate midwives.

Many women in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre request care outside our policies and guidelines. As such, I work with the multidisciplinary team to support these families to ensure safe plans of care are in place for mum and baby. This entails detailed discussions with these women and their families of any risks that may be associated to their request, how we would manage any issues and provide reassurance where necessary as well as liaising with and supporting the Community Midwives through this process. This ensures the patients can make fully informed choices on their decisions of care and enables informed consent to be achieved to maintain a safe and positive birth experience for the families as well as the midwives providing that care.

News & updates