Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and highly motivated midwife to join our senior maternity leadership team as Outpatient Matron, Band 8a.

The Outpatient Matron will provide visible, professional and operational leadership for outpatient maternity services across Bedford and Luton, including Antenatal Clinic, Day Assessment Unit, Diabetes Specialist Midwives and Infant Feeding Specialists. The post holder will have responsibility for ensuring the delivery of high-quality, safe, responsive and woman-centred care, making effective use of available workforce and resources.

Working closely with the Head of Midwifery, senior maternity leaders, the post holder will support continuous improvement in quality, safety, patient experience and service delivery.

This is a key leadership role requiring excellent communication, compassionate leadership and strong operational management skills. The successful candidate will contribute to clinical governance, workforce management, service development, risk management, audit and the investigation and learning arising from incidents and complaints.

The post is cross-site across Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and includes participation in the maternity services 24-hour manager-on-call rota in line with service requirements.

Main duties of the job

• Provide visible, professional and clinical leadership across outpatient maternity services, promoting consistently high standards of safe, evidence-based and woman-centred care.
• Provide operational leadership for outpatient services across Bedford and Luton, including Antenatal Clinic, Day Assessment Unit, Diabetes Specialist Midwives and Infant Feeding Specialists.
• Ensure effective workforce and resource management, including appropriate staffing and skill mix, responding to staffing pressures and making best use of available resources. Work collaboratively with the Head of Midwifery on budgetary management, service planning and delivery of key performance indicators.
• Provide leadership for quality, safety and clinical governance, including risk management, audit, infection prevention and control, safeguarding and continuous quality improvement. Support and undertake the investigation of incidents, complaints and concerns, identifying themes and ensuring that appropriate learning and improvement actions are implemented.
• Build effective relationships with multidisciplinary teams and internal and external stakeholders to support effective pathways and improve outcomes for women and their families.
• Participate in internal and external audits, meetings and inspections, ensuring actions and improvements within areas of responsibility are progressed. Participate in the 24 hour on call rota in accordance with service needs.

About us
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.

Details
Date posted: 05 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 418-MAT9048-SSJ
Closing date: 12 November 2026

Person Specification
Qualifications

• Essential: Registered Midwife; NMC registration (in date); First degree or working towards in relevant subject; Recognised teaching and assessing qualification; Educated to Masters' level/working towards or commitment to undertaking within year of appointment
• Desirable: Professional Midwifery Advocate; Evidence of Leadership development/programme

Experience

• Essential: Substantial experience of midwifery care at Band 7 or equivalent; Experience of operational management; Proven track record of leadership; Proven midwifery skill and knowledge; Evidence of clinical competence; Current experience of line management of staff; Evidence of teaching and developing junior staff both formally and informally; Proven experience of managing resources including budgetary control; Experience of managing and sustaining change; Experience of developing and implementing new policies and guidance
• Desirable: Management of change process; QSIR course; Experience or willingness to develop experience in specialist areas of midwifery

Knowledge

• Essential: Evidence of clinical standard setting and audit within maternity services; Evidence of understanding professional issues in midwifery; Skilled in staff selection and development; Thorough understanding and knowledge of key indicators of excellent quality care; Highly effective communication and relationship skills; Evidence of involvement with user groups to develop quality centred care
• Desirable: Knowledge of specialist areas in midwifery or willingness to develop knowledge

Personal characteristics

• Essential: Evidence of recent personal development activity; Demonstrates an ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team; Highly professional role model; Needs to be able to travel to all Bedfordshire NHS foundation Trust sites

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website. From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer details
Employer name: Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Bedford Hospital South Wing, Kempston Road, Bedford, MK42 9DJ, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk/working-here/

For questions about the job, contact:
Head of Midwifery, Louise Preston, louise.preston@bedsft.nhs.uk

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