Senior Midwifery Practitioner - Perinatal Mental Health Specialist

Job summary

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.

Please see below for detailed job description of the role.

Job Type: Permanent

Hours: Full time 37.5 hours per week

Main duties of the job

This is an exciting opportunity to join our team for an enthusiastic and knowledgeable midwife.

Are you passionate about perinatal mental health? Do you want to enhance your skills in supporting the mental health of women and birthing people throughout their maternity journey? Are you committed to providing personalised and compassionate care to women, birthing people, and families with complex social needs?

Our maternity service embodies the Trust Values, placing women, birthing people, and their families at the heart of our care and we strive for excellence in everything we do, continually improving and working together. Our maternity team is dedicated to delivering safe, high-quality, and efficient care, regardless of background or needs, providing you with extensive experience across the entire pregnancy journey.

About us

As one of the largest acute teaching Trusts in England, we offer learning and development opportunities to help you achieve the career you aspire to. UHS is rated 'Good' by the CQC and in the latest national NHS Staff Survey, we were in the top 10 acute trusts for staff engagement and for staff recommending the hospital as a place to work or receive care.

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. UHS employees are able to access a range of NHS discounts, are entitled to a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme.

Southampton is an attractive place to live and work situated on the south coast, with an international airport and direct trains to London. The New Forest National Park and beaches of the Jurassic coast are also right on our doorstep. The city offers living costs 30% lower than London and 17 schools rated outstanding by Ofsted.

We believe that using technology wisely shows strong time management and commitment to innovation. However, personalising your recruitment application to highlight your unique skills and experiences is crucial. Relying too heavily on generic, AI-generated content instead of drawing from your own strengths and accomplishments may lead to your application being rejected if multiple candidates present identical or similar information.

Job responsibilities

In this role, your key responsibilities will include supporting individuals with mental health and other complex needs, improving their outcomes and experiences for the most vulnerable families, including working alongside safeguarding, domestic violence, and other perinatal mental health teams. You will bridge the services for maternity with other mental health care providers, including local IAPT providers and specialist mental health teams (MMHS, CMHT, PMHT). You will act as an expert and role model in perinatal mental health provision of care, providing clinical and professional leadership within the maternity service.

Your key responsibilities will include supporting teams, developing and maintaining high standards of care for women and birthing people with mental health complexities during pregnancy and the postnatal period. This role encompasses specialist clinical, consultative, training, practice development, and strategic responsibilities.

Person specification

Qualifications, knowledge and experience

Essential

• Registered Midwife on relevant part of the NMC register
• Significant clinical experience
• Evidence of continual professional development
• Associate/mentorship qualification or equivalent experience
• Relevant and recent clinical experience or with the ability to demonstrate significant experience in midwifery practice and responsibility for managing a clinical team
• Have ability to network, initiate and develop sound relationships with senior colleagues within and external to the Trust
• Expert clinical skills relevant to speciality and achievement of all midwifery competencies
• Synthesise information quickly and able to communicate and escalate

Desirable

• Experience of writing protocols, guidelines and integrated care pathways
• High dependency course
• Team leadership role
• Evidence of audit
• Experience of leading change management programmes
• Examination of the newborn qualification
• Willingness to teach practice in a formal setting
• Understanding of local and national NHS initiatives

Trust Values

Essential

• Patients First
• Always Improving
• Working Together