Head of Midwifery, Band 8c- Maternity

at  Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The post holder is a key member of the senior leadership team within the Division and works under the professional direction of the Director of Midwifery to provide guidance, support and leadership to all midwifery and nursing staff to ensure patient safety, service quality and excellent patient experience is consistently maintained. Accountable for ensuring the appropriate management and leadership of the midwifery and nursing teams, holding Matrons, ward and department leaders and clinical practitioners to account to ensure that organisational performance indicators and regulatory standards and quality indicators are monitored and appropriate action is taken according to results. Provides both the professional, strategic and operational leadership across the maternity service to ensure optimum standards of care and service are delivered through effective management of human, financial and physical resources. Focus is on the provision of responsive, compassionate, visible leadership for wards and departments within maternity and a range of services which are both hospital and community based.
Acts as a strong patient advocate ensuring that a culture of continuous improvement and learning is supported in order to drive quality care delivery across the division and facilitate the development of clinical practice, to ensure excellent care. Develops services through the implementation of innovative strategies to ensure an empowered workforce at all levels that is fit for purpose and equipped to deliver excellence in care standards, including securing the workforce for the future. Proactive, makes recommendations, facilitates and contributes to the management of change to ensure services are patient and family focused, evidence based and provide high standards of clinical care; delivering service provision in line with national and local policy. Ensures that all responsible midwifery and nursing staff are effectively developed to achieve their own and their departmental objectives which in turn will meet the Trusts strategic priorities, commissioning intentions and CQC requirements.

Assists the Director of Midwifery in the implementation of the corporate midwifery agenda; taking a specific strategic lead where requested on allocated cross divisional and corporate roles. Areas of key focus will change over time, but currently key outcome measures are: Achieving KPI associated with the National Maternity and Neonatal Transformation programme, particularly around the learnings from national reports to grow change Undertaking a six-monthly Midwifery and Multidisciplinary staffing review and leading on the associated workforce plan. Engagement of the midwifery, obstetric, anaesthetic and neonatal teams in monitoring and reporting of clinical outcomes across the service Works with the Director of Midwifery and Speciality Triumvirate to develop an annual business plan which is in line with commissioning intentions and organisational objectives. Communications and working relationshipsInternal/External - Divisional Directors: Chief of Service, Director of Midwifery, Director of Operations.

• Speciality Director, Matrons and General Managers. - Trust Leadership Team. - A range of senior midwives and nurses both within and outside the division. - Medical staff and other members of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Service users, Maternity Voices Partnership and their families. - General public. - Trust departments e.g. HR, Occupational Health, Finance, Information, Estates, Safety and Experience, Complaints, Legal Services.
• Regional Chief Midwife - NHS England and NHS Improvement - South West regional maternity team - South West Heads of Midwifery and Directors of Midwifery - Local Maternity and Neonatal System - Integrated Care Board - Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch - Universities and colleges - Health Education England - External agencies and networks - Royal Colleges - Trade Unions

• Speciality Director, Matrons and General Managers. - Trust Leadership Team. - A range of senior midwives and nurses both within and outside the division. - Medical staff and other members of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Service users, Maternity Voices Partnership and their families. - General public. - Trust departments e.g. HR, Occupational Health, Finance, Information, Estates, Safety and Experience, Complaints, Legal Services.
• Regional Chief Midwife - NHS England and NHS Improvement - South West regional maternity team - South West Heads of Midwifery and Directors of Midwifery - Local Maternity and Neonatal System - Integrated Care Board - Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch - Universities and colleges - Health Education England - External agencies and networks - Royal Colleges - Trade Union