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Job summary

Main area
Midwifery
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 7
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
289-SC-2134
Employer
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
The Kensington Wing, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£51,488 - £57,802 Per annum incl. HCAS
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Midwife and Practice Development Lead

NHS AfC: Band 7

About our Trust

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is proud to be one of the top performing and safest trusts in England. We have two main acute hospital sites—Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital, plus our award-winning clinics across North West London and beyond.

Our nearly 7,000 members of staff are proud to care for a diverse population of 1.5 million from the beginning to the end of life. Both hospitals provide full clinical services, including maternity, emergency and children’s, in addition to a range of community-based services across London, including our award-winning sexual health and HIV clinics.

We’re one of the safest and best performing Trusts in the country. We’re also one of the top trusts to work for—our staff say they’re engaged, motivated, and would recommend us as a place to work and receive treatment.

Our Trust has been rated by the Care Quality Commission as ‘Good’ in the domains of safe, effective, caring and responsive, and 'Outstanding' in the domains of well-led and use of resources.

Our facilities are among the best in the country. We invest around £10m a year in our estate and have recently completed a £30m expansion of our adult and neonatal critical care facilities at Chelsea and Westminster.  Works commence in spring 2024 on an ambitious £80m development of an Ambulatory Diagnostics Centre at our West Middlesex site.

Applications are welcomed from applicants who wish to apply for the position on the basis of a smarter or flexible working arrangement. Where candidates are successful at interview, such requests will be taken under consideration and accommodated where the needs of the service allow. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you.

Job overview

Senior Midwife & Practice Development Lead

We are seeking applications from experienced midwives to join the Kensington Wing private maternity service (which is part of Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) in a role that encompasses senior clinical leadership and practice development support for our midwifery and maternity support worker team.

Are you an accomplished clinical midwife with a broad range of skills looking for a dynamic, forward thinking and exciting new challenge? If you are a highly motivated and experienced midwife with a passion for teaching and enabling others to meet their full potential, this role is for you.

The Kensington Wing supports up to 900 women per year to birth their babies under either consultant led or midwifery led models of care. The team work in collaboration with the wider MDT to provide a high quality, seamless and bespoke service to women, birthing people and their families in harmony with NHS services.

Working on the Kensington Wing comes with many perks, including access to all NHS benefits via our workplace benefit scheme, NHS pension scheme and NHS length of service maintained. Additionally staff recognition, access to training and development and increased workplace satisfaction due to lower patient:staff ratios. 

An informal chat/visit is highly recommended as a means to understand the role and the Kensington Wing maternity service as a whole.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work within the private maternity unit to support the learning and development of the workforce in a predominantly clinical role, alongside the NHS Maternity Practice Development team and International Recruitment team. The post holder will maintain a senior professional midwifery role within the private maternity service, providing expert evidence based care in daily practice whilst acting as a role model for other staff.

This role, which is new to the private maternity unit will focus on three domains; 

  • senior clinical leadership, mentoring and support in practice 'on the floor'
  • support of internationally educated midwives following the structured international recruitment programme
  • working alongside the NHS based practice development team to provide education, clinical supervision and simulations

The education programme is well established and there is a good track record of multi professional learning and training. The Care Quality Commission rated the maternity services at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital as ‘Good’ and commended its approach to MDT live skills and simulations training.

See Job Description/Person Specification for more information.

Working for our organisation

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is proud to be one of the top performing and safest trusts in England. We have two main acute hospital sites—Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital, plus our award-winning clinics across North West London and beyond.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities

Educational

  • Contribution to the maternity clinical and emergency skills program in liaison with the maternity practice development team
  • Facilitate the development of maternity clinical and emergency skills for all midwifery and maternity support workers (MSW) in the private maternity service
  • Assist in the delivery of orientation and training programs for new staff in private maternity, ensuring that the appropriate training is offered and delivered
  • Ensure the communication and dissemination of training information related to educational offerings and Mandatory training requirements to ensure attendance and timely completion of training requirements
  • Ensure the maintenance of training records and the production or reports for monitoring mandatory and other skills training
  • In conjunction with the leadership team, participate in the short and long term strategic development of the service and educational requirements within private maternity
  • Attend any meetings appropriate to your area/role, ensuring effective communication within the team and leading on actions are undertaken and applications of recommendations into the training and education programmers
  • Coordinate and deliver in-situ “live drills” of maternity emergencies and audit the response. Where appropriate negotiate the implementation of changes as identified during “live drill” audits
  • Support senior midwives to develop educational facilitation skills to support teaching
  • In conjunction with the Clinical Placement Faciltator and student link midwife, ensure all junior and student midwives educational and training needs are met
  • Liaise with other specialist midwives to promote practice development and ensure effective systems for delivery of training within private maternity
  • Provide educational support for MSW’s undertaking the Excellence in Care certificate/Level 3 apprenticeship whilst facilitating training requirements in the workplace
  • Support the recruitment process in private maternity, with a particular focus on assessing clinical skills and competency
  • Work alongside internationally-educated midwives (IEM’s) during their supernumerary period before and after their OSCE as well as during their preceptorship.
  • Orientate IEM’s to the clinical areas, acting as a supportive link between the midwives and the wards to ensure a smooth transition into the maternity service. Ensure staff are oriented to the culture in the UK including choice and body autonomy
  • Ensure all educational and training needs of the IEM’s are met
  • Be a central contact for the IEM’s, signposting them in areas such as wellbeing, accommodation, amenities, local community contacts and spiritual care
  • Ensure a buddy system is in place from established IEM’s for those newly recruited
  • Arrange virtual and face-to-face social gatherings to welcome the IEM’s to the Trust, supporting the development of friendships amongst international recruits, buddies and other staff who wish to participate

