Consultant Midwife

Job overview

At Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, we believe that when our colleagues feel valued, supported and safe, outstanding care for women and families follows naturally.

We are looking for an exceptional Consultant Midwife to join us at an exciting and pivotal moment in our journey. With nearly 5,000 births annually, we are a service of scale, ambition and heart, committed to delivering care that is equitable, innovative and truly responsive to the women and families we serve.

You will work alongside our Director of Midwifery and senior leadership team to drive national recommendations, lead practice development, and build workforce capability to innovate from the ground up. At the heart of this role is a commitment to reducing compound disparities in maternal outcomes. You will bring experience of equity-informed care, a coaching mindset, and the vision to challenge assumptions and reimagine how care is delivered.

You will be an experienced midwife who understands the operational realities of a busy maternity service, with management and on-call experience, and clinical knowledge that earns trust.

In return, we offer a supportive senior leadership team, a service investing in its people, and the space to lead with vision and courage.

Further information regarding the role can be found here:

https://buckshealthcare.pagetiger.com/bht-recruitment/maternity-recruitment?ptit=4530845F30641D3B8E21F

Main duties of the job

The Consultant Midwife will be a clinical leader and strategic partner in shaping the evolution of maternity and neonatal services to ensure they are equitable, evidence-based and responsive to the changing needs of the women and families we serve. They will be instrumental in delivering the recommendations from the National Maternity and Neonatal Review, local trust reviews, and national inquiries including Ockenden and the Thirlwall Inquiry, whilst building workforce capability for innovation and ensuring that every service redesign decision is informed by equity and the voices of women experiencing compound disparities. This is a pivotal role in transforming how we deliver care at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Above all, you will share our belief that a cared-for, empowered workforce is our greatest asset

If you want to make a real difference to the women we care for and the colleagues who care for them, we would love to hear from you.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Expert clinical practice

• Act as the clinical expert in equitable midwifery practice, demonstrating deep knowledge of how clinical decisions, assessment processes and care pathways impact women experiencing poorer outcomes.
• Maintain current clinical knowledge and act as a trusted advisor to specialist midwives and the wider team on complex clinical scenarios through an equity lens.
• Model reflexive practice that challenges assumptions and biases in how care is delivered.
• Coach colleagues to recognise and mitigate unintended inequities in their practice, supporting the development of culturally responsive and person-centred care.
• Provide expert consultancy to the multidisciplinary team on the clinical implications of service redesign for women experiencing compound disparities.

Strategic and enabling leadership

• Provide visionary clinical leadership that shapes the evolution of maternity services to meet the varied needs of women.
• Work collaboratively across professional and organisational boundaries to lead service redesign initiatives, challenge traditional models of care delivery, and create conditions for innovation and improvement.
• Actively scan the horizon for emerging evidence, best practice and innovation in midwifery and maternal health, engaging with local and national networks to inform strategic direction.
• Partner with colleagues across the service to develop their own leadership and change capability, fostering a culture where continuous improvement and equity-informed practice are embedded.
• Contribute to the strategic planning of maternity services, engaging with the Thames Valley Local Maternity and Neonatal System, Operational Delivery Network, NHS England and other relevant bodies.
• Deputise for the Director of Midwifery as required and contribute to the midwifery manager on-call rota.

Learning, developing and improving across the system

• Lead the practice development function and contribute to training to ensure the midwifery and maternity support worker workforce develops and maintains the clinical and non-technical skills necessary to deliver safe, equitable, evidence-based care.
• Work collaboratively with the Governance and Quality team to ensure that learning from cases is shared through the education programme.
• Act as an improvement coach to clinical teams, actively reducing barriers to improvement and change by connecting teams with quality improvement expertise, tools and resources.
• Enable frontline staff to access the support needed to transform practice, working in close partnership with the Trust's Quality Improvement and Transformation team.
• Foster a learning culture where staff feel empowered and enabled to innovate and make changes at clinical practice level.
• Demonstrate personal leadership by achieving 100% compliance with statutory and mandatory training targets at all times.
• Maintain records of personal development, learning and clinical hours as required for revalidation.

Research and innovation

• Identify evidence gaps and quality improvement priorities through interrogation of local data and engagement with the maternity and neonatal teams.
• Foster a research-informed culture, actively connecting clinical staff with the Trust's Research and Innovation team to ensure the service participates in relevant trials and studies.
• Champion the use of data, particularly disaggregated perinatal audit data, to understand quality and equity of care across the service.
• Contribute to the evidence base for equitable maternity practice, engaging with national networks including MBRRACE-UK, Birthrights and the Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme.
• Participate in approved research and development activities aimed at increasing knowledge and improving care in line with Trust objectives.

Professional

• Practice in accordance with the NMC Code at all times and support the revalidation of nurses and midwives.
• Maintain clear, concise and contemporaneous records in accordance with national and local guidelines and Trust policies.
• Receive and manage complex and sensitive information, ensuring confidentiality is respected at all times.

Key Relationships

Director of Midwifery

Head of Midwifery

Lead Midwife for Governance and Quality

Consultant Obstetricians

Consultant Paediatric and Neonatal team

Governance and Quality team

Quality Improvement and Transformation team

Research and Innovation team

Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership

Thames Valley Local Maternity and Neonatal System

Operational Delivery Network

Further information regarding the role can be found here:

https://buckshealthcare.pagetiger.com/bht-recruitment/maternity-recruitment?ptit=4530845F30641D3B8E21F