Midwifery Director, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Midwifery Director
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
United Kingdom
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s biggest providers of integrated hospital and community-based healthcare providing a comprehensive range of local and tertiary services to the residents of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Mid Yorkshire and North Derbyshire and also some highly specialist services to all parts of England.
We have a history of delivering high quality care, training and developing high calibre multidisciplinary health professionals, clinical excellence and innovation in medical research.
We have a budget of £1.5billion and deliver over two million patient contacts every year thanks to the support of our 20,000 staff.
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Thank you for your interest in the role of Midwifery Director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (STH). We are delighted that you are considering joining us at an important and exciting time for our maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services, and we warmly welcome your application.
STH is one of the largest NHS Foundation Trusts in the country, providing a full range of local, regional and specialist services to a population of over two million people across South Yorkshire and beyond. We employ more than 20,000 staff across five hospitals and community services, and we are proud of our reputation for high-quality care, teaching, research and innovation, working in close partnership with our clinical, academic and system colleagues to improve outcomes for the communities we serve. We host one of the largest maternity centres in the UK, with around 5,700 births each year and are a specialist regional tertiary service.
Our maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services play a vital role in the lives of women, babies and families across Sheffield and the wider region. We have made significant progress in recent years, supported by the commitment, professionalism and dedication of our specialist colleagues and teams. We are proud of the improvements achieved and the positive culture that has been developed, but we are equally ambitious about what comes next. Our focus now is on building on these strong foundations, sustaining the progress we have made and taking the quality, safety and experience of our services to the next level.
The Midwifery Director will be central to achieving these ambitions. Providing visible, compassionate and credible professional leadership across our Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology Care Group, you will have a pivotal role in shaping the future of our services, ensuring that women, babies and families consistently receive safe, high-quality and person-centred care. Working closely with the Clinical Director, Operations Director, Chief Nurse, Chief Medical Officer (Operations) and wider multidisciplinary team, you will help translate our ambitions into meaningful and sustainable improvements for patients and colleagues alike.
As Midwifery Director, you will be the Trust's senior professional leader for midwifery, championing the interests of women, babies and families whilst ensuring the highest standards of clinical quality, safety and experience. Working across organisational and professional boundaries, you will provide expert leadership on professional practice, workforce development, governance and service improvement, ensuring our maternity services continue to evolve and excel in a rapidly changing healthcare environment.
We are looking for an experienced, values-led and collaborative leader who combines a strong professional grounding in midwifery with a broad understanding of the wider clinical and organisational environment. You will recognise that outstanding maternity care depends on effective partnerships across the whole multidisciplinary team, including obstetrics, neonatology, gynaecology, anaesthetics and the wider nursing, allied health and medical workforce. You will be someone who naturally builds relationships, brings people together around shared priorities and understands the importance of collective leadership in delivering excellent care.
This is a role that requires both strategic perspective and a genuine connection to frontline services. We want a Midwifery Director who is as comfortable spending time in clinical areas, listening to colleagues and speaking with women and families, as they are contributing to senior leadership discussions and providing assurance to the Board. You will bring the judgement, confidence and organisational awareness to navigate complexity, influence effectively and balance professional priorities with the wider needs of the Trust and healthcare system. Alongside driving clinical excellence, you will recognise the importance of strong governance, effective workforce planning, sound resource management and getting the fundamentals of safe care consistently right.
An important priority will be to strengthen how we listen to and involve the women, families and communities who use our services. Building on our existing engagement, you will champion meaningful partnerships and work to ensure that the experiences and perspectives of our diverse communities genuinely inform how services are designed, delivered and improved, so our services are inclusive, responsive and shaped by the people who rely on them.
Above all, we are seeking a leader who inspires trust and confidence at every level. You will be approachable, authentic and highly visible, with the ability to engage, support and empower colleagues while maintaining the professional standards and accountability expected of a senior clinical leader. You will understand the importance of developing others, fostering an open and learning-focused culture, and building strong relationships with professional peers and partners across the wider maternity and neonatal system.
