Job summary
- Main area
- Midwifery
- Grade
- VSM
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 344-1485DOM
- Employer
- East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Trustwide
- Town
- Canterbury
- Salary
- VSM
- Closing
- 03/11/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Director of Midwifery
VSM
Job overview
Be the Voice. Lead the Change. Shape the Future of Maternity Care.
Are you an inspirational, visionary and compassionate senior midwifery leader ready to make a lasting impact?
At East Kent Hospitals, we are on a continuous journey of improvement — learning, listening and delivering outstanding maternity and gynaecology services that truly place women, birthing people and families at the heart of care.
As our Director of Midwifery, you will be the most senior midwifery leader in the Trust, working at sub-Board level to set and deliver the strategic vision for safe, innovative and inclusive maternity care across one of England’s largest acute hospital trusts. You will lead a talented, passionate team of midwives and nurses, inspiring excellence through compassionate and visible leadership.
Main duties of the job
- Extensive experience at Head of Midwifery level or above, with a proven record of driving quality improvement and service transformation.
- The ability to influence at senior and national levels, translating strategy into meaningful change.
- A collaborative, values-led approach — working with women, families, staff and partners to co-design services that tackle inequalities and improve outcomes.
- Confidence in representing your profession with authority and authenticity at Trust Board and regional forums.
This is a pivotal leadership role for an exceptional, forward-thinking midwife who is ready to influence at the highest level and shape the future of maternity and gynaecology care.
Working for our organisation
We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference’. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.
Please note that if you require a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK you must declare this on your application form, even if you currently have a certificate of sponsorship or a work permit for another role and are already working in the country. Please note we are only able to sponsor candidates on a Skilled Worker Visa applying for roles Band 5 and above.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As Director of Midwifery, you will hold strategic and professional responsibility for the delivery of safe, compassionate and innovative maternity services across a large, complex provider organisation. Operating at sub-Board level, you will act as the senior professional voice for midwifery — setting standards, driving improvement, and ensuring the voice of women, birthing people and families is heard and acted upon.
This is a role for a visionary leader who can inspire through authenticity, compassion and credibility. You will be adept at translating national priorities into meaningful local action, building trust and collaboration across professional boundaries, and leading your teams through transformation with clarity and purpose.
This post offers an opportunity to lead with vision, authority and compassion — creating the conditions for outstanding maternity care and professional pride across a major health system.
Person specification
Qualifications and training
Essential criteria
- Management training or evidence of equivalent competence.
- Evidence of sustained and recent personal and professional development.
- Registered as a practising midwife and nurse with the NMC.
- Master’s degree or equivalent level of academic achievement.
Desirable criteria
- Specialist training/knowledge to doctorate or equivalent level
Clinical Skills & Experience
Essential criteria
- Head of Midwifery experience is essential broad range of clinical midwifery experience acquired through significant practice at a senior level.
- Significant experience of leading clinical teams and professional agendas. This includes managing many services in a complex organisation, including people and budgetary management.
- Experience of leading crossboundary projects.
- Significant experience of leading / managing clinical governance within a healthcare organisation.
- Experience of leading organisation / service change to deliver improvement.
- Experience of strategy development and implementation.
- Experience of working at a senior level across other NHS organisations/ organisational boundaries for benchmarking purposes or to identify best practice/ areas for improvement.
- Experience of developing successful networks and delivering innovation.
- A demonstrative track record or delivering initiatives to improve quality of care.
- Experience and ability in interpreting legislation.
- Can deliver clinical and strategic reports and recommendations.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of being a member or attendee of a board
- Previous experience as a Director of Midwifery
Skills
Essential criteria
- Leadership skills and ability to motivate a team, providing clinical advice to managers and staff at all levels including working with Executive Directors and senior clinicians.
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to network across professional boundaries.
- Practical problem -solving ability.
- High influencing and negotiation skills lo contribute to strategic direction of maternity services.
- Proven practice and service development skills.
- Demonstrable data collection, analysis and evaluation skills.
- Be able to manage all aspects of work including· identifying training needs, conduct and capability cases of a department
- Excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
- Able to deal with extremely sensitive or contentious Issues, potentially in a challenging or hostile environment
- Effective Implementation or change with positive and enthusiastic approaches.
- Ability to improve clinical quality in acute setting.
- Exceptional report writing and well -developed IT skills.
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered as a practising midwife with the NMC.
- Master’s degree or equivalent level of academic achievement.
- Management training or evidence of equivalent competence.
- Education/ mentorship qualification
- Evidence of sustained and recent personal and professional development
Personal/Professional Attributes
Essential criteria
- Confident, inspiring and compassionate leadership skills, able to take others with them
- Ability to function in a multiprofessional environment
- Demonstrates personal resilience, self-awareness, ability to cope under pressure, support other team members and meet ambitious deadlines
- Self-motivated, energetic and flexible, with well-developed interpersonal skills
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Jo Andrews
- Job title
- EA to Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
- Email address
- [email protected]
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