Perinatal Governance and Quality Lead

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 78,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a Perinatal Governance and Quality Lead to support safety and quality improvements across maternity and neonatal services.

The post entails leading governance activities, monitoring risk management, ensuring compliance with national and regional drivers, and promoting a strong safety culture through engagement with clinical teams and senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife with valid registration
• Degree level or equivalent
• Leadership/management qualification or being on pathway to
• Masters qualification or evidence of progress
• Post-registration education and ongoing professional development

Responsibilities

• Provide governance and quality assurance across perinatal services
• Lead on compliance with National and Regional safety and quality requirements
• Monitor risk management processes, guidelines, policies and CQC standards
• Support divisional leadership to embed safety culture and escalation of risks
• Deliver improvements in learning and practice within maternity and neonatal services
• Collaborate with senior leadership to maintain high standards of practice and behaviors

Skills

Effective leadership

Excellent communication

Report writing

Interpersonal skills

Organisational skills

Negotiation and influence

Risk management

Quality improvement

Engagement and coaching

Change management

Education

Registered Midwife

Degree level

Management/ Leadership qualification

Masters or working towards

Post-registration education

Job description

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Perinatal Governance and Quality Lead

The closing date is 18 November 2026

The post holder has a key role within the perinatal services in supporting the delivery of National and Regional safety and quality requirements including the provision of evidence and continuous monitoring of governance and quality improvements within the service.

Support perinatal services in meeting its statutory requirements and clinical governance objectives by overseeing assurance, monitoring and reporting on risk management processes, guidelines and policies, Care Quality Commission standards and regulations, regulatory initiatives and in particular lead on of compliance to National drivers and National maternity reports including Ockennden, Amos, maternity Incentives scheme and saving babies Lives etc

Main duties of the job

The post holder has a key role within the perinatal services in supporting the delivery of National and Regional safety and quality requirements including the provision of evidence and continuous monitoring of governance and quality improvements within the service.

To act as the divisional lead within the Perinatal Service to ensure an integrated approach to patient safety and embedding a safety culture and early escalation of risks and issues.

Support the Divisional Director of Midwifery and Divisional deputy Directors of Midwifery and nursing across the W+C Division to provide assurance that perinatal services meet its statutory requirements and clinical governance objectives by overseeing, monitoring and reporting on progress of national and local drivers.

Drive sustainable improvement in learning and practice.

Deliver improvements in quality and safety within maternity and neonatal services ensuring compliance with Trust, National / regional policies, guidelines and legislation.

Collaborate with the senior leadership team to enable a positive safety culture within the division, working with clinical teams to agree and ensure the maintenance of high standards of practice and behaviours.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.

Job responsibilities

Proposed Interview date: 26th November 2026

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person Specification

Values

• We are kind
• We are open
• We are inclusive

Qualifications

• Registered Midwife
• Evidence of post registration education
• Educated to degree level
• Management/ Leadership qualification or equivalent
• Masters' qualification or evidence of working towards

Knowledge

• An in-depth understanding of all aspects of evidence-based midwifery practice
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of governance processes
• Able to demonstrate significant personal involvement in change management/ implementation of new systems
• Able to build rapport and credibility with senior clinical and managerial teams in the delivery of performance targets, service delivery and change programmes
• Ability to deliver objectives within an agreed timeframe
• Knowledge of CQC and MIS compliance
• Highly developed leadership and influencing skills with the ability to enthuse, motivate and involve individuals and teams
• Good understanding of quality improvement techniques, clinical audit, risk management and complaints
• Experience of improvement measurement systems and understanding of the role of measurement in performance improvement
• Ability to design and develop support programmes and engagement plans, evaluation and monitoring of plans
• Evidence of guideline, research and audit experience

Skills

• Ability to communicate effectively with staff at all levels in a sensitive manner
• Effective leadership skills
• Excellent communication skills, written, verbal and IT skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and able to engage and build effective relationships
• Presents concepts and ideas clearly so that others understand what is being communicated.
• Evidence of excellent report writing skills
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills
• Proven ability to negotiate, persuade, influence, motivate, support and gain the respect of other health care professionals
• Able to apply action learning and other methods to facilitate staff development
• Ability to prioritise work in the face of competing demands
• Able to work within a given resource and demonstrate imaginative and effective use of resources
• Ability to support reflective practice

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.

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust