what is a midwife?
As a midwife, you are responsible for caring for women and babies during pregnancy, birth and post-delivery. Your job is to provide high-quality and culturally sensitive care to women and families. Midwives are healthcare professionals who provide various services, including gynaecological examinations, prescriptions, and labour and delivery support.
The services of a midwife depend on the certification and licences they have. Some have licences and certifications to provide additional healthcare services to women, from preconception care to newborn care. Others also provide post-partum care for women suffering from postnatal health issues.
As a midwife, your role involves providing reproductive information to women and families. When a woman conceives, you guide them throughout the pregnancy by providing prenatal advice about nutrition, exercise and pregnancy health.
Your primary role is to ensure a comfortable pregnancy and a safe delivery. Your exercises and nutrition advice should reduce the risk of caesarean and minimise the need for labour induction. You help ensure the baby develops well in the womb and is ready for birth at the end of the pregnancy period.
The role requires comprehensive training on pregnancy and birth. Midwives assist women with miscarriages and pre-term birth problems by monitoring their pregnancy health and making recommendations. After birth, you are involved with neonatal care to minimise the chances of mortality by ensuring a positive start to breastfeeding.
Would working in health as a midwife suit your interest in helping women handle their pregnancies and births? Then read on to find out what skills and qualifications you need to thrive in a midwife role.
midwife jobs
midwife salary
According to ONS, the median salary of a midwife ranges from £34,000 to £38,000 per year in private sectors. Most midwives work for the NHS, and their salary starts from Band 5 at £25,655 annually. With increments determined by your experience and qualifications, your salary can rise to £31,534 per year. While the salary is lower than in the private sector, most midwives start with extensive experience and can earn Band 7 salary. For specialist roles, the salary starts from £40,057 and rises to £45,000 annually.
Private-sector midwives earn more than those in the NHS. However, the NHS benefits package is attractive, with retirement benefits, paid holidays, life insurance and medical allowances.
ways to boost your salary as a midwife
The key to raising your compensation package is improving your skills, qualifications and experience. For instance, you can undertake a master's degree or additional certifications to improve your skills. You could focus on providing antenatal or breastfeeding advice. Specialisation boosts your salary prospects since you become an expert in your field. Your location can also influence your salary prospects since urban centres demand more midwives. You are likely to earn more in large cities than in small towns.
types of midwives
Some of the types of midwives include:
- antenatal midwife: your job is to support women throughout pregnancy. You perform ultrasound and antenatal screening and prescribe medication. You also monitor pregnancy health and prepare women for birth with exercises and nutrition advice. Sometimes, your job involves birthing or assisting women in low-risk delivery at home or in the hospital.
- postnatal midwife: as a midwife, you take care of the mother and newborn after birth by ensuring the baby adapts to breast milk and grows steadily. If a woman has trouble breastfeeding, you help her find solutions and improve milk production. You also offer advice on contraception and fertility issues.
working as a midwife
Working as a midwife involves caring for the mother and unborn child throughout the pregnancy. You need to be passionate about pregnancy and babies and helping mothers deal with their fears. Let's explore the specific roles of a midwife.
-
midwife job description
Typical roles of a midwife include:
- supervising and providing care during pregnancy: as a midwife, you advise women on pregnancy dos and don'ts. You offer nutritional advice and solutions for managing emotional and physical changes, such as morning sickness. You recommend vitamins to help sustain pregnancy and maternal health and educate women on medications to avoid. You suggest antenatal exercises to ensure the mother is ready for birth.
- providing antenatal care: as a midwife, you are responsible for antenatal care. That means performing screen tests at the hospital or community health centre. You also do the bloodwork and check vital signs to ensure the pressure is normal, and the patient doesn't have other health conditions. After screening, you discuss the results with patients and recommend ways to improve pregnancy health.
- conducting deliveries: a midwife delivers babies alone at home or in a healthcare facility. You need to be familiar with water births and be able to identify high-risk pregnancies. While you cannot perform a caesarean, you can recommend obstetricians or other medical specialists to assist with high-risk pregnancies. Even when you don't assist in delivery, you can be there to offer support and help with neonatal care.
