Job Overview
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.
Please see below for a detailed job description of the role.
Main duties of the job: UHS Maternity Services are looking to recruit B7 Senior Midwifery Practitioners into Ward Lead Supervisor roles to provide 24/7 leadership and clinical support across our high-risk inpatient areas.
The successful candidates will have a passion for creating an environment that promotes high quality care and improves patient safety, facilitating a positive pregnancy and postnatal experience.
Burley and Lyndhurst Wards have a total of 43 beds, caring for high risk antenatal and postnatal women, birthing people and families, a dedicated area to provide transitional care and a bereavement suite. It is a fast‑paced environment staffed by a core and rotational team of enthusiastic and dedicated staff, committed to prioritising care and working in partnership with women, birthing people and the wider team.
This enables the team to support the vision of choice and exemplary midwifery care for women, birthing people and their families according to the UHS Trust values.
This role includes day and night shift work and the post holder must be flexible with working hours to ensure the needs of the service are met.
Working for our organisation
University Hospital Southampton is one of England’s largest acute teaching Trusts, offering a wide range of learning and development opportunities to support your career aspirations.
Located on the south coast with an international airport and direct rail links to London, Southampton offers an ideal setting to live and work, with the New Forest, South Downs and Jurassic Coast.
We believe that using technology wisely shows strong time management and commitment to innovation. However, personalising your recruitment application to highlight your unique skills and experiences is crucial. Relying too heavily on generic, AI‑generated content instead of drawing from your own strengths and accomplishments may lead to your application being rejected if multiple candidates present identical or similar information.
At UHS, we’re committed to providing a flexible working environment where possible. Whether you are balancing family, study or wellbeing with your career, we want to support you so you can help our patients.
At UHS, we proudly champion individuality, recognising that outstanding care is only possible with a diverse, inclusive team. We’re committed to creating an anti‑racist, anti‑discriminatory environment where everyone feels valued, safe, and empowered to make a meaningful impact in our communities. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences to join us in building a healthcare community where everyone can belong, thrive, and contribute.
Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities
* As ward lead, you will be responsible for setting and monitoring high standards required for safety, infection prevention, health and safety, equipment maintenance, drug and medicine management within the ward area.
* You will promote excellence in midwifery practice and act as a clinical leader for midwives and other staff.
* UHS Maternity Services is a fast‑paced, evolving service and the post holder will work with the leadership team to continue looking at facilitating new ways of working to meet the needs of our service users.
* Visibility on the ward is essential; this will be achieved by working together with the F‑level leadership team to ensure clinical leadership across all days and nights of the week.
* You will exhibit leadership behaviours that demonstrate respect, resilience, trust, enthusiasm and energy, positively impacting on the culture of the workforce, leading to a happy workplace.
If you are an experienced midwife, dynamic, women-, birthing people- and family‑focused and have a passion for continuous improvement, then we would like you to be part of our team.
The ideal candidate(s) must be able to demonstrate the ability to lead, motivate and manage teams in an ever‑changing environment. Applicants must be able to demonstrate evidence of strong leadership skills, previous change‑management experience and excellent communication.
Person Specification
Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria:
* Registered Midwife on the relevant part of the NMC register.
* Significant clinical experience.
* Evidence of continual professional development.
* Associate/mentorship qualification or equivalent experience.
* Relevant and recent clinical experience or ability to demonstrate significant experience in midwifery practice and responsibility for managing a clinical team.
* Expert clinical skills relevant to specialty and achievement of all midwifery competencies.
Desirable criteria:
* Experience of writing protocols, guidelines and integrated care pathways.
* High dependency course.
* Team leadership role.
* Evidence of audit.
* Experience of leading change‑management programmes.
* Examination of the newborn qualification.
Trust values and Behaviours
Essential criteria:
* Patients First.
* Always Improving.
* Working Together.
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