For further information on the role, please contact Kerry Reede-Field - Director of Midwifery, Children’s Nursing & Women’s Health.
Call: 07561 601072
About The Role
We are seeking a new Head of Midwifery to help us make a real difference at a pivotal moment for maternity services.
This is an opportunity to make a real difference at a pivotal moment for maternity services. We are seeking an inspirational, experienced and values-driven Head of Midwifery to lead our maternity services with confidence, compassion and ambition.
Working closely with a highly supportive Director of Midwifery and an engaged senior leadership team, you will play a central role in shaping the future of care for women, babies and families across Mid Yorkshire.
This is a senior, influential post at a time of significant national focus and scrutiny for maternity services. You will provide professional, strategic and operational leadership, driving delivery of the Trust’s Three-Year Delivery Plan and ensuring alignment with national maternity and neonatal priorities, NHS England requirements and regulatory standards.
You will lead the continued implementation of Better Births, the Maternity Incentive Scheme and associated care bundles, with an unwavering focus on safety, quality and truly women-centred care.
As Head of Midwifery, you will be a visible, credible and compassionate leader, providing assurance and direction in relation to:
- CQC standards and inspection frameworks, particularly the Safe and Well-Led domains
- Delivery of the recommendations of the Ockenden Review
- Implementation of PSIRF, embedding a just culture and learning from incidents
- Strong clinical governance, risk management and continuous quality improvement
We Are Looking For a Resilient And Inclusive Midwifery Leader Who Brings Clarity, Integrity And Energy To Complex Challenges, And Who Can Inspire Confidence At Every Level Of The Organisation. You Will Have
- Current NMC registration as a Midwife
- Significant senior leadership experience within maternity services
- A strong understanding of the national maternity landscape and its current challenges
- A proven track record of leading change, supporting staff and delivering improvement
In return, you will join a committed multidisciplinary team and a Trust that is focused on learning, collaboration and improvement. This role offers the chance to work alongside a Director of Midwifery and senior leadership team who are passionate about creating the conditions for staff to thrive and for safe, high-quality maternity services to flourish.
If you are motivated by purpose, partnership and the opportunity to lead meaningful change, we would love to hear from you.
Main duties
The Head of Midwifery role is a key position within the Divisional Management Team, responsible to the Director of Midwifery with a prime focus on the day-to-day delivery of high standards of patient care across integrated care pathways and services.
The purpose of the role is to provide operational midwifery leadership across the women’s services to ensure and consistently develop high quality efficient service provision for all women accessing maternity care.
Reporting to the Director of Midwifery, the post holder will develop, maintain, and provide assurance on clinical and operational governance systems and processes, specifically clinical risk management, CQC standards, clinical policy and procedure, clinical quality, health and safety, patient experience, complaint systems and resolution, incident reporting and resolution, contractual quality measures, safeguarding.
The post holder will assist the Director of Midwifery to ensure that divisional and corporate objectives in relation to the workforce, service delivery, quality improvement, clinical quality, safety and leadership elements of the service are carried out. The responsibility includes covering for board assurance and Quality committee reports and presenting them in the absence of the Director of Midwifery.
Deputise for the Director of Midwifery as required and take a lead role in supporting the Director of Midwifery to include effective resource management and strategic planning for the future of the service.
Ensure women and their families are at the centre of care, implementing necessary service improvements to ensure maternity care provision is responsive to women’s needs and care is of the highest standards.
Have a strong focus on improving women’s experience of maternity services; lead in the management of complaints and women’s experiences, including changing practice from lessons learnt.
Develop and maintain key working relationships with senior nursing staff within other departments and to encourage the development of a corporate approach towards the development of the midwifery service where applicable. Work with the Director of Midwifery to take forward midwifery and nursing practice and professional issues within the Trust.
This post deputises for the Director of Midwifery and needs to have the skills and ability to lead on the development of the midwifery profession through proactive involvement in local, regional and national forums.
As Head of Midwifery the role will establish and maintain excellent external relationships essential to the delivery of a safe and high-quality service, influencing public health, health visiting, safeguarding, social care and mental health as key partnerships. Direct line management responsibility as stated above are subject to review.
This is a senior leadership role in which the post holder will be responsible for operational direction and provision of management of midwifery services. Ensuring the delivery of consistently high standard of care, patient experience, and satisfaction.
The post holder will be required to act up as the Director of Midwifery in the day-to-day delivery of the clinical business of the service and assumes delegated functions of corporate nursing or midwifery development programmes, midwifery recruitment and retention, measuring and improving standards of care and the patient experience, in accordance with agreed objectives, targets, quality standards, controls and resource constraints.
Essential Person Specification Requirements
Be part of MY team
We are an acute trust caring for over one million people in Wakefield and Kirklees. Our 10,000 staff work in patients’ homes, the community, and our three hospitals in Pontefract, Dewsbury, and Pinderfields (Wakefield). We prioritise our people and values so we can deliver the best possible care to patients. Our team is friendly, passionate, and innovative, always seeking better ways to work.
We support work-life balance and foster a diverse, inclusive environment where everyone belongs. Our staff networks offer safe spaces to share ideas and concerns so we can increase awareness and appreciation of equality, diversity, and inclusion. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and especially encourage members of the LGBTQ+ community, ethnic minority groups, and people with disabilities or neurodivergence to apply, as they are currently underrepresented in the Trust.
If you value caring, high standards, improvement, and respect, join the MY team to make a difference every day.
Application Guidance
We understand that more applicants are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help with their applications. While these tools can be useful, they cannot fully capture your skills, knowledge, and experience. It’s important that you personalise your application. Relying solely on AI is not recommended, as it may reduce your chances of success. Our screening process is thorough, so if you have used AI, please make sure to disclose this on your application form.
Our Benefits
- Access to the NHS pension plan
- Generous holiday allowance of 27 days plus bank holidays, increasing with 5 and 10 years of service
- Exceptional employee health and wellbeing services
- Extensive benefits and support, including:
- Onsite nurseries and childcare salary sacrifice scheme
- Home electronics scheme
- Cycle to work scheme - subject to eligibility criteria
- Car lease salary sacrifice scheme - subject to eligibility criteria
- Working carers support and advice, carers network and carers passport
- Flexible working options and family and carer-friendly policies
- Established staff networks, including LGBTQ+ and Race Equality
- Career progression, training and support
Skilled worker sponsorship
You can find out more about skilled worker and health and care visas on our .
