Divisional Governance Lead Maternity and Neonatal

Job overview

Are you passionate about improving quality and safety in midwifery? We are looking for an exceptional midwife with a proven track record working within a safety and quality portfolio who can provide clinical oversight and  leadership as the divisional governance lead for maternity and neonatal

You will lead on the coordination of serious incidents, complaints, and audit, ensuring learning is embedded into practice and aligned with national priorities including Ockenden, National reports, the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, and Maternity Incentive Scheme and MBRRACE UK. Working closely with multidisciplinary teams and system partners, you will be responsible for oversight of  governance frameworks, support assurance processes, and promote a culture of safety and continuous improvement.

We are looking for a highly motivated midwife with existing strong governance experience, excellent analytical skills, and a proven ability to lead a team,  influence practice and deliver change at pace.

This multifaceted role demands exceptional leadership, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to work across multidisciplinary teams and deliver assurance at the highest level. The postholder will champion governance excellence, foster collaboration, and ensure that systems and processes underpin the delivery of safe, effective, and harm-free care.

Main duties of the job

This is a highly visible and influential leadership role that provides strategic and operational governance support across the Division with a focus on Maternity and Neonatal services. The Divisional Governance Lead will act as a key driver for patient safety, quality improvement, and regulatory compliance, ensuring that governance systems are robust, responsive, and aligned with national standards and Trust policy.

The purpose of the role is to provide strategic leadership and oversight of the divisional governance agenda in relation to the Maternity and Neonatal portfolio, ensuring compliance with Trust policies, national standards, and NHS frameworks. Manage the Maternity and Neonatal governance team; drive patient safety, learning, and ensure that improvement actions are undertaken and that assurance of actions being embedded are evident through audit assurance processes; and enable high-quality care through effective incident response, risk management, compliance, and culture.

The postholder will oversee incident profiles and serious incidents, providing escalation and thematic reviews to the Divisional Management Team and ensuring lessons learned are embedded into practice. They will lead divisional learning responses relating to Maternity and Neonatal services under the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), ensuring investigations are robust and outcomes shared to improve care delivery.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see Job description and person specification for details of the role role and  responsibilities.

Risk management will form a key part of the role, with responsibility for maintaining and scrutinizing the relevant aspects of the divisional risk register, validating new risks, ensuring controls and assurances are documented, and escalating significant risks to senior leadership. The role also includes ensuring regulatory compliance, acting as the divisional lead for Care Quality Commission (CQC) requirements, maintaining inspection readiness, coordinating responses to enquiries, and monitoring action plans.

The Divisional Governance Lead for Maternity and Neonatal services will provide oversight of audit and clinical effectiveness processes, ensuring NICE guidance responses and audit findings are tracked and reported through governance structures. Safeguarding responsibilities include monitoring incidents, collaborating with the Safeguarding Team, participating in Section 42 reviews, and providing assurance to governance forums.

In addition, the postholder will act as a trusted advisor for workforce investigations and managing allegations, ensuring fair and transparent processes, supporting managers, and contributing to lessons learned reviews. They will also coordinate divisional responses to clinical claims, disseminate learning, and oversee safety alerts to ensure timely review, dissemination, and action tracking.

Finally, the role includes leadership and management of the Maternity and Neonatal governance team, encompassing recruitment, on boarding, appraisals, training compliance, and performance management, while fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement