Job overview
The Whittington Health Maternity Inpatient area are seeking for a passionate and dedicated registered midwife with significant clinical experience in team leadership and operational management. The applicant should have strong communication, conflict resolution and decision making skills.
Accountable for safe and high quality maternity care, staff leadership, patient flow and daily ward operations in a variety of practice settings within the Maternity unit, throughout the antenatal. Intrapartum and postnatal periods that is effectively and efficiently within available resources, as well as contribute to the delivery of the organisation’s objectives.
The care will be evidence based and holistic in meeting women and birthing people’s individual needs and the midwife will be expected to work autonomously within the guidelines and sphere of professional practice.
The post holder will provide clinical leadership, facilitate professional development and carry continuing overall responsibility for the management and co-ordination of a team of midwives, students and support workers of a designated clinical area.
It is anticipated that the post holder will have effective visionary leadership and efficient experience as would be necessary to underpin changing practice. The post holder will be expected to be competent and work in all clinical areas if deemed necessary by service leads.
Main duties of the job
Governance – ensure safe and effective practice
·Professional, ethical and legal
·Adhere to NMC guidelines for practice for practice requirements and standards for example: safe handling, administration, storage and custody or medicinal products.
·Ensure that organisational goals are reflected on own and the midwifery/nursing teams’ objectives and in the maternity unit plans.
Coordination of the patient journey
·Foster a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and communication
·Ensure the safety and quality of the maternity journey by effective planning and co-ordination of the episode of care, including the smooth transition to other settings.
·Ensure effective admission/early discharge planning with relevant multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams as required.
·Women and their Families involvement
Role model
·Act as a visible leader within the maternity unit.
·To provide effective clinical leadership and support to all midwives and students that enables professional decision making and effective team working.
·Empower and enable staff to contribute to the delivery of high-quality individualised care that is cost effective and efficient.
·Support clinical expertise of midwives and nurses within the maternity unit by role modelling evidence-based women-centred care.
Working for our organisation
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will focus and lead on the following key areas, within the organisation’s governance framework:
1.Governance – ensure safe and effective practice
·Professional, ethical and legal
·Adhere to NMC guidelines for practice for practice requirements and standards for example: safe handling, administration, storage and custody or medicinal products.
·Ensure care given to women in in keeping with Trust guidelines, policies and procedures and with due regard to the NMC midwives rules, codes of practice and scope of professional conduct.
·Evidence based practice
·Be an expert in physiological midwifery and act as a resource by providing support and development for staff and students.
·Promote a culture of evidence-based practice with the multidisciplinary team to enhance individualised care.
·Participate in the collection of information and statistics for audits to monitor changes and help develop the service.
·Environment
·Maintain a safe and clean environment for staff, patients/clients and visitors by ensuring compliance with legislation, policies and protocols including health and safety and risk management.
·Ensure safe and effective use of equipment as per Health and Safety policy.
·Ensure near misses, incidents, accidents, and faulty devices are recorded, reported, investigated and learning disseminated as per trust policy.
2.Enhance the patient/client experience.
·Personalised centred care
·Develop and maintain a culture of individualised care within the maternity unit
·Promote a caring environment where equality and diversity issues are respected, and women, birthing people and their families are enabled to be partners in their care.
·Develop strategies for communication between staff, women, relatives, and their families.
·Facilitate communication between all members of the multi-disciplinary/multi-agency team, and across care setting.
·Coordination of the patient journey
·Foster a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and communication
·Ensure effective admission/early discharge planning with relevant multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams as required.
·Women and their Families involvement
oEnsure effective systems are in place to gain women and their family’s feedback on their experience of care.
oEnsure compliments and complaints are managed in line with trust policy including the dissemination of shared learning and proactive in preventing further complaints.
3.Provide effective leadership and management
·Role model
·Act as a visible leader within the maternity unit.
·To provide effective clinical leadership and support to all midwives and students that enables professional decision making and effective team working.
·Empower and enable staff to contribute to the delivery of high-quality individualised care that is cost effective and efficient.
·Deputise for the Midwifery lead in his/her absence and as required to maintain the midwifery service.
·Develop team performance.
·Lead by example, demonstrating a proven record of sound leadership, management skills, courtesy and diplomacy when dealing with colleagues and the public.
·Promote a positive culture to facilitate good staff relationships.
·Promote team building and maintain cohesion within clinical areas to establish a positive working environment.
·Undertake annual appraisal and development reviews of team members, ensuring effective implementation of the Knowledge and Skills Framework and personal development plan (DH, 2004).
·Contribute to the education of midwifery and nursing staff, and work in partnership with educational staff.
