Overview
Band 8b Quality and Safety Lead Midwife - BLMK, LMNS, ICB (Fixed Term 1 Year)
An exciting leadership opportunity in maternity transformation
Are you an experienced, dynamic, and enthusiastic midwifery leader passionate about driving safer, more personalised care for women and families? We are seeking a Quality and Safety Lead Midwife to join our BLMK, Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) Senior Leadership Team on a fixed-term 1-year contract/Secondment. This is a fantastic opportunity to play a pivotal role in achieving our LMNS vision of creating safer, more personalised maternity care.
About the role
As a key member of the BLMK, LMNS leadership team, you will lead and develop the quality and safety workstreams forming part of our local maternity transformation plan. You’ll work collaboratively with midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists, commissioning colleagues, ICB partners, and wider stakeholders involved in safety and governance across the LMNS, ICB.
If you are passionate about maternity safety and ready for a leadership challenge at system level, we invite you to apply and join us in transforming maternity services for our local families.
Closing Date: 13 October 2025
Enquiries: Felitta Burney-Nicol - Chief Midwife for LMNC, ICB
Main duties of the job
* Lead the LMNS quality and safety workstreams and drive wide-scale system change to improve maternity safety and population health.
* Support the BLMK LMNS team to develop strong working relationships with partners and key stakeholders to deliver LMNS ambitions, strategies, and plans.
* Provide leadership across organisational and professional boundaries to facilitate shared learning, risk identification and transformation change for the maternity population.
* Collaborate with the wider system to deliver sustainable long-term quality improvements and realise efficiencies of working at scale.
* Maintain effective relationships with NHS providers, local authorities, Health Watch, patient groups and the voluntary sector to support the partnership and ICP vision and strategy.
* Proactively manage stakeholders, respond to and resolve conflict between different stakeholders.
* Work with providers to improve adverse performance where necessary.
* Lead transformational programmes with co-production at the centre, ensuring voices of partners, local communities and population are heard in decisions.
* Establish a compassionate patient safety reporting, learning and improvement system with a just culture and continuous learning.
* Promote inclusive leadership and be visible as a collaborative senior leader across the system in the LMNS plan development and delivery.
* Share responsibility to ensure LMNS functions with good governance, at system and place, efficiently and effectively.
* Lead, influence, and contribute to ICB plans and wider system strategies to drive innovation, reduce health inequalities, and improve life outcomes.
* Contribute to regional/national programmes as required for ICS/ICB/LMNS objectives and promote the system’s reputation.
* Develop relationships with a wide range of stakeholders related to maternity and neonatal services, including service users, Hospital Trusts, ICB, Local Authorities, and other partners.
* Experience with wider safety agendas and regional perspectives to interpret and present national policy details to diverse audiences; lead joint health and social care strategic planning and transformation efforts.
* Make formal and informal presentations to large groups on projects, status updates, and proposals for improvement and transformation.
* Complete reporting to LMNS, East of England Regional team, ICB and NHS England as required.
Person Specification
Professional Registration
* Essential: Registered Midwife with up-to-date registration and experience.
Education & Qualification
* Essential: Master’s level qualification or equivalent senior-level experience; a management qualification (e.g., Diploma in Management Studies) and evidence of continuous professional development.
* Desirable: Prince2 practitioner or equivalent.
Experience
* Essential: Extensive knowledge in maternity governance, safety and quality improvement; experience at system/regional/organisational leadership level; demonstrated incident investigation and service improvement delivery; experience in large complex organisations; understanding of quality improvement methodologies and implementation of improvement projects.
* Desirable: NHS experience.
Skills & Abilities
* Essential: Ability to manage competing priorities; negotiate with senior stakeholders; present complex information to large groups; analytical and planning capabilities; strategic thinking.
* Desirable: Project management skills (e.g., Prince2).
Autonomy & Flexibility
* Essential: Ability to act autonomously, decide actions, and adapt to tight timescales; willingness to travel within the BLMK area; occasional out-of-hours work.
Other
* Essential: Working knowledge of Microsoft Office; ability to convey complex information clearly; UK professional registration required.
Disclosure & Regulations
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and will require a disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service. Applicants must have current UK professional registration.
Employer details
Employer: NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board
Address: Priory House, Chicksands, Shefford, SG17 5TQ
Employer's website: https://bedfordshirelutonandmiltonkeynes.icb.nhs.uk/
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