Matron Maternity Acute

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust; Durham; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Matron for Maternity Acute. The role provides senior leadership across acute maternity services, ensuring safe, high-quality, woman-centred care and robust governance.

The postholder collaborates with senior leaders, midwives, clinicians and external partners to drive service development and sustainability, while modelling safety and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Degree-based professional knowledge is required.
• Masters level study or progress is desirable.
• Leadership qualifications or equivalent experience sought.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, clinical and operational leadership across acute maternity services.
• Lead governance activities, investigations and learning from reviews to drive improvement.
• Oversee workforce planning, recruitment, retention and development, ensuring safe staffing.

Skills

Literate and articulate

Strategic partnership

Midwifery knowledge

Trust policies

Change management

Public & external relations

Education

Bachelor level professional degree

Master level qualification

Leadership/Management qualification

Teaching qualification

Continued professional development

Masters in progress

Professional Midwifery Advocate eligibility

Job description

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

Matron Maternity Acute

The closing date is 25 November 2026

The MatronAcute Maternity Services is a senior leadership role within County Durham andDarlington NHS Foundation Trust, responsible for providing strategic, clinical,operational and professional leadership across acute maternity services. Thepost holder works closely with the Director and Heads of Midwifery,multidisciplinary teams and external stakeholders to ensure the deliveryofsafe, effective, high-quality, woman-centred care that aligns with local andnational maternity priorities.

The role isaccountable for maintaining clinical standards, driving quality improvement,embedding robust governance processes and ensuring compliance with nationalguidance, Trust policies and regulatory requirements. The Matron providesvisible and accessible leadership, supporting and developing staff to achievetheir full potential while fostering a culture of safety, compassion,accountability and continuous improvement. The post holder oversees serviceperformance, workforce planning, patient experience, financial management, riskmanagement and service transformation initiatives across maternity services. Akey aspect of the role is strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration,promoting evidence-based practice, leading clinical governance activity andensuring the delivery of excellent outcomes for women, babies and families. TheMatron also acts as a professional role model, maintaining clinical credibilityand supporting the organisation's strategic vision.

Main duties of the job

TheMatron Acute Maternity Services will provide professional, clinical andoperational leadership across acute maternity services, ensuring the deliveryof safe, effective and compassionate care for women, babies and families. Thepost holder will lead and support multidisciplinary teams, promote highstandards of clinical practice, and ensure compliance with national standards,Trust policies and regulatory requirements. They will oversee serviceperformance, workforce planning, patient experience, risk management andclinical governance activities, using data and audit findings to drivecontinuous quality improvement. The Matron will work collaboratively withsenior leaders, clinicians and partner organisations to support servicedevelopment and transformation, ensuring that maternity services areresponsive, sustainable and focused on achieving excellent outcomes. The rolealso includes managing resources effectively, supporting staff wellbeing anddevelopment, leading investigations and learning from incidents, and acting asa visible role model who promotes a positive culture of safety, accountability,inclusion and excellence across the maternity workforce.

About us

If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.

You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.

We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients' homes.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.

Full Job Descriptions can be found in the adverts supporting documents.

Over reliance onAI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances ofsuccess.

For the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and eligibility, please check online to determine whether you can apply.

Please note that we may close any vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

Job responsibilities

TheMatron Acute Maternity Services is a senior leadership position responsible forthe strategic, professional, clinical and operational management of acutematernity services across County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.The role provides strong visible leadership to midwifery, nursing and supportstaff, ensuring that women, babies and their families receive safe, effective,personalised and compassionate care at all times. The post holder isaccountable for maintaining high standards of clinical quality, patient safetyand service performance while supporting the Trust's ambition to deliveroutstanding maternity care.

TheMatron will lead the day-to-day operational delivery of maternity services,ensuring that services are responsive to patient demand, appropriately staffedand able to meet national, regional and local performance standards. They willwork closely with the Director and Heads of Midwifery, senior clinicians,operational teams and partner organisations to develop and implement strategiesthat improve outcomes for women and babies, enhance patient experience andsupport the long-term sustainability of maternity services.

A keyelement of the role is providing professional leadership and support tomultidisciplinary teams, promoting a culture of excellence, learning andcontinuous improvement. The Matron will be responsible for leading, motivatingand developing staff through effective workforce planning, recruitment,retention, succession planning, performance management and educationinitiatives. They will ensure staff have access to appropriate professionaldevelopment opportunities and that training compliance is maintained across allareas of responsibility. The post holder will actively promote staff wellbeing,equality, diversity and inclusion, creating an environment where staff feelvalued, supported and empowered to deliver high-quality care.

TheMatron will have significant responsibility for clinical governance and qualityassurance. This includes overseeing risk management processes, leadinginvestigations into incidents, complaints and concerns, ensuring implementationof learning from reviews and supporting the development of robust action plansto drive improvement. They will use audit findings, performance metrics,patient feedback and national benchmarking data to identify opportunities forservice enhancement and ensure that quality standards are continually monitoredand improved. The post holder will work to ensure compliance with relevantlegislation, regulatory requirements, professional standards and nationalmaternity safety programmes.

Person Specification

Statutory Registration

• Registered Midwife NMC

Special Skills & Knowledge

• Literate and articulate.
• Able to present information and represent the Care Group multidisciplinary meetings.
• Current knowledge of midwifery developments, nationally, regionally and locally.
• Evidence of strategic partnership working
• Previous experience at developing guidelines and protocols on a multidisciplinary level.
• Industrious and versatile able to work on a diverse range of projects at one time.
• Understand the importance of working with other professionals.
• Able to work under own initiative.
• Commitment to the organisations success
• Ability to work to deadlines
• Experience dealing with conflict management
• Experience with dealing with the public and outside agencies.
• Commitment to the trust wide development strategy for success.
• Management experience of dealing with change.
• Working knowledge of CQC
• Knowledge of Trust wide policies.

Qualifications

• Professional knowledge acquired through degree
• Master or working towards and completion of Master Level (or equivalent experience)
• Management or Leadership qualification and /or experience
• Recognised teaching qualification.
• Evidence of continued professional development.
• Working towards completion of masters degree.
• Eligible to be Professional Midwifery Advocate

Special Requirements

• Commitment to drive service improvement
• Creative and innovative thinker, objective with high level of integrity
• Adaptable and flexible approach to work
• Able to foster positive relationships with co-workers and work across professional and organisational boundaries
• Able to motivate others
• Able to deal with difficult and complex situations

Experience

• Relevant experience and recent acute experience at the appropriate level.
• Proven track record of in-service training.
• Ability to manage budget
• Awareness of PSIRF
• Awareness of quality metrics, Maternity Incentive Scheme, Saving Babies Lives, the maternity care Bundle and key national maternity reports, reviews and investigations that continue to shape maternity services in England
• Higher level awareness of safeguarding children and adults policies and procedures.
• Experience of leading and driving clinical governance.

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.

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

£57,528 to £64,750 a yearper annum / pro rata