Lead Midwife for Maternity Ward, Band 7

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a dedicated and passionate team of midwives working on a mixed antenatal and postnatal ward.

The post holder of this role will be responsible for the effective management of antenatal and postnatal inpatient care services within the hospital, working closely with the intrapartum and Triage teams. You will be part of the leadership team, supporting antenatal and postnatal patients on a fast-paced mixed antenatal and postnatal ward. You will be expected to co-ordinate and manage high quality, caring and compassionate patient-centred care through effective leadership and management and in partnership with all members of the multidisciplinary team.

The successful candidate must act as a resource and a role model and provide leadership, specialist advice and support to colleagues and be flexible to meet the needs of the service. You will be required to be flexible, open and approachable and demonstrate effective management procedures that enable efficient provision of high-quality care within available resources, thinking creatively to be able to work within financial constraints while developing the clinical service e.g. role modernisation and review of skill mix.

You must have the ability to influence change through the development and empowerment of staff and work effectively and efficiently within a rapidly changing environment and possess the ability to motivate and promote team working and have a high level of personal integrity.

Main duties of the job

To hold professional accountability for the managing of a team of staff on the maternity ward, delivering high quality, caring and compassionate patient-centred care through effective leadership and management and in partnership with all members of the multidisciplinary team.

To take overall responsibility for the specific clinical inpatient antenatal and postnatal area, assess, plan, co-ordinate implementation and evaluate the workload in the clinical area of responsibility.

Maintain health and safety of clients and colleagues at all times by complying with all relevant Trust policies, facilitate the implementation of the policies and procedures in the area of responsibility.

Promote multi-disciplinary team working, leading/liaising, communicating as necessary and supporting junior staff.

Take a lead role in ensuring all students/novice practitioners receive appropriate practice facilitation and mentorship.

Working in partnership with colleagues across the Directorate to provide both clinical leadership and develop standards to promote high quality practice

The role will also include working within the flow midwifery team, contributing to the rota to oversee clinical activity, flow and quality through the service on a shift-by-shift basis.

As an experienced clinical practitioner, the post holder will be expected to create an environment of continuous quality improvement.

Liaise closely with maternity ward managers, triage and antenatal clinic leadership team.

As our most valuable asset, we understand that happy, fulfilled staff will offer their best, and we aim to achieve this by providing a supportive team approach.

We have a large team comprising midwives, maternity care assistants, maternity support workers and obstetricians. We clearly link in with other members of the wider multidisciplinary team.

Our Maternity Ward is a mixed antenatal and postnatal ward, in which we care for women experiencing induction, inpatient stays for other antenatal complications, and postnatal women of every mode of birth. This is a fast-paced environment comprised of midwives, nurses, maternity support workers, paediatricians and obstetricians.

We have a comprehensive mandatory training programme including PROMPT as well as many opportunities for you to develop personally.

We have several shared decision making councils, giving all staff a voice within the department.

We recognise that some staff may experience difficult situations. To support them, we have, alongside our lead midwives and senior midwifery team, an excellent PMA team.