This is a particularly rewarding opportunity for an ambitious Midwifery Director who wants to make a lasting difference. You will join a committed and supportive leadership team, inherit a service with much to be proud of, and have the opportunity to influence the next chapter of its development. We are looking for someone who can combine ambition with pragmatism, professional credibility with organisational understanding, and strategic leadership with a genuine passion for improving the experiences and outcomes of women, babies and families.
Thank you again for your interest in Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. We look forward to learning more about the experience, values and leadership you could bring to this important role, and to meeting you during the process.
Chris Morley
Chief Nurse -
Integrated Community Services
As an integrated provider of healthcare services, we deliver a comprehensive range of adult community and primary healthcare services across the city and within local community hubs to make accessing services more convenient to patients.
The Northern General Hospital
The Northern General Hospital is the home of the city’s adult Accident and Emergency Department, which is also one of three Major Trauma Centres for the Yorkshire and Humber region. A number of specialist medical and surgical services are also located at the Northern General Hospital including cardiac, orthopaedics, burns, plastic surgery, spinal injuries and renal.
Royal Hallamshire Hospital
The Royal Hallamshire Hospital has a dedicated regional Neurosciences department including an Intensive Care Unit for patients with head injuries, neurological conditions such as stroke and for patients who have undergone neurosurgery. It also has a large Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Unit as well as a specialist Haematology Centre and other medical and surgical services.
Charles Clifford Dental Services
A large dental teaching hospital linked to the University of Sheffield's School of Clinical Dentistry and providing specialist dental services for Sheffield and the surrounding areas. Community & special care dentistry provides dental care in various community settings for patients who do not receive their dental treatment in local dental practices.
Jessop Wing
A purpose-built maternity unit that provides a comprehensive range of tertiary maternity services. The Jessop Wing also provides neonatal intensive care and special care facilities for sick and premature babies born in Sheffield and those transferred from other units in the region. It is also home to the Jessop Assisted Conception unit.
Weston Park Cancer Centre
One of only four dedicated cancer hospitals in the country, Weston Park Cancer Centre includes a successful radiotherapy department serving South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw, North Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire. It is equipped to support the 6,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed annually
in this region, providing outpatient and inpatient care including provision of Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy treatments for patients from across the region.
Networked Services
We are a major tertiary centre for South Yorkshire, Bassettlaw and North Derbyshire and beyond including, Major Trauma, Neuosciences, Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Oncology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Vascular Surgery and Radiology, Spinal Injuries, Burns, Robotic Surgery, Sarcoma, Ocular Oncology, Hepatitis C, and Plastic Surgery. Complementing the services we provide on our physical estate, we also provide many services across the broader geography in order that a resilient network of secondary and tertiary services can be delivered as locally as possible for patients.
A fifth of our consultants also work in partnership in local hospitals in particular Barnsley, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Children’s.
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All applications must include:
• A full curriculum vitae/resume
• Quoting the role reference number:
Midwifery Director: A042515
• A covering letter highlighting the aspects of the job description and STH that particularly attract you to the post (Microsoft Word document)
• Contact details for three referees, these will not be contacted without your permission. (References should validate a minimum period of six years employment)
• A completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form (which you will be redirected to once you have submitted your application) *
Right to work checks
If you are successfully shortlisted, our partner, Yoti, will contact you to complete an online right to work check. This is a quick and secure process, ensuring that all necessary legal requirements are met before proceeding further in the recruitment process.
Monitoring
One of Alumni Global’s and STH's objectives is to ensure that its workforce is reflective of the local community and therefore we actively encourage applications from under-represented groups. So that we can successfully achieve these aims, while it is not mandatory we would encourage every applicant to complete the “Equal Opportunities Monitoring form” so that we can measure the effectiveness of our efforts. The Recruiting Manager does not have access to the Monitoring Information Sections of the application form at any stage of the process and the information provided will be kept entirely confidential.
For a confidential discussion on this role please contact:
Simon Green, Director or Michael Earnshaw, Director of Research whose details can be found at the bottom of this microsite.
Candidate adjustment
If you require any reasonable adjustments to be made as part of the recruitment process please can you advise us so that we can ensure this is accommodated.
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Closing Date: late November 2026 - TBC
Stakeholder Sessions: TBC
Final Interview: mid December 2026 - TBC
Please take note of the reference number found under section “How to apply”. This is needed for us to process any application.
