Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Maternity Operational Manager

The closing date is 01 August 2025

Job summary

The Maternity Operational Manager has a responsibility to provide clinical and operational midwifery leadership with support and direction from the Senior Leadership team, to ensure the effective and safe running of the maternity unit during the week, night shifts, weekends & Bank Holidays.

The post holder will maintain a visible professional presence where patients, carers and staff can turn for senior assistance, advice and support and upon whom they can rely to ensure that the fundamental and specialist aspects of care are met.

It includes the management of staff and being accountable for the quality of services (both clinical and non-clinical) delivered within the span of authority. This includes redeployment of staff to meet the needs of the service across the maternity setting.

Main duties of the job

Gaining an in-depth understanding of the process's supporting flow through maternity and Gynaecology to ensure appropriate placement of patients according to their clinical need and ensure best placement of birth and minimise service closure.

Recognising the trigger factors associated with the Maternity and Trust Escalation policy in order to minimise bed crisis through effective planning and how to implement the strategy when necessary.

Gaining an understanding, and liaising with our Main Trust Operations centre and regularly attending Site Safety meetings to report staffing levels and quality issues.

Recognising the need to escalation admission, discharge, safeguarding and patient flow issues, to the Midwifery Manager of on call or relevant specialist teams and becoming aware of the strategies that can be employed to address critical bed states/maximise staffing.

Implementing the communication with our sister site at Luton & Dunstable, along with other Trusts & Health Care providers in the area regarding capacity to support when the Maternity unit is in escalation and when necessary co-ordinating the transfer of patients to other hospitals.

Support data collection from Red Flag reporting, staff redeployments, emergency calls (working to aid improvement work to optimise safety and provide analytics to facilitate best redeployment for staff.

Participate in roster writing to ensure appropriate skill mix of staff across inpatient areas of maternity

About us

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job

Details

Date posted

18 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

418-MAT4814-EH

Job locations

Luton & Dunstable Hospital

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ


Job description

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the job description and personal specification for further details of roles and responsibilities

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the job description and personal specification for further details of roles and responsibilities

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Midwife
  • Evidence of Degree or masters qualification

Desirable

  • Research qualification

Experience

Essential

  • Suitable Post-Registration experience within relevant speciality at band 6 or above
  • In depth knowledge of inpatient pathways
  • Evidence of the application of management/leadership skills and autonomous practice
  • Evidence of continued professional development

Desirable

  • Involvement in audit
  • Participation in Research
  • Participation in roster management

Knowledge

Essential

  • Organisational and negotiation skills
  • Effective communicator
  • Leadership & motivation skills
  • Evidence of audit and change management ability

Personal Skills

Essential

  • Effective communicator both written and verbal
  • Ability to take managerial and professional responsibility for team and staff.
  • Ability to think logically, prioritise and use initiative
  • Diplomatic
  • Assertive and confident
  • Reliable, Adaptable and Dependable
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Midwife
  • Evidence of Degree or masters qualification

Desirable

  • Research qualification

Experience

Essential

  • Suitable Post-Registration experience within relevant speciality at band 6 or above
  • In depth knowledge of inpatient pathways
  • Evidence of the application of management/leadership skills and autonomous practice
  • Evidence of continued professional development

Desirable

  • Involvement in audit
  • Participation in Research
  • Participation in roster management

Knowledge

Essential

  • Organisational and negotiation skills
  • Effective communicator
  • Leadership & motivation skills
  • Evidence of audit and change management ability

Personal Skills

Essential

  • Effective communicator both written and verbal
  • Ability to take managerial and professional responsibility for team and staff.
  • Ability to think logically, prioritise and use initiative
  • Diplomatic
  • Assertive and confident
  • Reliable, Adaptable and Dependable

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).

Additional information

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

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Luton & Dunstable Hospital

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ


Employer's website

https://www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk/working-here/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Luton & Dunstable Hospital

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ


Employer's website

https://www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk/working-here/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Deputy Head of Mdiwifery

Jenny Wood

Jennifer.wood@bedsft.nhs.uk

Details

Date posted

18 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

418-MAT4814-EH

Job locations

Luton & Dunstable Hospital

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)