Labour Ward Coordinator

James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Gorleston-on-Sea; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in the UK seeks a Labour Ward Coordinator to lead maternity teams, ensuring high-quality care for women and babies. The ideal candidate will have substantial midwifery experience, proven leadership skills, and a commitment to fostering a psychologically safe environment for the team. Responsibilities include managing resources, enhancing communication within the team, and leading improvements in maternity care safety. Competitive salary range of £47,810 to £54,710 per annum pro rata offered.

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife with degree/diploma in Midwifery and evidence of Continued Professional Development.
• Significant experience at Band 6 or higher in a high‑risk delivery suite setting.
• Ability to lead, manage and motivate teams effectively.

Responsibilities

• Critically reflect on leadership style affecting team performance.
• Lead resolution of challenging conversations with compassion.
• Evaluate knowledge of policies influencing safe service delivery.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Quality governance

Operational management

Education

Degree/ Diploma in Midwifery

Registered Midwife

Evidence of Managerial Training Course

Job description

James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Labour Ward Coordinator

The closing date is 21 December 2025

Labour ward co‑ordinators (LWCs) are a group of midwifery leaders who are passionate about and committed to leading maternity teams, to ensure the highest quality care is delivered for women, birthing people, and babies. They are skilled practitioners who use their in‑depth knowledge and intrapartum experience to role‑model great leadership and develop others, including learners. They work with integrity, creating psychologically safe environments in which the maternity team feel safe, respected, cared for and able to learn. They aspire to always deliver a consistent and compassionate organisational culture, building and sustaining professional relationships with all members of the team. By being supernumerary they maintain an overview of the service during their shift. They allocate resources to match the needs of the individual woman and baby. They critically record, appraise, and evaluate maternity safety data via systems such as the Maternity Dashboard and the Intrapartum Forum to consistently lead and improve quality and safety.

Main duties of the job

Key duties and responsibilities

The learning outcomes for the Labour Ward Coordinator Framework are structured around six domains and include the necessary technical and non‑technical requirements required to perform the role of aWC to a high standard.

Technical domain requirements

Core proficiencies.

Non‑technical domain requirements

• Leadership
• Knowledge
• Communication
• Quality, governance, and safe service
• Operational management.

About us

We want to attract the best and brightest people to work with us and that means we will look after you from the moment you apply for a role at the Trust and throughout your career with us. Our staff are central to everything we do, and we believe that investing in you is crucial if we want to enable you to reach your full potential.

Job responsibilities

Midwives working as a labour ward co‑ordinator will be able to:

• 1. Antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal core proficiencies
• 1.1. Demonstrate advanced skills in areas such as, but not limited to: foetal surveillance; maternal care pathways; maternal and neonatal life support and assessment; management of clinical risk and escalation.
• 1.2. Draw upon experience and evidence‑based skills to inform assessments to provide safe care.
• 2.1. Apply with confidence, and support others to use digital skills to ensure safe, timely and effective provision of care.
• 2.2. Critically examine patient records to identify risks that could impact care and support the team to undertake continual holistic risk assessments.
• 3. Technical skills
• 3.1. Use technical skills to operate, maintain and escalate faults in medical devices needed to provide safe and effective care.
• 3.2. Lead/support the team to identify appropriate local medical devices to support safe practice.

Midwives working as a labour ward co‑ordinator will be able to:

• 1. Critically reflect on own leadership style and how this impacts on the safety culture and performance of the multidisciplinary team (MDT)
• 2. Evaluate the impact of your behaviours as a leader on the experience and wellbeing of colleagues
• 3. Create a culture where psychological safety and quality improvement is achieved and maintained in a well‑led maternity service
• 4. Evaluate the impact of your behaviours as a leader on service user outcomes
• 5. Role‑model and foster a culture of continuous learning in others
• 6. Lead the resolution of challenging conversations with compassion, integrity, and confidence.
• Use evidence‑based knowledge to critique the technical skills of all team members and manage any gaps that could impact safe service delivery
• Create a learning culture within the birthing environment so that members of the MDT can address gaps in practice that impacts safe service delivery
• Appraise and implement the principles of human factors when leading the MDT
• Exercise professional judgement and clinical credibility gained from a range of experience obtained within the birthing environment
• Evaluate their knowledge of policies, procedures and processes which influence decision‑making and impact safe service delivery
• Critically reflect on individual preparedness for the demands of the role and your impact on others
• Demonstrate knowledge of current national guidelines, key reports and objectives relating to the maternity landscape

Midwives working as a labour ward co‑ordinator will be able to:

• 1. Prioritise confident, communication skills as a leader during an emergency, while maintaining a calm approach
• 2. Be approachable, trustworthy, and professional to foster effective and kind communication with the team and service users
• 3. Use emotional intelligence to recognise and manage with compassion non‑verbal signs of distress in the team, yourself, and service users
• 4. Compose high quality constructive feedback and use a kind and supportive manner
• 5. Develop and maintain highly effective communication with people on complex issues
• 6. Exhibit highly effective, inclusive, and timely communication skills with all members of the MDT
• 7. Use language and resources to enable effective communication with service users

Midwives working as a labour ward co‑ordinator will be able to:

• 1. Critically appraise and implement quality improvement processes and evaluate the outcomes
• 2. Initiate and maintain a culture of continuous quality improvement across maternity services, to improve outcomes and experiences for all women and babies in response to health inequalities
• 3. Actively participate in and promote audit and research to improve quality and safety

Midwives working as a labour ward co‑ordinator will be able to:

• 1. Determine and evaluate available resources, to deliver safe and effective care during each shift

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Registered Midwife
• Degree/ Diploma in Midwifery and evidence of Continued Professional Development
• NIPE Qualification (or willing to work towards)
• NLS Trained (or willing to work towards)
• ALS Trained
• Evidence of Managerial Training Course

Experience

• Significant experience at Band 6 or higher
• Significant experience working in a high‑risk delivery suite setting
• Knowledge and experience of risk management including experience in incident investigations
• Experience of managing employee relations issues
• Experience of guideline development and review
• Experience of participating in clinical audit
• Experience of implementing change in service provision

Skills and Knowledge

• Ability to practice clinically in all areas of a fully integrated maternity service promoting excellence in clinical practice. Including evidence of the clinical skills outlined in Pillar 1 above.
• High level decision making and organisational skills
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to co‑ordinate, influence and liaise within a multi‑disciplinary team
• Ability to lead, manage and motivate teams effectively
• Ability to demonstrate evidence‑based practice and a woman centred approach to care provision
• Ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines
• Computer literate, including use and management of databases
• In‑depth understanding of the relevance of high‑quality data and record keeping
• Knowledge of statutory regulations governing midwifery
• Knowledge of national & local maternity policy influencing service provision
• Able to understand budget information for intrapartum area

Attitude and Aptitude

• Demonstrates a good understanding of principles of the Labour Ward Coordinator Framework
• Motivated to promote personal and professional development of self and other junior colleagues
• Willing to rotate/work in all clinical areas within maternity
• Exemplary personal standards of conduct and behaviour
• Be an effective role model, demonstrating the Trust values

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.

James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum pro rata