Southampton is an attractive place to live and work situated on the south coast, with an international airport and direct trains to London. The New Forest National Park and beaches of the Jurassic Coast are also right on our doorstep. The city offers living costs 30% lower than London and 17 schools rated outstanding by Ofsted.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

What you will do:

• Lead the planning, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of agreed standards for infant feeding.
• Provide leadership and collaboration to meet the vision for achieving and then maintaining full UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative BFI accreditation.
• Provide leadership support and direction to the Infant Feeding Service ensuring that the team is able to work effectively supporting our families both in and out of the hospital setting.
• Participate in and support regular audits.
• Support and encourage quality and service improvements led by both evidence and service user feedback.
• Champion the public health benefits of breastfeeding, leading initiatives to increase breastfeeding continuation rates in alignment with BFI standards.
• Provide specialist clinical support and expert advice on infant feeding, working collaboratively with the wider workforce to deliver individualised, evidence-based care and support to families.
• Develop and implement a comprehensive training strategy to ensure all members of the multidisciplinary team receive appropriate foundational education and regular updates in infant feeding practices.
• Ensure personalised support to empower informed feeding choices and promote positive outcomes.
• Contribute to the delivery of high-quality training programmes and workshops for both healthcare professionals and service users, supporting a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Lead the implementation of evidence-based practice changes, ensuring care remains individualised and responsive to emerging themes through robust, local governance processes.
• Collaborate with local services and partners to promote and support breastfeeding, contributing to improved public health outcomes across the community.

You Will Be Expected To Demonstrate

• Competency and skills acquisition within the Band 7 midwife role
• Being a strong advocate of effective and evidence-based feeding practices
• The ability to perform and train staff to maintain an effective frenulotomy service
• Ability to communicate effectively and compassionately
• Ability to work under own initiative and prioritise workload
• Good interpersonal skills
• Enjoying working collaboratively with our families and supporting their decisions.

For an overview of the position, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification document. This includes a detailed breakdown of the key responsibilities, role expectations, and the qualifications we are looking for.

Person specification

Qualifications, Knowledge And Experience

Essential criteria

• Registered Midwife on the relevant part of the NMC register
• Significant clinical experience
• Evidence of continual professional development
• Associate/mentorship qualification or equivalent experience
• Relevant and recent clinical experience or with the ability to demonstrate significant experience in midwifery practice and responsibility for managing a clinical team
• Expert clinical skills relevant to the specialty and achievement of all midwifery competencies

Desirable criteria

• Experience of writing protocols, guidelines, and integrated care pathways
• High dependency course
• Team leadership role
• Evidence of audit
• Examination of the newborn qualification
• Understanding of local and national NHS initiatives

Trust Values and Behaviours

Essential criteria

• Patients First
• Always Improving
• Working Together