About this role
Job summary
This post will be for a Consultant Midwife to lead public health, quality improvement, and research across our maternity services in North Cumbria. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced, visionary midwife to shape strategy, champion evidence-based practice, and improve outcomes for women, babies, and families across our diverse communities.
You will provide expert clinical leadership, drive innovation, and strengthen our research culture, working closely with senior leaders, frontline teams, and system partners. Your work will support safe, personalised, high-quality care and help reduce inequalities across the region.
This post carries a significant portfolio across public health, quality improvement, and research, giving you the platform to influence both practice and policy. You will:
Lead the development of public health strategies that address the unique needs of North Cumbria's communities, reducing inequalities and improving long-term outcomes. Drive a culture of continuous improvement, supporting teams to embed best practice, learn from data, and innovate with confidence. Strengthen the research profile of maternity services, ensuring that women and families benefit from the latest evidence and that midwives are supported to engage in research activity
Main duties of the job
Expert Practice - Provide specialist clinical expertise, support, advice and professional leadership for midwives and the multidisciplinary team, to ensure best practice standards are met that will improve outcomes for women and influence a reduction of unnecessary interventions and provide consistency across all service sites.
Strategic Planning/Policy Development - Actively promoting and developing care pathways that promote safe, effective and person centred care for women and partners receiving care within NCIC. The post holder should contribute to the wider national agenda
Practice Development, Education and Training - Making a significant contribution to the clinical governance agenda by ensuring that practice is evidence based and lead on the development of programmes of professional education with the Practice Development team
Professional Leadership and Consultancy- Leading service redesign which will empower midwives to meet the needs of the local population in line with key objectives outlined in local, regional and national policy documents. Provide expert midwifery support in review of serious cases and ensure that action plans are adhered to in liaison with the governance team
About us
At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.
Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of 'safe, high quality care every time':
Being a clinically led organisation Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust A positive patient experience every time A great place to work Managing our money well
As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.
Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.
Job description Job responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.
CERTIFICATE OF SPONSORSHIP
Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment.Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed. For further information visit theUK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.
Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.
Disclosure and Barring Service:
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:
Standard Check: £21.50 + Administration cost of £6.50 = £28.00 Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.
Enhanced Check: £49.50 + administration cost of £6.50 = £56.00 Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.
NCIC can offer successful future employees the following benefits:
27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years
Flexible working Scheme
NHS Discounts*
Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work*
Excellent opportunities for development*
Competitive NHS Pension scheme
Vivup is a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems
*Subject to eligibility
Important Information
Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.
If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.
Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date
Person Specification
Skills Essential
Well-developed verbal and written communication skills including presentations and publications Highly developed interpersonal skills with meticulous attention to detail Ability to develop policies and procedures Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to lead, influence and negotiate with staff at all levels internally and externally Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines Demonstrate awareness of priorities, deals with workloads, adapts to changing requirements and uses initiative Able to work sensibly and collaboratively across organizational and professional boundaries, recognising changes in circumstances and to incorporate them into practice Awareness of equality and diversity issues Negotiating and ability to resolve conflict Ability to compile, analyse and disseminate complex information Ability to develop educational programmes, teach and support education of staff Ability to work on own initiative and organise workload, allocating work as necessary, working to tight and often changing deadlines. Demonstrates sound judgement in the absence of clear guidelines or precedent, seeking advice as necessary form more senior management when appropriate. Budget management skills Strong analytical and problem solving skills oAbility to chair / organise and lead work stream / meetings involving a range of staff Able to think strategically and translate vision for local service into delivery by collaboration and partnership. Highly developed leadership skills with the ability to motivate and involve individuals
Desirable
Budget management skills
Knowledge Essential
In-depth professional theoretical knowledge and experience of Midwifery across antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal services Evidence of substantial knowledge/clinical experience in Public health andinequalities Experience of working in partnership with a multidisciplinary teams Evidence of innovative practice that involves research and or audit Project management skills Awareness of National NHS agenda and the National Maternity Transformation requirements Knowledge of current developments in midwifery and political awareness of NHS Demonstrable experience of leading change and problem solving in clinical settings, client care and experience Evidence of teaching and mentoring staff/students.
Desirable
Experience in public speaking and presenting at conferences or similar Evidence of Academic publications Previous experience working as an advanced midwifery practitioner
Qualifications Essential
Degree in Midwifery studies, or healthcare related subject (UK equivalent) with additional clinical and professional experience with relevance to maternity. NMC Registered Midwife (Level 1 minimum) Masters Qualification in a relevant clinical or currently studying Mentorship Qualification or equivalent demonstrable experience Evidence of continual professional development in specialist areas of midwifery Leadership/Management course or equivalent demonstrable experience
Desirable
Professional Midwifery Advocate
Other Requirements Essential
Standard keyboard skills and IT literacy including knowledge of Microsoft, Outlook, Excel, Teams and badgernet Ability to participate in a midwifery managers on call rota as part of the Trust's out of hours management provision Must meet the travel requirements of the post i.e. supporting services across multiple sites during working hours.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
Address West Cumberland Hospital
Whitehaven
CA28 8JG
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.ncic.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)