·Support the development and preceptorship of midwives and students in a supportive environment for learning and development.
·Manage the ward/department/team.
·Ensure appropriate delegation to midwives and nurses and health care support workers and monitoring of outcomes for effective care/service delivery.
·Challenge appropriately and confidently where standards of care fall below that which the senior team would expect.
·Help to maintain the designated budget working with the lead midwife to ensure resources are managed correctly and efficiently.
·Contribute to budget management within the ward/department, to ensure services are managed in accordance with yearly financial instructions.
·Effective Use of resources
·Ensure optimal use is made of available resources to provide a safe and effective service.
·Show a commitment to effectively manage resources and achieve statutory financial targets. Ensure resources are available to maintain a safe provision of the service.
·Adhere to Trust systems for effectively managing stock and safeguarding fixed assets.
·Ensure that all equipment is maintained in good working order and staff understand the importance of good maintenance.
4.Contribute to the delivery of the organisation’s objective.
·Continuous quality and improvement
·Promote a culture of continuous quality improvement through the use of audit, patient/client feedback and reflection and practice by self and other members of the team.
·Service improvement and transformation
·Working in partnership with a range of clinicians and managers in the planning or development of own service promoting the involvement of women, birthing people and their families.
·Staff management
·Ensure midwives and nurses working in the clinical are professionally qualified and registered with the NMC.
·Ensure all policies and guidelines are strictly adhered to by all members of staff and initiate disciplinary procedures when necessary.
·Liaise with Midwifery Matrons, Head and Director of Midwifery on all professional midwifery issues.
·Manage duty rotas/annual leave and study leave to always ensure adequate midwifery/nursing cover and appropriate skill mix within the staffing resources.
·Ensure processes are in place to manage sickness/absenteeism and take appropriate action in line with trust policies.
Operational overview
·Complete the Birth-rate Plus acuity tool for clinical area and escalate as necessary.
During the working day from Monday to Friday, the maternity bleep 2606, will be held by the deputy matrons on a rostered basis.
1. Attend all huddles as required for maternity and the Trust
2. When the ward managers or flow coordinator/bleep holder has concerns regarding activity and/or acuity, this must be escalated with the matron/ HoM/ DoM within hours. Out of hours, this should be escalated to Bronze on call (site team) who will liaise with silver on call. Support the initiation of Maternity Escalation OPEL 3 or above for mutual aid.
§Support staff by helping with clinical duties as required - this will include helping cover for breaks, administration of intravenous antibiotics for Neonates (if required), assisting with discharges or undertaking drug rounds.
3. Ensure sickness and absence request is updated on Optima.
4. Participate in the flow coordinator / bleep holder rota as required.
Person specification
Education / Qualifications
Essential criteria
5. Registered Midwife on the live NMC Register
6. Mentoring qualification.
7. Specialist clinical training.
8. Evidence of professional accountability via professional portfolio,
Desirable criteria
9. Master or Working towards
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
10. Experience and evidence to be able to lead, manage and supervise staff, delegating work appropriately and develop a team and act as a role model
11. Experience and evidence to demonstrate ability to influence and manage change, including the promotion of evidence based practice
12. Evidence and experience in setting and monitoring standards of care Must be able to practice in all areas in accordance with the Midwives rules and code of conduct
13. Be able to do the following: Cannulation Perineal suturing
14. Can practice as an autonomous midwife in the acute and primary care setting
15. Able to prioritize work load appropriately Excellent IT skills and a knowledge of Microsoft word, email, excel and PowerPoint
16. Good Project worker
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
17. Significant experience at a senior management/ clinical level Experience in working in areas of all midwifery practice.
18. Champion for midwifery led care. Provide evidence of continuous personal and professional development.
19. Have sound knowledge of changing trends within health and social care.
20. Be conversant with current professional issues in relation to nursing/midwifery.
21. Can demonstrate a forward thinking approach to care.
22. Experience of participating in clinical governance initiatives.
23. Experience of change management.
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
24. Excellent communication skills Demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills within difficult or challenging circumstances and able to deal with difficult people
25. Demonstrate ability to work effectively and collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team
26. Able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills
27. Demonstrates a sensitive approach to the needs of the women and their families
28. Demonstrates an understanding of the dynamics of working with a team
29. Can maintain confidentiality at all times
30. Reliable
31. Self-motivated, enthusiastic, innovative, assertive
32. Professional maturity
33. Problem solver, analytical approach
34. Effective verbal, written and interpersonal skills.
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS
To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:
35. Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
36. Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
37. Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
38. Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
39. Participate in required training and supervision.
40. Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct
Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.