Deputy Director of Midwifery

Job overview

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.

Please see below for detailed job description of the role

Main duties of the job

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced, compassionate and credible senior midwifery leader to join University Hospital Southampton as Deputy Director of Midwifery.

In this key senior role, you will deputise for the Director of Midwifery and provide professional and operational leadership across our maternity services, supporting the delivery of safe, high quality, personalised care and leading our contribution to national maternity priorities.

You will join the senior midwifery leadership team within Women & Newborn Services at one of the largest acute teaching Trusts in England. Our maternity services provide care across obstetric and midwifery-led pathways, supported by strong multi-disciplinary working and a clear commitment to safety, learning and continuous improvement.

We are proud of our skilled, committed workforce and our ambition to continually improve outcomes and experience for women and birthing people, babies and families. You will work closely with senior clinical and corporate colleagues, system partners and maternity voices to help shape and deliver our service now and for the future.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As Deputy Director of Midwifery, you will provide professional, managerial and clinical leadership across maternity services and play a central role in achieving divisional and Trust objectives.

You will: •    Deputise for the Director of Midwifery, providing senior leadership and assurance across quality, safety, governance and performance. •    Lead with a strong operational presence, ensuring safe, effective and evidence based maternity care across midwifery-led and obstetric-led pathways. •    Take a senior role within workforce planning, recruitment and retention, ensuring services meet national safe staffing expectations. •    Provide leadership and oversight of women and birthing people’s experience, complaints handling and learning, ensuring feedback drives improvement. •    Represent the Trust across the regional maternity footprint, supporting delivery of the national maternity transformation agenda in partnership with maternity care providers. •    Work collaboratively with senior clinical, operational and corporate colleagues to progress service developments aligned to professional, clinical and organisational priorities. •    Provide effective budgetary oversight, including control of temporary staffing and supporting value based use of resources.

You will be a registered midwife with significant experience working at senior level within maternity services and a strong understanding of the national maternity agenda.

You will bring: •    Substantial leadership experience within a complex maternity service, including working with senior clinical and managerial teams. •    Credible professional leadership with the ability to influence, motivate and support others through change. •    Excellent communication skills, with the confidence to provide senior advice, judgement and assurance. •    Strong skills in negotiation, facilitation, coaching and relationship building across organisational and system boundaries. •    The ability to balance operational delivery with strategic thinking in a dynamic and high profile clinical environment.

Attached you will find the person specification document which provides more detail about the essential and desirable skills and experience needed for this role. We highly recommend you review this document and use it when completing your application as these criteria are used by hiring managers as guidance during shortlisting.

For an overview of the main duties of the role please see the ‘Job Description and Main Responsibilities’ section below. To understand the day-to-day responsibilities in more detail please read the full job description document attached.