Divisional Deputy Director of Midwifery | Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, experienced, motivated and inspirational midwifery leader to join our team of supportive and dedicated midwifery and medical staff as we strive to further enhance the outstanding 5-star patient care provided by all. We are looking for a dynamic, compassionate, forward-thinking midwife with a broad range of experience to become a Divisional Deputy Director of Midwifery at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust. Please note that interviews will include an assessment task, dates TBC. The post holder will play a key role in supporting our Director of Midwifery in ensuring an effective, and safe midwifery service with a commitment to achieving excellence in maternity care. They will provide professional leadership and management responsibility for maternity staff and will contribute to the development of the Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Plan (MNIP) and play an active role within the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS). The Postholder will be an exceptional leader with in-depth knowledge of governance and assurance mechanisms, operational management experience of maternity services both in the community and the hospital and who will inspire confidence and innovation amongst our incredible workforce who together, ensure the women/birthing people and staff are safe, cared for and listened too. You will be able to demonstrate a recent track record of achievement in leading and developing innovative midwifery practice and improving quality. The Deputy Director of Midwifery will be a key member of the senior leadership team and will work closely with all members of the clinical team, women and their families and key stakeholders. They will support service modernisation; workforce planning and play a vital role in the response and delivery of key maternity drivers and national recommendations., Lead the development of midwifery practice and services by providing expert strategic and clinical leadership. Support the Director of Midwifery with the strategy for midwifery services, setting standards and guidelines for midwifery practice in keeping with NMC, national policy documents and guidance and leading the continuing research and clinical development agenda for maternity services. Represent midwifery at a local and regional and level, and a play a key role in the integration of maternity service provision across Trust led services. This will ensure that the best possible woman & family experience is delivered through high quality, person centred clinical practice and service delivery, interfacing with other staff to implement change and to support the full integration of midwifery within multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams. Deputise for the Director of Midwifery Provide visible and up to date professional leadership to midwives. Ensure robust systems of clinical and professional governance, practice and professional development are in place and develop accountability and assurance frameworks to secure high quality and sustainable services to patients. Develop new and innovative models of midwifery practice in consultation with the Director of Midwifery, aligned to evidence-based practice, modernising midwifery and changes to maternity services. Lead and manage efficient, professional and comprehensive complaints and legal responses, working with teams to set the standards and drive improvements across the Trust. Inform the Division and Trust Board on the political issues within maternity care and the impact on this on service delivery workforce requirements and workforce development. Lead the planning and development of midwifery services to ensure that they are best provided to meet the developing needs of the service and the population. Significantly contribute to the divisions clinical governance agenda ensuring concerns are raised via appropriate escalation processes. Ensure the highest standards of performance are established and that key performance indicators are achieved. Work with the heads of quality to ensure trust-wide learning from claims and complaints and themes from incidents to ensure a comprehensive approach to lessons learnt. Benchmark against local, national and international best practice to develop and deliver evidenced base practice for women and families. CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES Maintain Professional Registration and practice through CPD. Adhere to NMC Code: professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing associates. Maintain personal standards of conduct and behaviour consistent with Trust and NMC guidance. Provide expert advice on evidence-based practice in midwifery. Influence maternity care to be the highest standard whilst exercising professional and personal autonomy. Ensure learning from risk management and clinical governance, serious incidents, patient complaints, or clinical risks are reflected in changes to clinical practice. Facilitate planning and development of midwifery services to ensure that they are best provided to meet the developing needs of the service and the population. Champion user involvement in shaping the maternity service through active membership of the Maternity, Neonatal Voice Partnership. Participation in the facilitation of local resolution meetings, supporting staff through the process. Ensure that there is a robust workforce plan for the maternity service which include plans for proactive recruitment, retention of staff and succession planning. Ensure all staff meet and maintain their mandatory and professional training requirements. Act as an exemplary professional role model. ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES Maintain effective systems to ensure accurate records of all incidents claims and complaints and ensure that information is triangulated to ensure lessons are learnt and cascaded. Ensure there are systems and processes in place for responding to national Guidance and recommendations from maternity service reviews. Ensure the policies are reviewed regularly and are up to date, reflecting best practice and national regulations. Provide internal and external reports and returns, including the annual report, relevant information and reports for Governance meetings, Patient Experience Council, Risk Management Council, Workforce Council, Quality Committee, Trust Board. Ensure standards of record keeping and documentation are monitored and systems for storage of notes are in place in accordance with Caldicott Guardian and Trust policy. LEADERSHIP Provide service focused leadership and strategic direction, in partnership with the divisional triumvirate. Ensure high quality clinical care, continuous improvement of clinical practice and positive patient experience maintaining a safe, quality and effective maternity service. Embed cultural changes where required in clinical and personal practice. Provide an advisory role within the division on all issues related to midwifery practice and government and professional policy that Impacts on midwifery practice. Responsible for providing professional advice and leadership to all Midwives within Maternity Services. TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES To attend annual updates and training as required. Ensure the Board, senior managers and staff are aware of forthcoming legislative changes, advising on appropriate action and ensure that the Trust has action plans in place to maintain on-going compliance. Lead the development and maintenance of midwifery training and education within the service to meet the needs of all relevant staff groups alongside monitoring of compliance. Collaborative working with the learning and development team to ensure the availability of training and development programmes in line with Divisional training needs and maternity specific training Support the development of relevant and/or bespoke training identified following specific claims or complaints. Maintain own knowledge and subject expertise. Act as an exemplary professional role model and advisor on Midwifery Practice within the care setting. RESEARCH & AUDIT To participate in midwifery and medical research and audit as required. The post holder must ensure adequate systems are in place for clinical and non-clinical audit process and associated actions. FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Budget holder for the maternity service. Input into any tenders that involve maternity services reviews as required. Ensure the effective use of resources within agreed expenditure targets. Take the lead in developing ward and departmental managers / budgetary skills, and to promote ownership of local financial responsibilities. Identify financial savings which are generated from the service's improved efficiency and productivity.

Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care. Our Services: Acute Care Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites. Primary Care Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital. Community Services Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre. Specialist Regional Services We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales. Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme