There is a real need for learning events aimed at Maternity Support Workers. They are valued members of the maternity care team, however learning opportunities available for this group of staff are few and far between. 

Learning Reps have organised one day learning conferences, called Time4You over the last couple of years, and they are growing in popularity, with MSWs from further afield registering to attend each year. 

We wanted the event to be a mixture of learning event, seminar and workshop – which would highlight learning opportunities and skills, update MSW on resources, flag up health and wellbeing issues and promote the work of the Union Learning Rep (ULR) – but ultimately it would be a celebration of the Maternity Support Workers role.

As ULRs the event was a fantastic opportunity to promote the work of the RCM learning reps at Poole. It gave us the opportunity to explain our role, talk about past events, ongoing and future learning opportunities and how they can access help from the call2learn fund.

Setting up the event took lots of planning and organising from myself and other ULRs, from booking the venue, organising speakers and workshops to promoting the event. However we had done similar events in the past, so knew how to go about it, also the management team at Poole Maternity Hospital had recognised the benefits of the event and have been supportive, both in terms of time, and also by speaking at the event to open the day.

If someone was to ask me if it was worth all the work I’d say “absolutely!” The day received some really positive feedback and we achieved our objectives of recognising this valuable workforce with an opportunity for some time away from the workplace to focus on their own health and wellbeing.

We have had a lot of positive feedback so far, but the sessions that seems to really inspire people the most were the workshops. They were really well received, the most popular being the ones that gave people an opportunity to get hands on and 'have a go' 

The ULR team at Poole are already planning Time4You next year, and we hope to dedicate more time to the workshop sessions so that there is more choice available and allow everyone to access the more popular sessions. 

To sum up I feel that the event was a great success and attracted support workers from around the country. We really enjoyed the opportunity to meet staff from other trusts, share stories and experiences and network, and if other Union Learning Reps from other unions are considering do something similar I’d say “Yes – go for it.” Its hard work, but the benefits far outweigh this.