I have been researching this for a while and have talked to qualified midwives so this is no whim. I applied to uni and I have two interviews coming up but it would be useful to hear from anyone who has done the course and is working in midwifery. Everyday you get headlines saying the NHS is on its knees and people are leaving in droves but I want real life views. I’ve been so keen for this change but I’m getting jittery about the changes to our family life and also the financial implications. My husband is generally supportive but he does keep mentioning speedcop questionaire that matches you to careers according to your personality

I don’t but Midwifery is my favourite word. Thanks for giving it the attention it deserves..

Also.

Good luck 😀

the NHS is on its knees and people are leaving in droves

My 2p as the Husband of a Nurse rather than a Midwife.

On it’s knees? It’s not great at the moment, budgets are tight but it’s doing okay – from an employees perspective it’s still better than the public sector, there are endless opportunities to change jobs and whilst pay rates have been frozen for a long time (well until recently) that only really affects experienced staff, most people pass through reviews and incremental pay rises automatically. If you believe Boris then they’re due a pile of fresh funding to appease Brexit voters.

IMHO people are leaving the NHS at about the same rate they always have, it’s hard work, and emotionally draining, In my limited experience Nurses anyway get burnt out and leave the profession, but the grass isn’t as green as they think it is in the private sector, job security is way, way worse and salaries are crap (Experienced Nurses are well paid, with shift allowances etc a Band 6 Nurse will earn £40k a year).

it’s actually recruitment that’s slowing. 10 years ago In our area there were 10 people applying for every place on the Midwife course, with Bursaries being cut it might be easier than ever to get on. Within the NHS managers seem to be holding off recruiting and making do with existing staff rather than ‘bank’ for a month or two, I guess to cut costs.

Wife is a midwifery matron in brum. She trained @ uni of Greenwich and in one of the first years you could do direct entry. (This is 20years ago)

Still loves what she does. She has worked in the community and a few different hospitals. Lots of politics as there is in any job. Money wise she is now a band 8 (something a/b/c?) so I think it’s ok but obviously that’s after a few years. Happy to pass on questions if you have any and good luck, most rewarding and heartbreaking of jobs their is in my opinion.

Everyone other than midwives think midwives are a bit… odd… But if it’s what you want to do, go for it, oddgirl…

I think it’s a bit restrictive in that if you train to be a midwife, that’s you until you retire, so make sure you really, really want to do it.

My advice would be to be a nurse instead, simply because of the range of things you can do with the qualification. Exposure to healthcare during your training will let you see what you really like.

I think it’s a bit restrictive in that if you train to be a midwife, that’s you until you retire, so make sure you really, really want to do it.

My advice would be to be a nurse instead, simply because of the range of things you can do with the qualification. Exposure to healthcare during your training will let you see what you really like.

An ex-girlfriend of mine decided to train as a nurse while we were together, and she got a place in Basingstoke, and did general nursing training, before then deciding to specialise in midwifery.
She ended up in Cambridgeshire, based at Addenbrook, IIRC, and did a lot of community midwifery, up until she retired a couple of years ago.
She devoted her working life to the job, and loved it, she was in a fairly senior position at that point.
I really don’t know for sure, but it may be that the process my friend went through is generally accepted as the best way to go, giving a good broad nursing foundation before specialising in a particular discipline, which may not end up being midwifery.

I really don’t know for sure, but it may be that the process my friend went through is generally accepted as the best way to go, giving a good broad nursing foundation before specialising in a particular discipline, which may not end up being midwifery.

That has changed. Used to be that midwives had to first qualify as an RGN, now there is direct entry as well, as @crikey says.

At times it can be a difficult role to deliver on, long term burn out can lead to a midwife crisis, but it certainly does have it’s ultra sound moments.

mrs b midwife 29+ years

PM me with your questions, she on nights tonight and tomorrow so don’t expect a quick reply

Be careful where you decide to train. Years of lack of investment means there are bad stories popping up in maternity all over at the minute. Personally I don’t think it’s the midwifery service that’s necessarily to blame, more the management support structure around (talking as an NHS manager)

Don’t necessarily avoid the areas that have a bad rep, they have done the most to improve.

Oh and maternity fill rates are much higher than general nursing ie you would find it easier to get a nurse job than midwife.

I have some experience here.

As a job, sure it can be rewarding. You make a difference to people’s lives. On the flip side, a bad decision can ruin someone’s life and sometimes even the right decision will wind up doing the same thing.

The working environment is toxic compared to the private sector (I don’t mean private medicine, just private anything else). It is underfunded and exploitative. Good management is rare, pay is crap (in the private sector lower supply and high demand would mean higher wages, not in the NHS) and progress is illusory. You’ll potentially get hung out to dry when things go wrong and I’ve not heard anything good about the unions either.

On the plus side, the holidays are good I guess?

Personally, I would examine your motivations for wanting to work as a midwife. I’ve known more than one person who has ditched a good career in the private sector to work in midwifery because they felt a higher calling and eventually come to regret it. The main reasons they cite are bureaucracy, ridiculous hours, lack of career progression and difficult patients. I don’t know what your background is or your journey is, but I’d take a long, hard look at why you want to be a midwife and how much financial compensation and progress is to you. Either of those are hard won things in the NHS and you’d be better off in the private sector if those are things you value.

Although I’m not a midwife, I would suggest that the view above is somewhat jaundiced.

It’s a view of nursing that I would have subscribed to about 3 or 4 years ago, and should serve as a warning to anyone who wants to be either a nurse or a midwife…

Healthcare in the UK as a nurse or a midwife can leave you burned out, cynical and with an attitude that is a long way from the caring ideal that made you enter in the first place…

That’s why I suggest that nursing is a better long-term career option; one thing I suggest to any new nurses I meet is that they should always have an escape plan; have another option, have something else that you can use your skills to do, rather than staying put and getting fed up and burned out.

jeeezo lots of doom and gloom here.

Mrs b never complains of all that ^

Yes, like any job has its ups n downs. Some sad moments but they are overtaken by the many many children she has helped to bring into the world safely.

The OP has yet to respond back but please don’t be so gloomy about midwifery guys, it sounds like most of you have no 1st hand experience of it. mrs b loves her job but all you’re doing is knocking it… you all must have utopian jobs!

My mum was a midwife for over 30 years, nurse before that. She loved midwifery as far as I could tell. Hours are long 12 hour+ night shifts, but that meant the pay was very good.
I remember getting condom talks over breakfast after teenage mother’s giving birth.

With all due respect, the perspective of someone who has been doing it for nearly 30 years (potentially not far off retirement) will have had a different journey. Any midwife I know who has been doing it for the last 15 years (and I know a few) would not advise you to take a career in midwifery. I personally know a newly qualified midwife who ditched a private sector tech job to become a midwife. We advised against it, but she was adamant on doing it. Less than a year later she’s looking to get out of front line work.

I get no pleasure in seeing the profession chew people up and spit them out. Not to mention the collateral damage to their families.

Anyway, the plural of anecdote is not data. If you have interviews coming up then ask them the same questions you would of any other academics in an institution.

WHAts the work life balance like? What’s the pay like and what are the opportunities for progression? what’s the culture you’re going to be working in like? This is what I’d ask, your priorities may well be different.

All the best to you and good luck.

jeeezo lots of doom and gloom here.

Mrs b never complains of all that ^

Aye, Sister was a midwife for many, many years, she loved it, Mrs is a Nurse and has been for 17 years, Only moaning she does is generally about lazy colleagues.

I do often think the NHS stories of woe are entirely geographical, anyone up here who thinks the NHS is poor is reading too many toxic newspapers.