Midwifery

Midwifery is the profession concerned with supporting women and their families through pregnancy, labour, birth and the early postnatal period. Midwives are autonomous practitioners who provide continuity of care at one of the most significant junctures in a family's life, making skilled, compassionate judgements in circumstances that can change rapidly. The short midwifery programme is designed for registered nurses who wish to qualify as midwives, drawing on their existing professional skills and clinical experience to provide an accelerated pathway to NMC registration as a midwife.

At Middlesex University this two-year full-time programme has been developed in close partnership with local NHS Trusts, which provides the placements on different maternity wards that form a central part of your training. Your time is equally dedicated to academic study and clinical practice, ensuring that the theoretical understanding you develop is continuously grounded in real clinical experience. You will work in antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal settings, developing the full range of skills the midwifery role requires: monitoring maternal and fetal wellbeing, supporting physiological birth, managing complications, and providing sensitive, informed care that respects the choices and dignity of each woman and family you work with.

NMC registration as a midwife opens a wide range of career pathways. Most midwives work in NHS hospital and community settings, but opportunities also exist in independent practice, birth centres, overseas healthcare systems, and the growing area of global maternal health. Many midwives go on to develop specialist expertise in areas such as diabetes in pregnancy, perinatal mental health, fetal medicine, bereavement care, or public health.

Postgraduate study in midwifery, women's health, or advanced practice is an option for those wishing to develop leadership, education or research careers. The profession is both clinically demanding and deeply rewarding, with direct and sustained impact on the families midwives serve.