Job opportunity: Independent chair of Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board

• 12 Month Fixed Term Contract, 2 days per week
• The closing date is 16th June 2025

Role Overview

Here at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we are establishing a new Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board, to support our ambition to drive significant improvements in the delivery of our services.

We are seeking an independent chair to provide the leadership and independent rigour we feel would support the delivery of this programme.

This role provides a unique opportunity to drive positive change, enhance outcomes and reduce inequalities within the vital fields of maternity and neonatal services.

The Chair of the Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board will provide leadership and independent oversight to ensure that Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust achieves its goals of delivering safe, effective, and compassionate maternity and neonatal services, promoting high quality research, improving patient outcomes, addressing health inequalities, and listening with compassion to the women and their families who use our services.

This will be done through a number of workstreams reporting into the overarching Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board. The Chair will promote collaboration between the workstreams, driving strategic planning, and ensuring effective governance of the activities within the programme.

Main duties of the job

As Chair you will be responsible for:

• Providing strategic leadership to guide the direction and priorities of the Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board. Ensuring workstream activities align with its objectives.

• Lead the Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board ensuring decisions are made collaboratively and transparently.

• Promoting a strong ethos of “listening to be heard” of the women and families using our services, ensuring the services we deliver are compassionate.

• Provide robust challenge to support the delivery of culturally sensitive care, improving engagement to reduce inequalities and address unconscious bias .

• Foster a culture of inclusivity, respect, and clinical integrity within the programme. Support the development and implementation of clinical pathways, research protocols and projects within the programme.

• Ensure there are rigorous governance processes around the different workstreams, which triangulate the improvements across the programme.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• An experienced senior Midwife or Obstetrician registered with the NMC or GMC

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience of maternity services improvement

• Board level experience in a large, complex organisation.

• Experience of a high level of accountability

• Experience of leading or managing significant cultural change.

• Experience of leading or managing major projects

This role requires a commitment of approximately two days per month.

The role will be for a fixed period of 12months, which may be extended, depending on evaluation and review.