Job summary
Working Full time: 37.5 hours per week

We are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced Practice Development Midwife to lead the education, training and professional development agenda within our maternity service. This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated midwife with a passion for learning, quality improvement and patient safety to influence and support the development of a highly skilled maternity workforce.

The successful candidate will work closely with the multidisciplinary team to design, deliver and evaluate education programmes, ensuring staff maintain the skills, knowledge and competencies required to provide safe, effective and evidence-based care. You will play a key role in supporting mandatory training, induction, preceptorship, clinical competency assessment, implementation of national guidance and learning from incidents, complaints and audits.

This role offers the opportunity to drive innovation, support workforce development and contribute to service improvements that positively impact women, babies and families.

If you are an experienced midwife with excellent communication, teaching and leadership skills and are passionate about developing others, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

• Lead the planning, delivery and evaluation of mandatory and specialist maternity education programmes.
• Develop and maintain clinical competencies and skills assessments for maternity staff.
• Support staff induction, preceptorship and ongoing professional development.
• Monitor and improve compliance with mandatory training and professional requirements.
• Facilitate training needs analyses and develop annual education plans aligned to service priorities.
• Design and deliver teaching programmes, study days and simulation training.
• Support implementation of national maternity safety initiatives, guidelines and best practice.
• Lead educational responses to incidents, complaints, audits and quality improvement programmes.
• Work collaboratively with ward managers and clinical leaders to improve standards of care.
• Support policy, guideline and pathway development across maternity services.
• Promote evidence-based practice, research, audit and service improvement activities.
• Provide expert advice and professional leadership on workforce development issues.
• Evaluate education programmes and produce reports demonstrating outcomes and impact.
• Support workforce planning and contribute to maternity service objectives and business planning.
• Ensure compliance with NMC standards, CQC requirements and Trust policies.

About us
The Trust's services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 473 general and acute beds.
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 60 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility.
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust employs 5,964 staff (headcount) to provide care and treatment to a population of over 400,000 people living in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire.

The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System. Due to its location on the border with North Wales, the Trust also works closely with the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

The Trust treats patients from England and some parts of Wales. During 2024/2025, there were approximately 643,000 patient attendances (inpatient, A&E, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery.

Details
Date posted: 15 October 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £49,387 to £56,515 a year pa
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 12 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 210-2026-704

Person Specification
Qualifications

• Essential: Registered Midwife; Degree in Midwifery; Teaching and assessing qualification (e.g. Mentorship, Practice Assessor/Supervisor or equivalent); Evidence of ongoing professional development and continuous learning
• Desirable: Relevant speciality Master's module; Evidence of advanced midwifery studies; NLS Course; PROMPT Provider Course

Knowledge

• Essential: 5 years post registration training; Experience of teaching and assessing in clinical practice; Evidence of participating in service development and implementing change; Evidence of designing teaching packages and competency programmes
• Desirable: Change management experience; Demonstrates a working knowledge of CQC Core Standards and maternity Transformation

Skills

• Essential: Evidence of multi-disciplinary working and can demonstrate principles of effective team working; Ability to co-ordinate own workload; Evidence of developing and delivering training programmes
• Desirable: Experience of research and audit and implementing change as a result of findings; Experience of problem solving, analysing complex information and interpreting data

Employer contact details
Head of Midwifery: Claire Davies
Apply through our website

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship are welcome and considered alongside all other applications.