County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Matron Maternity Acute

The closing date is 25 November 2026

Job summary
The Matron Acute Maternity Services is a senior leadership role within County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, responsible for providing strategic, clinical, operational and professional leadership across acute maternity services. The post holder works closely with the Director and Heads of Midwifery, multidisciplinary teams and external stakeholders to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, high-quality, woman-centred care that aligns with local and national maternity priorities.

The role is accountable for maintaining clinical standards, driving quality improvement, embedding robust governance processes and ensuring compliance with national guidance, Trust policies and regulatory requirements. The Matron provides visible and accessible leadership, supporting and developing staff to achieve their full potential while fostering a culture of safety, compassion, accountability and continuous improvement. The post holder oversees service performance, workforce planning, patient experience, financial management, risk management and service transformation initiatives across maternity services. A key aspect of the role is strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration, promoting evidence-based practice, leading clinical governance activity and ensuring the delivery of excellent outcomes for women, babies and families. The Matron also acts as a professional role model, maintaining clinical credibility and supporting the organisation's strategic vision.

Main duties of the job
The Matron Acute Maternity Services will provide professional, clinical and operational leadership across acute maternity services, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and compassionate care for women, babies and families. The post holder will lead and support multidisciplinary teams, promote high standards of clinical practice, and ensure compliance with national standards, Trust policies and regulatory requirements. They will oversee service performance, workforce planning, patient experience, risk management and clinical governance activities, using data and audit findings to drive continuous quality improvement. The Matron will work collaboratively with senior leaders, clinicians and partner organisations to support service development and transformation, ensuring that maternity services are responsive, sustainable and focused on achieving excellent outcomes. The role also includes managing resources effectively, supporting staff wellbeing and development, leading investigations and learning from incidents, and acting as a 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 on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances of success.
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.

Details
Date posted: 11 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum / pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: C9439-2627-RP-N357
Job locations: University Hospital of North Durham, North Road, Durham, County Durham, DH1 5TW, United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities
The Matron Acute Maternity Services is a senior leadership position responsible for the strategic, professional, clinical and operational management of acute maternity services across County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. The role provides strong visible leadership to midwifery, nursing and support staff, ensuring that women, babies and their families receive safe, effective, personalised and compassionate care at all times. The post holder is accountable for maintaining high standards of clinical quality, patient safety and service performance while supporting the Trust's ambition to deliver outstanding maternity care.

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

A key element of the role is providing professional leadership and support to multidisciplinary teams, promoting a culture of excellence, learning and continuous improvement. The Matron will be responsible for leading, motivating and developing staff through effective workforce planning, recruitment, retention, succession planning, performance management and education initiatives. They will ensure staff have access to appropriate professional development opportunities and that training compliance is maintained across all areas of responsibility. The post holder will actively promote staff wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion, creating an environment where staff feel valued, supported and empowered to deliver high-quality care.

The Matron will have significant responsibility for clinical governance and quality assurance. This includes overseeing risk management processes, leading investigations into incidents, complaints and concerns, ensuring implementation of learning from reviews and supporting the development of robust action plans to drive improvement. They will use audit findings, performance metrics, patient feedback and national benchmarking data to identify opportunities for service enhancement and ensure that quality standards are continually monitored and improved. The post holder will work to ensure compliance with relevant legislation, regulatory requirements, professional standards and national maternity safety programmes.

Person Specification
Statutory Registration

• Essential: Registered Midwife NMC

Special Skills & Knowledge

• Essential: 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.
• IT skills
• Industrious and versatile able to work on a diverse range of projects at one time.
• Good presentation skills.
• Effective communication skills.
• Demonstrate leadership/management qualities.
• 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.
• Demonstrate leadership/management qualities
• Working knowledge of CQC
• Desirable: Knowledge of Trust wide policies.

Qualifications

• Essential: 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.
• Desirable: Working towards completion of masters degree.
• Eligible to be Professional Midwifery Advocate

Special Requirements

• Essential: Commitment to drive service improvement
• Creative and innovative thinker, objective with high level of integrity
• Adaptable and flexible approach to work
• Team worker
• 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

• Essential: 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.
• Desirable: 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.

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: County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Address: University Hospital of North Durham, North Road, Durham, County Durham, DH1 5TW, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.cddft.nhs.uk/

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Head of Midwifery, Jo Hall, Jo.hall24@nhs.net, 07419740959

Supporting documents
Library knowledge and learning centre services; CDDFT; Credit union; Cycle to Work Link; Pension Scheme; Privacy notice: County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice.