Nursing and midwifery are healthcare professions focusing on patient care, but they each have distinct specialties. Nurses provide general healthcare to a wide range of patients including children, adults, those with learning disabilities or those experiencing mental health challenges while midwives specialise in caring for women during pregnancy, labour, delivery, and the postpartum period, as well as family planning.
To be employed in any clinical role in nursing and midwifery you will need have undertaken a university degree programme in a relevant subject and have received your Nursing and Midwifery Council PIN number. You will be required to demonstrate a good standard of literacy and numeracy and for many roles, employers will ask for evidence of GCSE’s or equivalent in maths and English. Digital skills and qualifications are also highly sought after as many NHS and Social Care settings rely on IT based systems to manage their databases and patient information.
Working for the NHS or for Social Care in Mid and South Essex provides many opportunities to develop your skills further and there are a wide range of apprenticeships, in-house training and continuing professional development opportunities available that you can use to build your career in nursing and midwifery.
The majority of qualified nursing and midwifery roles have lots of face to face contact with patients, but there are also some qualified roles that are based away from patient areas and will be focused on the day to day operations of a healthcare setting having little or no contact with patients such as a digital midwife role.