Job overview

Reporting to the Lead Nurse – ODNs the postholder will manage, support and develop the West Midlands Children’s Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs), particularly Neonatal ODN. The postholder will provide clinical expertise to support the overall programme of work to develop and strengthen networks together with building, managing and maintaining strong and collaborative working relationships with all the key stakeholders across the networks and their member organisations.

The postholder will work closely with the Lead Nurse - ODNs and Associate Director of Operations - ODNs, the clinical and managerial leads of the network and all the relevant individual provider and commissioning organisations across the West Midlands region. The postholder will support the work of the Lead Nurse and act as a champion for patients and their interests, ensuring the patients’ voice is at the heart of clinical network activities and patients are at the centre of network models of care and underpinning pathways.

Whilst the ODN team is employed by BWC, the ODNs act autonomously and are clinically led to support all of our member organisations. With this new group of ODNs we are aiming to build a collective which advocates for the needs of children and young people requiring NHS acute care (from birth to early adulthood).

Main duties of the job

The post holder will need to be proficient at building and maintaining excellent relationships and at fostering a culture of collaborative working. They will need to be structured in their thinking and able to organise, plan and execute a complex programme of quality and improvement (QI) that spans a wide range of provider, commissioner and patient organisations. They will need the experience, skills and personal credibility to facilitate the bringing together of different perspectives and partners from across the network and, when needed, to act as an ‘honest broker’ reconciling conflicting views and interests. Given that the role will support transformation of the provision of neonatal services across the West Midlands, they will possess the relevant experience and skills to be able to engage, design, facilitate and support the delivery of initiatives to improve services drive quality and Improvement

Birmingham Women’s & Children’s NHSFT hosts five West Midlands Specialised Women’s and Children’s ODNs:

·       Perinatal – Neonatal, Fetal Medicine, Placenta Acreta Spectrum

·       Paediatric Critical Care

·       Surgery in Children

·       Congenital Heart Disease

·       Children & Young People’s/Teenage & Young Adults Cancer ODNs

ODNs are commissioned to create connectivity across the providers of a service within a geography, facilitating consistency of care, equity of access, quality improvement and operational effectiveness.

Working for our organisation

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust is the first of its type in the UK. Our Trust was formed in February 2017 to drive forward our commitment to provide the highest quality, world-class physical and mental health care for our women, children and families. Uniting our hospitals means more seamless care; more investment to make greater advances in our specialist treatment and world-leading neo-natal and fetal work. Importantly, it also gives us a greater voice in shaping the future of family-centred care.

Birmingham Children's Hospital is a UK leading specialist paediatric centre with an international reputation in several areas.

Birmingham Women's Hospital is one of two dedicated women's hospitals in the UK, with the busiest single site maternity unit, delivering more than 8,200 babies a year offering a full range of gynaecological, maternity and neonatal care. 

Our Trust is committed to creating the best place to work. We believe in promoting and enhancing inclusion, diversity and equality and encourage applications from all areas of the community, who meet the criteria for the role, regardless of age, gender identity, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation.