Safeguarding Midwife

Job Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for experienced and skilled practitioners with an interest in further developing their safeguarding experience within an established Safeguarding Service. The post is based at Safeguarding Team, Bedford site of Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bedfordshire.

We are looking for a Registered Midwife who is educated to degree level or working towards a degree with experience in the field of Safeguarding. You should have evidence of on-going professional development and training undertaken in respect of safeguarding and must have recent experience of working directly with children, young people and their families within an acute or community setting.

To succeed you will need excellent verbal, written and interpersonal skills and the ability to critically analyse and record information in a concise accurate manner. You will need to be able to comfortably work under pressure, and be able to adapt to prioritising demands often within tight deadlines and adept at prioritising and working flexibly often to a tight deadline. You will be supported to further your own professional knowledge and skills within this specialised area.

We require a highly motivated, committed and flexible practitioner to work with health and multi-agency colleagues to ensure provision of safe and effective services to safeguard vulnerable adults and children/unborn babies accessing the Trust services.

Main Duties of the Job

Be an integral member of the Trust safeguarding team working in a complex multi-disciplinary acute hospital environment.

To work in collaboration with the multi-agency partners of organisations both voluntary and statutory to improve outcomes for children at risk of abuse or neglect.

To provide support and advice to women, their partners and close family members and to develop care plans to reflect individual needs.

To provide information and support to the wider maternity multidisciplinary team about robust child protection practice.

Participate in the development of child protection plans, to ensure that any individual where there are or have been safeguarding concerns, are safeguarded against further harm when they are in the care of the Trust.

Contribute to the development of effective inter-disciplinary and inter-agency relationships to improve outcomes for vulnerable women.

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.

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.

Date Posted: 15 April 2025

Pay Scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 6

Salary: £37,338 to £44,962 a year pro rata / PA

Contract: Permanent

Working Pattern: Part-time

Reference Number: 418-NUR5560-KS

Job Locations: Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Kempston Road, Bedford, MK42 9DJ

Job Responsibilities:

The Job Description and Person Specification are attached to this job, please review for the full details and responsibilities.

To provide individual consultation, guidance and support to staff when requested regarding safeguarding and child protection.

Ensure visibility within clinical areas.

Provide support to staff involved in the safeguarding processes, including Child Protection Conferences, Strategy Meetings and other interagency/professional meetings.

To challenge colleagues, both internally and externally where decision making is not in line with local and national guidance or standards for best practice, ensuring that the process remains child focused at all times.

To provide advice and support to all practitioners and empower them to fulfil their safeguarding requirements.

Provide concise, accurate and timely verbal and written reports and contribute to the quality assurance of written reports by practitioners, in relation to formal child protection procedures and for legal purposes.

Ensure documentation relating to safeguarding is appropriate, accountable and defensible.

To assist safeguarding midwifery colleagues in ensuring the Trust meets statutory and national safeguarding standards.

Person Specification

Qualifications Essential:

• Registered Midwife
• Degree in midwifery or equivalent experience.
• Evidence of further training/study in safeguarding Children to Masters level or equivalent.
• Evidence of recent professional development.

Experience Essential:

• Relevant post-registration experience working with vulnerable families.
• Substantial/significant post registration safeguarding experience.
• Knowledge of safeguarding issues and local pathways.
• Previous Mentorship experience.

Knowledge Essential:

• Be able to communicate with people from a wide range of professional and academic backgrounds.
• Able to work autonomously as well as within a team.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team as well as across departmental, organisational and professional boundaries.
• Evidence of applying current research to practice.
• Demonstrates awareness of priorities, deals with workload, adapts to changing requirements, and uses initiative.

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.

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.

Employer Details

Employer Name: Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address: Kempston Road, Bedford, MK42 9DJ

Employer's Website: https://www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk/working-here/