Labour Ward Manager / Coordinator

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Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 - the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King's College London's GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

We are looking for a dynamic experienced Midwife to join our Band 7 team of Labour Ward senior Midwives at University Hospital Lewisham site.

Working at UHL, you will have a split post where you will be co-ordinating the day to day running of our consultant led unit for 22.5 hours a week and working the remaining 15 hours as ward manager. You will be a motivated, organised and enthusiastic midwife, with excellent communication and leadership skills and these will be used in order to facilitate safe, high quality care for women and their families and providing leadership for the busy, acute labour ward.

Your extensive clinical skills will be further adapted /utilised to support colleagues and students in their provision of safe effective care and in aiding them to develop their skills.

Working closely with the Labour Ward Matron and your ward manager counterpart you will ensure the safe and efficient running of the maternity unit. Your line management role will include regular appraisals, attend regular meetings that relate to the role, managing sickness and absence and encouraging personal and professional development of those you line manage.

You will be skilled in decision making and managing conflict and have a passion to lead the ward through change that will enhance and improve care for clients and their families.

You will work closely with the Obstetric, Anaesthetic and Specialist Midwifery teams ensuring safety and enhancing women/birthing people's experience.

Main duties of the job

You will be able to diffuse difficult situations between both staff and patients, enabling a positive outcome for all involved.

You will be responsible for the management of resources, audit and quality monitoring, data collection, clinical leadership and deployment of staff.

You will endeavour to create an environment where the patient is central to all decision making and the delivery of high quality, safe and compassionate care which remains the primary objective.

You will be an expert resource to the multi-disciplinary team, ensuring that all staff work in a professional manner and all registered staff are working as accountable practitioners.

You will be expected to demonstrate effective clinical leadership and role modelling, be able to inspire, motivate and empower others. This will require you to be highly visible and have an accessible approach to women, their families and staff. There is also an expectation that you will fully participate in the clinical and professional leadership of the department.

As ward manager, you will be responsible for the daily running of the labour ward, ensuring that resources are available to enable the smooth running of the ward, including staff off duty, stores and environmental maintenance.

Computer literacy is essential as you will be responsible for writing/amending guidelines, reports, complaint responses and regular ward audits. You will also be expected to write staff rotas and be part of the management on call system.

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Provide leadership to midwifery and non-midwifery staff, ensuring effective management of the daily activity and flow within the maternity service. This will result in high standards of midwifery care, reduction in length of stay and will be responsive to individualised needs, thus increasing women and birthing people satisfaction.

You will be visible within the unit for staff and, by having a helicopter view of the unit be clinically aware of the needs of the service whilst ensuring staffing is deployed to ensure all areas are sufficiently covered to provide a high standard of care to women / birthing people.

You will have an overview of staff and staffing needs and liaise with the rota coordinator to ensure the unit complies with safe staffing requirements.

With the rota coordinator, you will ensure rotas are maintained and accurately reflect the availability of staff.

The Delivery suite Manage focuses on the delivery of high quality, safe and effective care focused on improving outcomes and experiences for patients, families and carers. This role also holds delegated responsibility for the maternity triage department. This will include:

• Being the key contact member for the multidisciplinary team
• Provide professional leadership and line management for a team of midwifery and support staff;
• Delegate work and supervise colleagues accordingly;
• Assess patients, plan, implement and evaluate evidence based care;
• Provide expert clinical advice;
• Ensure patient pathways are optimally managed;
• Manage budgets and resources efficiently and effectively;
• Be responsible for the safety of the clinical environment;
• Champion a culture of learning and quality improvement in the clinical area.
• Ensure his/her group of patients have a managed pathway and beds in the ward are optimally utilised, seeking expert support if required.

This is a senior midwifery role within the organisation and there is an expectation that the post-holder will fully participate in the clinical and professional leadership of the department.

Person specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria

• 1st level Registered Midwife with current NMC Registration
• Degree level qualification or equivalent demonstrable experience.
• Evidence of on-going professional development in a nursing field of practice
• Practice Assessor /Sign off mentorship course

Desirable criteria

• Recognised leadership development training
• Educated to Masters level or equivalent
• Care of the Critically ill woman/birthing person course or working towards it
• Examination of the Newborn course or working towards it

Experience

Essential criteria

• Relevant post qualification experience
• Significant post registration experience with at least 2 years at Band 6, to include: o Supervisory experience and management of a nursing team o Teaching, mentoring and leadership experience within a clinical environment o Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team o Evidence of acting as a change agent and role model
• To have a broad experience of working at a senior clinical level and be able to demonstrate proven managerial and leadership skills.
• Evidence of involvement in the development of protocols and/or undertaking of clinical audit
• Significant specialist expertise underpinned by theory

Desirable criteria

• Experience of effectively managing rosters
• People management skills including appointing and managing staff
• Experience of managing timescales for a delegated piece of work/project

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women's staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Documents to download

• Labour Ward Coordinator (PDF, 488.3KB)
• Labour Ward Manager (PDF, 336.4KB)
• Working at LGT (PDF, 4.2MB)