Clinical

  • To provide evidence based, family centered, personalized care to women, birthing people and their families in a high quality environment that focuses on patient satisfaction and experience
  • To work predominately clinically (at least 75% of the time) alongside the team as an active team member, whilst also supporting learning in practice on a daily basis
  • To act as a clinical lead within the private maternity service, providing expert midwifery care within the multidisciplinary team
  • Foster and develop a working environment within which midwives can work as autonomous practitioners, accountable for their practice and in accordance with the NMC Code and NMC Standards for Midwives
  • Support junior midwives to develop mentoring and assessment skills
  • Act as a role model, demonstrating adherence to the PROUD values and the NMC code at all times
  • Provide care in line with the philosophy of the private maternity service

Professional and Personal Responsibilities

  • Form good working relations with key team members including the Practice Development Team, clinical managers, matrons and the Cultural Safety Team
  • Lead by example, role modelling a supportive, inclusive culture, with a focus on quality and inclusive management, encouraging engagement and input from all levels within the service
  • Maintain membership of relevant professional organisations
  • Ensure staff work in a professional manner at all times and challenge when this is not adhered to
  • Actively participate and encourage others to participate in meetings appropriate to their role
  • Be a role model for junior members of the team and a support to colleagues and managers
  • Be flexible and undertake duties (within their sphere of practice) in other areas as required
  • Have an excellent understanding of local and governmental policies and guidelines
  • Undertake training and development as necessary in line with the needs of the role
  • Monitor and maintain good standards of care within the maternity services to implement evidence-based practice and national recommendations
  • Maintain responsibility for developing and sustaining their own knowledge and clinical skills
  • Participate actively in their own appraisal and setting developmental objectives.

Leadership and Management Responsibilities

  • Contribute to the development of the private maternity service, promoting high quality, excellent care that supports commercial targets.
  • Contribute to quality assurance and improved ways of working, incorporating evidenced based practice
  • Where appropriate, lead on the development of standards and audit for the implementation of changes to improve patient care delivery or patient safety
  • Line manage the IEM’s during their supernumerary time with the support of the ward manager
  • Assist with the maintenance of competency records for IEM’s
  • Participate in the short and long term strategic development of the International Recruitment service
  • Attend any meetings appropriate to their role, ensuring effective communication within the team
  • Monitor and review the effectiveness of the IEM’s support programme through audit
  • Support talent management and career advancement of IEM’s, promoting the internal transfer scheme and signposting to coaching and interview skills support and further educational opportunities.

Please see attached job description and person specification to this advert for further details.

Person specification

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Teaching skills, including using a range of teaching modalities
  • Effective communication with both colleagues and service users
  • Facilitative of effective team working
Desirable criteria
  • Evidence of knowledge of midwifery issues, research and clinical audit
  • Computer literate (Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, Excel, MS Teams

Education and Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of post-registration education
  • Practice Assessor qualification
  • Degree level or equivalent experience
Desirable criteria
  • Leadership qualification
  • Evidence of training in cultural safety
  • Newborn life support qualification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Comprehensive midwifery experience of at least 5 years
  • Experience of supporting learners and junior staff to develop their skills
  • Experience of teaching clinical skills and undertaking competency assessments
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working in private healthcare
  • Experience of planning and delivering formal teaching sessions

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Trust IDWe are a Living Wage EmployerCapital Nurse, LondonHealthy Workplace - Commitment 2018Veteran AwareApprenticeships logoTimewise helps businesses to attract and develop the best talent through flexible working.No smoking policyCare quality commission - GoodDisability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Step into healthArmed Forces Covenant Bronze AwardArmed Forces Covenant

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Amanda Osborn
Job title
Interim Matron
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07764160147
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