Ward Manager - Special Care Baby Unit

Job summary

To provide leadership and management within the Level 1 Special Care Baby Unit and the wider maternity unit including supervision of staff, participation in audit and research, clinical governance, development of evidence-based guidelines and training/education for all members of the team.

To work closely with the Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, postnatal and paediatric staff to deliver a collaborative Transitional Care service keeping mothers and babies together on the postnatal ward.

To provide a proactive, effective holistic service for families attending with babies receiving care on SCBU, transitional care or wider maternity service, supporting independent practice within the specialty, whilst working in a multi-professional team. This includes responsibility for the clinical care and management of patients within the area.

To role model compassionate and inclusive leadership to shape the creation of a collective leadership culture within the Trust.

This post holder will be visible in their role and will undertake their clinical competencies within the unit to demonstrate proficiency, working closely with members of the midwifery, obstetric and paediatric teams.

They will act as a role model to all staff and will work as part of the senior maternity and neonatal team to improve and maintain standards and help lead the SCBU into the future, and provide comprehensive advice and guidance to all departments.

Main duties of the job

Gatehead Maternity & Neonatal service has an 8-cot Level Special Care Baby Unit. This newly created ward manager post will support the development of the SCBU with exciting estates projects, education & development of neonatal nursing teams, close working with the other ward managers to support the transitional care service and implementation of any new national & regional programmes.

The post holder will be:

Responsible for the recruitment, selection and retention of a team of qualified neonatal nurses, health care assistants, and support staff.

Delegated responsibility for staff and non- staff budget for the area

Line management responsibility for midwifery and support staff,

In collaboration with Matrons for Maternity services and the neonatal clinical lead, participate in practice developments and service improvement, audit and benchmarking against agreed standards.

Have a vision for the area/service and be able to lead others and implement the vision in practice

Development of clinical networks across the wider organisation.

About us

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the 'golden thread' which runs through everything we do - they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronymICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our 'Balance' programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.