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Job summary

Main area
Public Health
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 4
Contract
11 months (fixed term)
Hours
  • Full time
  • Job share
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
319-7903644IO
Employer
Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
John Willie Sams Centre
Town
Dudley
Salary
£28,392 - £31,157 pro rata, per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
16/04/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Best Start in Life Advisor

NHS AfC: Band 4

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022).  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

  • Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
  • Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
  • A range of flexible working opportunities
  • Generous annual leave and pension scheme
  • Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
  • Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
  • Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We work closely with Kids First Nurseries that are based within our trust grounds at Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham hospitals to care for our Trust family's children, they offer care for children from 6 weeks old up to 4 years.  There are a number of funding options run by the government to help working parents, including Early Years Funding and Tax Free Childcare.

Flexible working offers choice in where, when, and how we work, ensuring patients remain at the heart of all we do. It’s open to everyone, and we aim to find solutions that work for both you and the organisation. All arrangements must be reasonable and balanced to maintain safe and effective patient care.

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy. 

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes.  If you use AI, and it poses a risk  to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process. 

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our expanding team, working with pregnant women and their families to ensure that every child has the best start in life.

We are seeking a dynamic and motivated person with a level 3 qualification in a health or related subject and experience of working with pregnant women and families or community groups, in a health or voluntary sector capacity.

The role will work with both the public health team and maternity teams providing a holistic, behavioural change approach to caring for pregnant women and their families, providing a range of early support and information to promote a healthy pregnancy and targeting work to reduce health inequalities faced by families in your care. This may include, smoking cessation, physical activity advice, infant feeding, immunisations and healthy lifestyle support.

You will work with the maternity tobacco dependency team and public health team to provide behavioural support and treatment to promote changes to support a healthier pregnancy.  In addition, you will care for women in priority groups who experience poorer outcomes in maternity and healthcare, including those who are living with complex social needs and those  and  women from ethnic minority backgrounds.  

The Best Start in Life Advisor role is multi-skilled and will involve working autonomously across a variety of core public health priorities to provide opportunities for the best start in life.

Main duties of the job

To work with a caseload of women and families during pregnancy and the early postnatal period to promote the best start in life for every child.  You will be based in both the hospital and community setting, providing support in Family Hubs, family homes and community bases.

To support the wider 'Best Start in Life' programme of work within the public health and wider maternity team.

To support and manage prioritisation of a caseload in the maternity Best Start in Life pathways to ensure safe, well organized and evidenced based care is provided to all that access the service. 

You will provide support in a range of settings as required for the delivery of smoking cessation services and the enhanced continuity or carer pathway, this may include work with people by phone, by video conference, or face-to-face.

To support the delivery of the service key performance and reporting indicators for tobacco dependency and enhanced continuity of carer pathways.

The Best Start in Life team are based in the John Willie Sams Centere, Dudley, however the team works across Family Hubs, family homes and Community sites, offering a personalised approach to care.  The post holder will be responsible for a caseload of women/families in a specific area. 

We particularly welcome applications from staff with maternity service experience, interested in a secondment opportunity.  Informal discussions are welcomed, please contact Carla Anderson.

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres. We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To work with the maternity and public health teams to provide holistic care based on a behaviour change approach to pregnant women and their families, with a focus on reducing health inequalities, improving maternal and neonatal outcomes and promoting a healthy pregnancy.

The post holder should have a working knowledge of public health and maternity services, as well as proven experience of working with vulnerable families in a community setting.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Knowledge of public health/community services/maternity care procedures and practices; acquired through NVQ3 plus additional training to diploma level equivalent, or equivalent through short courses or experience
  • Level 3 qualification in relevant subject or equivalent experience
  • Experience of working and communicating with vulnerable families.
  • Experience of working in a health or voluntary community setting.
Desirable criteria
  • Certificate/Professional qualification in a related area
  • Level 2 smoking cessation training
  • Motivational behaviour training

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of working with local community groups, health sector or voluntary sector in some capacity
  • A Knowledge and understanding of underlying determinants of health and issues facing people in communities of multiple deprivation
  • Experience of working with pregnant women/families in a community setting
  • Experience of working and communicating with vulnerable families.
  • Experience of working in a health or voluntary community setting.
Desirable criteria
  • Supervisory experience
  • Knowledge of behaviour change methods
  • Knowledge of health needs of the local community
  • Experience of working with pregnant women and families

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Better Health at Work AwardHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - GoldNHS England - Work Experience Quality Standard - Gold Award

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Carla Anderson
Job title
Public Health Matron
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0191 2932539
Additional information

Informal discussions are welcome, please get in contact.

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