Job Description

PCP and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust are seeking enthusiastic, friendly and helpful 'Maternity Connectors' who will provide practical assistance to people accessing Community Midwifery Team and their families in the Derwentside area. Connectors will work closed with local people to support or strengthen their personal resilience whilst working with them on a range of topics such as general health, such as debt, poor housing and health in pregnancy. The Maternity Connector will be working with a targeted group of pregnant people who have been identified as having complex social needs, providing high intensity support.

Maternity Connectors will:

Hold a relevant Level 4 qualification or equivalent experience Be able to demonstrate substantial topic-based training across a range of wellbeing and lifestyle disciplines, including mental wellbeing
Be experienced in:

Co-producing personalised support plans aiming to enhance the person's health and wellbeing needs Helping people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such tobacco dependency, debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities. Helping people prepare for parenthood, develop positive parental skills.
If you are passionate about supporting pregnant people and working in maternity services we'd love to hear from you.

Closing date for applications is: Sunday 16th November 2025 at midnight.

Job Purpose

Maternity Connectors will be aligned to the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's Community Midwifery Team. The post holder will be expected to support strengthening an individual's personal resilience working with them to address the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and health in pregnancy. Maternity Connectors will work with a targeted group of pregnant people who have been identified as having complex social needs, providing high intensity support. This will involve supporting people with long term conditions (including support for mental health), tobacco dependency, those who are lonely or isolated, or have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.

The post holder will liaise with a variety of partners, community and voluntary organisations across the geographical patch and the wider family health team. Excellent communication skills, an understanding of the challenges facing vulnerable pregnant people, a specific interest in working with families around the wider determinants of health, and local knowledge of available services are essential to engage vulnerable pregnant people within our care. A willingness to undertake mandatory and role specific training within a specified timescale will also be essential.

Main Duties

a. Supporting the development and implementation of the service.

b. Working with Community Midwifery Team, Primary Care Networks, Adult Wellbeing Services and wider family health services, including social workers, health visitors and VCSE partners and existing groups to develop the referral pathways for support.

c. Helping people on an individual basis to ensure they are accessing the right support, at the right time, in the right place, receiving referrals predominantly from the Community Midwifery Team.

d. Facilitating the development and delivery of personalised care support plans aiming to improve health and wellbeing, introducing or reconnecting people to community groups and statutory services.

e. Delivering health improvement information to individuals to support the delivery aims of the programme.

f. Ensuring appropriate information and resources are available for colleagues and service users, helping people to make informed positive behaviour changes to improve their health and wellbeing.

g. Being active and involved at appropriate Community Midwifery Team meetings and work closely with the maternity, family health teams and wider multi-agency teams to implement key actions and feedback.

h. Taking and effectively managing referral from maternity services.

i. Working with multi-agency teams, including fire service, police, social care services, housing associations, and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations (list not exhaustive) to build connections for support.

j. Managing and prioritizing caseload, in accordance with the needs and service parameters. . Be able to identify any urgent support needed and escalate as appropriate.

Maternity Connectors key role - to provide personalised support

Meeting people on a one-to-one basis in the community or at home where appropriate. Focusing on 'what matters to me'. Build trust with the person, providing non-judgemental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a person's assets / strengths. Working with individuals to co-produce a personalised health and wellbeing plan - based on the person's priorities, interests, values and motivations. Encouraging self-support with people to improve their health and wellbeing in pregnancy Introducing people where relevant to groups activities and services, providing support to engage including peer support to attend groups where appropriate. Working together to identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such tobacco dependency, debt, poor housing,, loneliness and caring responsibilities. Helping people prepare for parenthood, develop positive parental skills through information giving and facilitating into parent programmes, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards. Working closely with the Community Midwifery Team to provide holistic care. It is vital that the post holder has a strong awareness and understanding of when it is appropriate to refer to health professionals and what is outside the scope of their role. Raising any safeguarding issues aligning with CDDFT and PCP policies and procedures.

Data capture and reporting

The Maternity Connector will be responsible for capturing data, feedback and case studies to demonstrate individual and overall impact of the service on people's lives. Timely and accurate data capture, inputting details onto patient record systems in line with information governance policies and procedures and ensuring all systems are up to date by the end of each working day. Supporting referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring. Providing appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred. Assisting with any reporting requirements internally and externally, including providing updates during team meetings as required. Working sensitively with people, their families and carers to capture key information, enabling tracking of the impact of the project on their health and wellbeing throughout pregnancy and their interaction with this service. Supporting and providing maternity services with regular updates about Maternity Connectors caseloads, individual progress, successes and challenges Assisting with training for staff on how to access information to encourage appropriate referrals.

Communication and Working Relationships

The post holder will be expected to work and communicate via telephone, e-mail, video-calling and face-to-face with a range of organisations and individuals to achieve the project aims, including:

Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) Community Midwifery Team County Durham Adult Wellbeing Services Durham County Council Community groups and Third Sector organisations, e.g. Citizens Advice Other Wellbeing programmes as appropriate

Health and Safety Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the individual to work in compliance with all current health and safety legislation and the Pioneering Care Partnership and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's Health and Safety Policy and to attend any training requirements both statutory and mandatory in line with the legal responsibility to comply with the Health and Safety and Welfare at Work Act 1974.

Infection Control

It is the responsibility of all individuals to comply with infection control policies and to attend to any appropriate training requirements in line with County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's responsibility to comply with Government Directives.

Risk Management

It is a standard element of the role and responsibility of all staff of the Pioneering Care Partnership and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust that they play a proactive role in the management of risk in all of their actions. Members of staff are responsible for adherence to all policies for the safety of staff and patients at work.

Child/Young Person Related Posts

Has responsibility for ensuring that children and young people are safeguarded and must comply with the NHS Safeguarding Children Procedures and the Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership Child Protection Procedures. The post holder must attend safeguarding children training at a level appropriate to the role and function of the post. Safeguarding Children Training is mandatory for all staff within this field.

Sustainability

For both PCP and CDDFT our aim is to be an exemplary organisation in the way we embrace sustainability and corporate social responsibility. To achieve this, it is the responsibility of all staff to minimise the environmental impact of their day-to-day activities and adhere to the policies on sustainability, waste, resource usage and governance.

CV's are not accepted as part of the recruitment process. Visit www.pcp.uk.net and download an application pack. Return completed application forms to hr@pcp.uk.net

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: 26,532.00-28,343.00 per year

Benefits:

Company events Free flu jabs Health & wellbeing programme Sick pay
Work Location: In person