Maternity Nurse Unit Manager

About St John of God Berwick has been a leading health care provider to the people of Berwick and the surrounding communities since 1910. With more than 200 beds and over 900 caregivers, we provide an extensive range of health care services including day surgery, cancer, cardiac and maternity care.

Your role at St John of God Berwick Hospital

An exciting opportunity is available to join the Maternity Leadership Team at St John of God Berwick Hospital as our Nurse Unit Manager - Maternity in a permanent, full-time capacity.

As Maternity Unit Manager, you will provide strong clinical and operational leadership across the maternity service, supporting the delivery of safe, high-quality and person-centred care across antenatal, intrapartum, postnatal and Special Care Nursery services.

You will lead and support a dedicated multidisciplinary team, driving clinical excellence, workforce capability, operational performance and continuous improvement across the service. You will also play a key role in the ongoing success of our Joy maternity program, which provides a high-quality private hospital maternity service delivered through a collaborative model of care.

St John of God Berwick Maternity welcomes approximately 900–1,000 babies each year, with our values of excellence, respect, compassion, hospitality and justice at the heart of everything we do.

This is an opportunity to make a genuine impact within a well-established maternity service while working alongside an experienced and supportive leadership team.

The Position

Reporting to the relevant hospital leadership, you will be responsible for the effective leadership and management of the Maternity Unit, with key responsibilities including:

• Providing visible clinical and operational leadership across antenatal, intrapartum, postnatal and Special Care Nursery services.
• Monitoring clinical standards and service performance against relevant benchmarks, including nurse-sensitive indicators, incident management data, clinical indicators, and patient, medical practitioner and caregiver feedback.
• Identifying opportunities for improvement and developing, implementing and evaluating strategies where standards or benchmarks are not achieved.
• Supporting and participating in ACHS accreditation and regulatory assessments, as well as broader Quality and Clinical Risk Management programs.
• Fostering a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration and continuous improvement to achieve positive patient outcomes and experiences.
• Ensuring patients and consumers are actively involved in relevant planning and decision-making processes.
• Maintaining a clinical presence within the department as required, supporting caregivers and medical officers and ensuring the delivery of safe, person-centred care.
• Managing and monitoring the service cost centre, including productivity, activity and utilisation, in line with budgetary parameters and performance targets.
• Promoting innovation and service improvement to enhance the patient and family experience.
• Working collaboratively with the Hospital Management Committee to support the growth and promotion of the maternity service to medical practitioners and the broader community.
• Leading workforce planning and supporting the implementation of appropriate workforce models and skill mix to maintain safe, high-quality care.
• Building capability within the team through effective leadership, performance management, professional development and engagement.

About you

You will be a Registered Nurse and/or Registered Midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (AHPRA) and bring contemporary leadership and management experience within an acute hospital environment.

To succeed in this role, you will have:

• Proven senior nursing leadership and management experience within an acute hospital setting.
• Strong clinical knowledge and experience within maternity services.
• Recent Birth Suite experience, with RANZCOG FSEP Level 3 practitioner experience highly desirable.
• Experience in Special Care Nursery environments will be highly regarded.
• Relevant management, leadership and/or postgraduate qualifications.
• A demonstrated commitment to clinical governance, quality improvement and risk management, including experience with ACHS accreditation processes.
• The ability to exercise sound judgement when managing complex clinical, operational, ethical and people matters.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across multidisciplinary teams.
• A genuine commitment to delivering safe, compassionate and person-centred care.

Above all, you will be committed to putting patients and their families at the centre of everything you do and supporting the Mission and Values of St John of God Health Care.

We will offer you

• Permanent full-time position commencing November 2026
• Salary of $147,618 per annum plus 12% superannuation
• Salary packaging up to $18,550 across a range of benefits, including mortgage, rent, meal entertainment, holiday accommodation and everyday living expenses
• Additional salary packaging options above the FBT cap, including novated leasing, work-related expenses, self-education and additional superannuation
• Flexible work options, purchased leave and wellbeing programs to support a healthy work-life balance
• Employee discounts on St John of God Hospital & Medical Services and Private Health Insurance
• The opportunity to work within a dynamic and collaborative multidisciplinary leadership team
• The opportunity to lead and influence a well-established maternity service caring for approximately 900–1,000 families each year

Enquiries

For further information about this opportunity, please contact Allison Merrigan – Director of Nursing and Midwifery, on (03) 8784 5465

At St John of God Health Care, we celebrate diversity and warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.

Our commitment is to create a safe and nurturing environment for all children and vulnerable individuals in our care and proactively take steps to protect them from abuse, ensuring their safety and well-being.

Our inclusive culture fosters an environment that is respectful and secure, welcoming and accessible, and unified through our diverse community.

All caregivers employed by St John of God Health Care are required to be vaccinated from Influenza in order to fulfil the requirements of the role.