As a maternity support worker, you will help mothers, their infants, and their families before, during, and after birth. You will provide knowledge, reassurance, and assistance to mothers and newborns, ensuring they get safe and high-quality maternity care. Maternity support personnel do not make clinical decisions or pass clinical judgements on mothers or their infants.
Responsibilities
Throughout your apprenticeship, you may help:
- help to care for mothers and babies
- do routine checks like blood pressure or temperature
- provide support to families in labour wards and maternity theatres
- help with parenting classes
- collect statistics, keep records up-to-date and do routine admin
- report problems to a midwife or a nurse
- help on wards and other clinical areas.
Salary
- Starting salaries for an apprentice is £18,545 per year.
- Experienced maternity support workers can earn up to £24,881 per year.
Working hours
You will typically work 40 to 42 hours per week including evenings, weekends and bank holidays on a rota.
Working environment
You could work in an NHS or private hospital, in the community or at a client’s home.
Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding.
You may need to wear a uniform.
Qualifications
Qualifications you can achieve as an apprentice maternity support worker include:
- Level 2 Healthcare Support Worker – Entry requirements for this level include some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship. This qualification will take 12 months to complete.
This would give you the skills and knowledge to move on to an advanced apprenticeship as a senior healthcare support worker.
- Level 3 Senior Healthcare Support Worker – Entry requirements for this level include 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship. This qualification will take 18 months to complete.
On the advanced apprenticeship you can follow the maternity support option.
Skills
On a maternity support worker apprenticeship, you’ll learn:
- knowledge of neonatal health and medicine
- customer service skills
- sensitivity and understanding
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- thinking and reasoning skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- the ability to use your initiative
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device.
Professional development
You will receive induction training, including:
- infection control
- breastfeeding support
- risk management
- child protection
- health and safety
You may be encouraged to work towards further education qualifications. This includes:
- SQA HNC Healthcare Practice
- Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) – Nursing or Nursing and Midwifery
Suppose you work as a maternity support worker at a hospital and want to further your knowledge and abilities. In that case, you might enrol in the Certificate of Higher Education Maternity Care Assistant Programme.
Career prospects
You might become a senior maternity support worker with time and experience. This experience might be beneficial if you decide to study to become a registered midwife or nurse at university.