Professional Midwifery Advocate

Job overview

As part of our commitment to supporting staff and strengthening maternity services ahead of the Independent Maternity Review, we are establishing a new Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) Team across University Hospitals Sussex.

We are recruiting PMAs across UHSussex, with one post aligned to each site: Princess Royal Hospital (PRH), Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH), Worthing Hospital (WH) and St Richard's Hospital (SRH).

Each PMA will have a designated site base while working collaboratively across the Trust under the leadership of the Professional Perinatal Advocate (PPA) Lead, delivering a consistent restorative approach across maternity and neonatal services.

These newly created roles will provide visible support in clinical areas through restorative conversations, hot debriefs, real-time support and compassionate leadership, helping colleagues navigate a period of learning, transformation and cultural development.

Successful candidates will strengthen Professional Midwifery Advocacy through case management, professional development, training and embedding best practice within the A-EQUIP framework.

The PMA team will help ensure accessible advocacy support, promoting staff wellbeing, learning, service improvement and a resilient workforce.

These three-year fixed-term opportunities offer experienced PMAs the chance to develop their leadership, quality improvement, workforce development and strategic influence.

Participation in the Manager on Call rota is required.

Main duties of the job

• Delivering and facilitating Restorative Clinical Supervision
• Supporting colleagues through complex cases, incidents, Coroner's inquests and high-profile reviews
• Providing visible clinical support and restorative leadership within clinical areas
• Supporting trainee PMAs and newly qualified PMAs
• Developing and strengthening the Trust-wide PMA/PNA network
• Leading and contributing to Quality Improvement initiatives
• Supporting workforce wellbeing, retention and engagement
• Collecting evidence and demonstrating the impact and value of Professional Midwifery Advocacy across the organisation
• Promoting a restorative culture that extends across maternity, neonatal, medical and support worker teams

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This is an exciting opportunity to influence the future direction of Professional Midwifery Advocacy within University Hospitals Sussex. The successful candidates will help demonstrate the value of professional midwifery advocacy roles, ensuring advocacy remains at the heart of workforce wellbeing, learning and service improvement.

As a three-year fixed-term opportunity, these posts provide an excellent platform for career development, allowing experienced PMAs to broaden their leadership, quality improvement, workforce development and strategic influence while enhancing their professional portfolio.

Applicants must hold the Professional Midwifery Advocate qualification and demonstrate a commitment to the A-EQUIP model, restorative clinical supervision and compassionate leadership.

If you are passionate about supporting colleagues, driving positive cultural change and helping create the conditions for staff and families to thrive, we would love to hear from you.

Join us and help shape a restorative, compassionate and sustainable future for maternity and neonatal services across University Hospitals Sussex.

Internal applicants should note that this opportunity will be offered on a secondment basis. Before applying, internal colleagues must discuss the opportunity with their current line manager to confirm whether they can be released from their substantive role if successful. Release to undertake a secondment is not automatic and must be agreed between the colleague, their current line manager, and the recruiting line manager

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.