Job Summary
Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as delivery at less than 37+0 week's gestation and is a common complication of pregnancy comprising around 8% of births in England and Wales. It is the most important single determinant of adverse infant outcome with regards to survival and quality of life.
Babies born preterm have high rates of early, late, and post‑neonatal mortality and morbidity and contributes to an estimated to cost health services in England and Wales of £3.4bn per year.
The Preterm Birth Midwife will work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team and will play a key role in co‑ordinating the care and support of women who are at increased risk of preterm labour, with suspected or confirmed preterm labour, or having a planned preterm birth (i.e. due to fetal growth restriction, pre‑eclampsia or other clinical reason). This role will require a weekly clinical commitment providing antenatal care to women/birthing people at risk of preterm birth in the antenatal clinic setting.
The Preterm Birth Midwife will participate actively in local and regional networks, teaching, and research to improve education and implementation of Preterm Birth pathway. They will also work closely with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) to co‑design services to ensure that pathways are supportive and equitable for women and families accessing maternity care at UHSussex.
Main Duties
* Support women/pregnant/birthing people at increased risk of preterm birth throughout the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care continuum.
* Demonstrate strong clinical management and leadership skills which support the Midwifery, MDT and maternity service as a whole.
* Lead and develop services working alongside the nominated preterm specialist multidisciplinary team ensuring consistency and continuity of care for women at increased risk of preterm birth.
* Utilise current and ongoing research and continually develop local preterm birth pathways to progress the service agendas in relation to reducing preterm birth.
* Utilise key reports such as Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle Version 3, and the Department of Health's Safer Maternity Care reports to inform clinical practice within UHSussex Maternity Services.
* Show compassionate behaviour towards women/birthing people and their families, ensuring equality and diversity differences are respected and women and their family are enabled to be partners in their own care.
* Work collaboratively with the Bereavement team should an adverse outcome be expected or experienced, ensuring parents are supported sensitively and appropriately, with onward referral to additional support and/or bereavement counselling as required.
* Participate in on‑call rota as per the needs of the service.
* Provide expertise in preterm pregnancy management options including prophylactic vaginal progesterone or cervical cerclage procedures, services and support.
* Be responsible for the management of individualised care to a defined group of mothers and babies using the assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating process within a multidisciplinary framework.
* Facilitate midwife‑led clinics, face‑to‑face, telephone and online facilities as appropriate to enable collaborative multidisciplinary communication.
* Be confident in communicating with professionals at all levels in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary care settings.
* Participate professionally when having challenging conversations or delivering unwelcome and often unexpected bad news in an informative and compassionate way.
* Act as an advocate for women, ensuring informed consent for any proposed intervention or treatment, encouraging women/birthing people to be partners in their own care.
* Willing to be a non‑medical prescriber and/or work within pre‑defined Midwifery patient group directives (PGDs) and have knowledge of drug regimens and side effects.
* Have supportive multidisciplinary discussions relating to neonatal care of preterm babies, including location of care and explanation of immediate complications which can result from a baby being born pre‑term.
* Ensure women at risk of preterm birth are supported and able to discuss wishes regarding ongoing treatment and resuscitation of their baby in the event of a preterm delivery, including tours of the neonatal unit and opportunity to speak with a consultant neonatologist.
* Responsible for data collection, audit and evaluation of the service, ensuring compliance with internal and external reporting mechanisms such as UHSussex governance meetings and CQC reporting.
* Work closely with neonates becoming part of an MDT reviewing and auditing all cases of preterm births against KPI's, feeding back learning and creating action plans.
* Support all maternity services on different sites.
* Work with neonatal and obstetric team on improving preterm optimisation and implementing the PERIPrem passport.
About Us
At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always deliver Excellent Care Everywhere, as shown in our Outstanding for Caring CQC rating. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of staff networks to help break down barriers, and can offer a buddy to help new members settle in. We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 3) and a Veteran Aware Trust.
Key Details
Date posted: 25 February 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part‑time
Reference number: 279-7792667-FEB26
Job locations: Royal Sussex County Hospital / Princess Royal Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton, BN2 5BE
Candidate Pack
Candidate Pack https://www.uhsussex.nhs.uk/resources/candidate-information-pack/
Visa & Right to work
This role does not meet the minimum criteria for visa sponsorship under the current UK immigration rules, which set specific salary and skill thresholds. As such, we are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. Applicants will therefore need to already have the right to work in the UK to be considered. We include this information at the outset to provide clarity and avoid unnecessary inconvenience for applicants.
If you are applying using a Graduate visa as your right to work, you must have a minimum of 18 months remaining on your visa at time of application.
Person Specification – Essential
* Experienced registered midwife
* Assessor/Mentorship course
* Experience of working in preterm birth or a similar specialism
Person Specification – Desirable
* Masters in Midwifery or working towards
* Leadership/management course
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
* Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues
* Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles (as appropriate to role)
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer Details
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)
Royal Sussex County Hospital / Princess Royal Hospital
Eastern Road
Brighton
BN2 5BE
Employer's website: https://www.uhsussex.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
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