Birth Centre and Homebirth Team Manager in Coventry

This is a unique and exciting opportunity for an experienced and enthusiastic midwifery leader to shape the future of out-of-hospital birth services. We are looking for an exceptional Midwife to lead our Birth Centre and establish a dedicated Home Birth Team. The successful candidate will be a strong advocate for midwifery-led care, empowering women and birthing people to make informed choices about their place of birth and ensuring access to safe, personalised and high-quality maternity care.

Working closely with the wider maternity leadership team, the post holder will drive service transformation, promote a culture of excellence and innovation, and lead the development of a sustainable Home Birth Service that supports positive outcomes and experiences for women, babies and families. This role offers an exciting opportunity to influence maternity care pathways, improve birth choice and strengthen the profile of community-based birth services across the organisation.

Successful applicants will be required to provide an immunisation and vaccination report, from either their current UK occupational health provider or their UK GP.

Main duties of the job

• Provide operational and professional leadership for the Birth Centre and Home Birth Team, ensuring cover for the delivery of safe, high-quality, woman-centred care 24 hours a day.
• Be accountable for their own actions in accordance with the Code of Professional Conduct.
• Be responsible for the management of their clinical area/defined workload, effectively leading, motivating, supporting and directing staff to ensure that the patient receives a high standard of care.
• Work with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that an appropriate managerial and professional infrastructure is in place to support the delivery of services.
• Have highly developed communication skills enabling maintenance of high-quality service and ensuring timely management and resolution of unexpected events and situations.
• Undertake bleep-holder and on call responsibilities for the maternity and home birth service on a regular basis.

About us

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, rated as good by the Care Quality Commission, is one of the largest teaching Trusts in the UK. We are extremely proud of our employees across our hospital sites, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do. Boasting some of the most modern facilities in Western Europe, the Trust is renowned for being at the forefront of research and innovation as part of its blossoming reputation as a worldwide leader in healthcare.

We are proud to be recognised as a Pathway to Excellence designated organisation. By joining our exciting journey, you will form part of a passionate, talented team and will be able to access a wide range of learning and development opportunities. There has never been a better time to join our team.

The Trust is committed to building an organisation that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience, and different perspectives available in our diverse society. We want everyone to feel they are respected, valued, can achieve their potential and receive the most appropriate and relevant care.

Job responsibilities

• Be a knowledgeable leader and resource for staff, advising on national, local and Trust policy and procedures/guidelines, ensuring that clinical governance is embedded in practice.
• Be responsible for identifying and assessing complex clinical and non-clinical issues, implementing resolutions and monitoring/auditing outcomes.
• Be responsible for interdepartmental/organisational activities including HR; budget management; complaints.
• Promote and implement new evidence based practice within the clinical environment according to Trust policies, guidelines and standards.
• Demonstrate highly technical and/or practical skills to ensure optimum patient management.
• Be responsible for education and development of staff and service in the birth centre and home environments through appraisal and business planning cycles.
• Utilise and ensure others utilise information and IT systems to secure accurate and timely patient, workforce and resource data available.
• Regularly manage expected and unexpected clinical events requiring high but unpredictable levels of physical effort according to patient dependency/clinical need.
• Support patients, carers and others during difficult situations arising in the clinical area.
• Promote and monitor adherence to Health and Safety and Trust policy designed to protect healthcare staff and service users from known hazards.
• Ensure an effective learning environment for both students and qualified staff.
• Participate in clinical incident reporting, investigation and clinical audit.
• Promote positive interpersonal relationships and be confident in challenging poor clinical practice or poor attitude.
• Participate in the on-call rota for homebirth services, as lead for the service.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Essential: Degree in Midwifery, Current Professional Registration, Evidence of CPD, Teaching and assessing qualification, NIPE trained, NLS qualification.
• Desirable: Master's degree, Working in or managing MLU/homebirth services, NLS trainer.

Experience

• Essential: Extensive post registration experience in Midwifery, Understanding of budget management, Professional clinical experience in appropriate specialty, Highly developed communication skills, Ability to successfully manage people and change, Experience of conflict management, A good understanding of HR policy.
• Desirable: Experience in research and audit, Previous experience in practice Development/education/ project planning.

Knowledge

• Essential: A knowledgeable clinician with the ability to apply evidence to practice, An understanding of current issues relating to the NHS, A knowledge of professional policies and procedures, Knowledge of clinical governance & a commitment to clinical supervision and staff development.
• Desirable: Post-registration experience working at senior/Managerial level.

Skills

• Essential: Excellent understanding of IT and technology, Able to prioritise and meet deadlines effectively, Good management of own and others time, Able to use initiative and make decisions, Analyses problems and implements effective and appropriate solutions, Ability to lead and work as part of a multidisciplinary team in a clinical Directorate management model, Strong leadership skills.
• Desirable: Leadership course (accredited or nationally recognised), Management of change, Experience of Audit.

Commitment to Trust Values and Behaviours

• Essential: Must be able to demonstrate behaviours consistent with the Trust's values.