Community Team Leader

Bedfordshire Hospitals; Bedford; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Band 7 Community Team Leader in Midwifery to lead the community maternity service. The post offers clinical leadership, supporting teams to deliver safe, evidence-based care across Bedfordshire.

The successful candidate will provide line management, supervision and professional development, ensuring high standards of care for women and families in the community.

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife with current UK NMC registration.
• Post-registration leadership experience in maternity care.
• Experience in community/primary care settings is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage midwives and support staff in the community setting.
• Promote safe, compassionate, personalised maternity care.
• Provide coaching, supervision and performance management.
• Collaborate with Community Matron and maternity services to improve pathways.
• Ensure staffing levels and skill mix meet service needs.
• Lead in safety, quality improvement and learning.

Skills

Effective communicator

Leadership

Team management

Change management

Clinical governance

Education

Degree or Masters in Midwifery

Research qualification

Job description

Main area Midwifery Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (hours over 5 days per to include weekends) Job ref 418-MAT4855-SSJ

Site Bedford Hospital Town Bedford Salary £49,387 - £56,515 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 27/10/2026 23:59

Job overview

We are looking for an experienced, motivated and compassionate midwife to join our Community Maternity Service as a Band 7 Community Team Leader .

This is an exciting opportunity to provide strong clinical and professional leadership within the community midwifery team, promoting a culture of safe, personalised, holistic and high-quality maternity care . The post holder will champion pregnancy and birth as normal physiological processes, while ensuring that women and birthing people receive individualised care that recognises their choices, circumstances and clinical needs.

Working collaboratively with the Community Matron and wider maternity leadership team , the Team Leader will support the ongoing development and delivery of community maternity services, helping teams to provide responsive, evidence-based care that meets the needs of their local population. The post holder will provide visible and supportive leadership to the community team and will have responsibility for the day-to-day management and direct line management of staff . They will create an environment in which colleagues feel supported and empowered to make effective clinical decisions, problem-solve and continuously develop their practice.

Main duties of the job

A key focus of the role will be to:

• Effectively manage staff in order to provide safe standards of care.
• Promote safe, compassionate, personalised and evidence-based maternity care.
• Support staff through coaching, supervision, development and effective performance management.
• Work collaboratively across maternity services and with multidisciplinary and community partners to improve pathways and outcomes for women, babies and families.
• Promote a positive learning culture and ensure the community setting provides an environment that supports both formal and informal learning.
• Maintain professional accountability and practise in accordance with relevant NMC standards, professional codes and evidence-based guidance .

The successful candidate will be an experienced midwife with a passion for community maternity care and developing people. They will have the ability to lead with compassion, support change and improvement, and inspire a team to deliver consistently high standards of care .

Working for our organisation

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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Job Description and Person Specification are attached to this job, please review for the full details and responsibilities

• Provide soundclinical, professional, educational and managerial leadership to midwives and support staff working within the community setting.
• Provide consistent, visible leadership, creating a supportive environment that enables staff to make effective decisions and deliver high-quality care.
• Undertake direct line management responsibilities, supporting staff development and encouraging colleagues to develop their professional, clinical and communication skills.
• Act as a positive professional role model, promoting appropriate professional standards and effective partnership working.
• Ensure community services are appropriately staffed, identify inappropriate staffing levels or skill mix and take appropriate remedial action.
• Take responsibility, alongside the Community Matron, for the organisation of midwifery caseloads allocated to community teams.
• Promote the delivery ofsafe, compassionate, evidence-based and individualised maternity care to women, babies and their families across care settings and provide up-to-date professional advice in accordance with relevant professional standards.
• Provide clinical support within all aspects of maternity services when required.
• Participate in the community on-call rota, supporting the homebirth service and escalation pathways.
• Promote a culture in whichsafety, quality improvement and learning are embedded within everyday practice.
• Ensure clinical risks are identified and reported through the appropriate clinical risk reporting framework, commence appropriate investigations and monitor outcomes and lessons learned.
• Proactively contribute to the development and improvement of community midwifery pathways.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across maternity services to support safe and effective care.
• Build effective professional relationships and promote partnership working across community and maternity services.

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife
• Evidence of Degree or masters qualification
• Research qualification

Experience

• Suitable post-registration experience within the relevant speciality, with evidence of the clinical skills, knowledge and leadership capabilities required for the role
• In depth knowledge of antenatal and postnatal pathways
• Evidence of the application of management/leadership skills and autonomous practice
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Participation in Research

Knowledge

• Ability to motivate self and others Lead and facilitate change
• Teaching /assessment skills

Skills

• Effective communicator both written and verbal
• Ability to think logically, prioritise and use initiative
• Assertive and confident
• Demonstrate good leadership and organisation skills
• Ability to take managerial and professional responsibility for team and staff.
• Team focussed
• Reliable, Adaptable and Dependable

It is an exciting time to join Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We run two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Our 7,500 staff provide high quality care for a growing population of around 700,000 across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas.

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. Travel between hospital sites may be required. We have state-of-the art facilities placing us at the heart of cutting edge health care. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering their first six months in post.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.