A midwife is a healthcare professional specialising in maternal and newborn care, particularly during pregnancy, labour, and in the postpartum period.
Midwives provide comprehensive care, support, and education to women and their families throughout the journey, emphasising evidence-based, holistic, and often natural approaches to childbirth.
Working life
Working as a midwife will mean that you’ll work with pregnant women requiring professional advice and support. You’ll be the lead health professional and contact for a woman during her pregnancy and will provide evidence based information that supports her to make informed choices about the options and services available.
Working as a midwife will provide you with a variety of activities to undertake throughout your working day which can include:
- Provide full antenatal care, including parenting classes, clinical examinations and screening.
- Identify high-risk pregnancies.
- Monitor women and support them during labour and the birthing process.
- Teach new and expectant mothers how to feed, care for and bathe their babies.
- Working with women from a variety of different backgrounds.
- Working with women who may be homeless, socially excluded, have disabilities or be very young.
- All women will need you to understand the emotional, physical and psychological processes of pregnancy and birth.
- Sometimes pregnancies do not go to plan and you will need to offer support and advice on stillbirth, miscarriage, termination, neonatal death and neonatal abnormalities.
- Develop positive relationships with families that you work with.
Midwifery services are increasingly moving from hospitals to the community, so where you work could reflect this. Antenatal care in the community is provided in women’s homes, local clinics, children’s centres and GP surgeries. It can also be provided in hospitals where you may work in triage and assessment areas, high and low risk labour, postnatal wards and neonatal units. Care during labour is provided in a mother’s home, as well as midwifery led maternity units.
Requirements
To become a midwife, the main route is through a degree course at university. Entry requirements for these courses can vary depending on where and how you’d like to study, so it’s important to check with universities.
Typically you’ll need a minimum of five GCSEs at grade 4/C or above, possibly in English language or literature and a science subject. You’ll also need two A levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications, such as a T level or BTEC to take an undergraduate degree. Some universities may ask for three A levels or equivalent. If you already have a degree, you might be able to study for a postgraduate qualification.
If you’re eligible, you’ll receive at least £5,000 a year towards your studies while at university. Your personal circumstances may mean you could receive more. And the good news? You’ll never have to pay it back.
There are other routes into midwifery such as through a degree apprenticeship, but this will depend on the employer you work for and which apprenticeships they provide.
Whatever route you choose to undertake, you will need to meet the requirements of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and be registered before you can practice.
Working as a midwife will also allow further opportunities to develop your career through apprenticeships and internal training in the future.
Degree apprenticeship route
For those interested in becoming a midwife through an apprenticeship route, there is a degree apprenticeship programme available with some providers in mid and south Essex.
To access the pathway, you would need to be employed by an NHS Trust in a midwifery support worker role first. This role will give you clinical and patient experience while you develop knowledge and build skills. You will need to be over 18 to be employed in any clinical role, have achieved English and Maths GCSE at a grade 4 or above and must have a substantive contract of at least 30 hours a week for future eligibility onto the apprenticeship pathway.
Once you have secured employment in a midwifery support worker role, you would need to spend at least 6 – 12 months in this job gaining your Care Certificate, which is proof of your fitness to practice. before you will be eligible to access the apprenticeship route to midwifery.
There is more information about the Care Certificate here: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Developing-your-workforce/Care-Certificate/Care-Certificate.aspx?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAw6yuBhDrARIsACf94RW_6AYEq4QktSz8PCRxb764VsDHsVnzS1OkJe9a-E5q9fXDvsGe-OUaArOUEALw_wcB
If your employer is able to support your development from a midwifery support worker, you would then be able to apply for the midwifery degree apprenticeship.
You would receive 20% of your work time as study leave which can be given either in a block week or one day a week depending on the university and your NHS employer would pay the fees for the programme from their apprenticeship levy fund.
Once you have completed your apprenticeship, you would become a qualified midwife and can then work in this role.
Personal characteristics
To work successfully within the midwifery team, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be accurate and methodical and have good attention to detail
- Be able to assess a situation quickly
- Be resilient and prepared to work in unpredictable situations
- Be able to work as part of a team but also able to use your own initiative
- Be willing to follow instructions
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences
- Be able to stay calm under pressure
- Be able to work in emotionally charged situations
- Have an interest in the physical, psychological and process of pregnancy and birth
Skills required
To work successfully within the midwifery team, you need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods
- Have positive customer service skills
- Be patient, caring and kind
- Be able to reassure those who may be anxious, scared, angry or distressed
- Be able to make decisions
- Be able to verbalise complicated information and ensure this is understood
- Be physically fit as you will be on your feet a lot during a shift
- Be able to work alone where required
- Be resilient and able to manage complex problems
Training and development opportunities
When you begin to work as a midwife, you will receive the training you require to be able to undertake the role successfully. You will receive an induction which will introduce you to the department you will be working in, will support you in accessing the IT systems and will ensure you are aware of the policies and procedures you will be required to follow in the undertaking of your role. You will also have to complete any statutory and mandatory training that your employer requires such as fire training, data security training and customer service.
As part of your training, you will be required to be competent in moving and handling, first aid, life support and basic patient skills. Some of these training programmes will require practical assessments and written exams.
Career development opportunities
Once you have experience working as a midwife, there are many other roles you could progress into. You could lead a team, become a supervisor or develop your career into management. You could also transfer into other specialist midwifery roles such as those in digital or with further training, as a health visitor.
You may also be able to use your skills and experience to teach or research.
Pay and benefits
Midwives usually work 37.5 hours per week and you will be required to work shifts which can include nights, evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
Midwives in the NHS are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system and registered midwives who are qualified will typically start their career on AfC band 5 but with experience, further training and additional qualifications, can progress further up the pay scale.
Other benefits of working within the midwifery team include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as a Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.