- providing counselling and support: as a midwife, you provide support to your patient throughout the pregnancy. That means you educate them on their expectations. If they have a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal abnormality, you provide support and advice.
- educating women on parenthood: as a midwife, you participate in community programmes that educate women about managing parenthood. You also advise women on contraception and nutrition.
-
work environment
As a midwife, you work in hospitals and community health centres. Usually, you will work indoors in the maternity units of large hospitals or general practices in the community. You also conduct home visits and assist with home deliveries. Your work setting is mentally and emotionally demanding. It also involves a lot of travelling to people's homes to attend births or assist women with complications. When working in hospitals, you have to wear uniforms like other nurses and protective equipment to minimise infections.
-
who are your colleagues?
A midwife works in hospitals and private clinics alongside gynaecologists, pharmacist, registered nurses and paediatric nurses. You may also work with adult nurses and general practice doctors, as well as other specialists that could include surgeons, health improvement practitioners and paediatricians.
-
work schedule
The working hours of a midwife include unsocial hours and overtime work. Full-time midwives typically work 37 hours a week providing care to pregnant women in hospitals. You are likely to work 8 to 12-hour shifts, including day, night and weekend shifts. Sometimes, you have to work during bank holidays. When you are a community midwife, your work hours are quite flexible depending on the patients you work with. However, you are on-call 24 hours a day in case of complications. Sometimes, you have to visit your patients at night to help them deliver. Part-time opportunities are available when you work for private hospitals, and you can take a career break whenever you want. Since you assist women with deliveries, it is impossible to work remotely.
-
job outlook
You start as a trainee or junior midwife and improve your skills until you attain a senior midwife position. You can also move into other nursing careers since you need to be a registered nurse to qualify for a midwife role. When you have extensive experience, you become a team leader, head nurse or ward manager. With enough training, you can also become a director of midwifery. Alternatively, specialise in specific midwifery duties like becoming an ultrasound or antenatal specialist. Some midwives become postnatal experts or breastfeeding experts, while others become neonatal paediatricians. It is also possible to become a lecturer or a consultant midwife.
-
advantages of finding a midwife job through randstad
Finding your midwife job through Randstad provides important advantages such as:
- a wide variety of training and development opportunities
- an experienced contact person to provide help if needed
- a range of opportunities in your area
- get paid weekly or monthly, depending on the job
- temporary and permanent contracts
Want a permanent contract? A temporary job as a midwife is often a stepping stone to an attractive permanent job. Every year, thousands of people earn a permanent contract with great employers thanks to a temporary job found through Randstad. What's more, many companies recruit their permanent employees through Randstad too!
education and skills
Some of the routes for becoming a midwife include:
- university degree: to provide midwifery services, you need to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. You cannot complete the registration without a degree or postgraduate degree in midwifery. The full-time midwifery degree takes three years, and you spend a year in clinical placements to gain hands-on experience. You will learn all the aspects of pregnancy, from identifying complications to delivery.
- apprenticeship: you can become a midwife by completing a degree apprenticeship in midwifery. You have to be working in a healthcare facility, and you combine coursework with hands-on experience.
skills and competencies
You need the following skills to excel in the role of a midwife:
- excellent communication: you need impeccable communication skills since you spend most of the time educating and advising women on various pregnancy issues. You also need communication skills to build relationships with patients and provide better care.
- teamwork skills: as a midwife, you liaise with various health professionals to ensure your patient receives the best health care. You need people skills to collaborate well with others and become an active listener.
- caring and calm: as a midwife, you often deal with highly emotional patients who need you to show genuine care and help them through their concerns and worries. You should maintain your calm in high-pressure situations and help your patients by providing reassurance.
- a systematic approach to work: all pregnancies are different, and you need to follow care procedures to ensure you identify potential complications. Since you handle multiple patients, having a systematic approach ensures you provide high-quality care to all patients.
- decision-making skills: during pregnancy complications, you may lose your patient if you don't act decisively. Hence, you need excellent decision-making skills to handle issues effectively.
FAQs
FAQs about working as a midwife
-
what does a midwife do?
A midwife is a trained expert who supports and cares for women throughout pregnancy and labour. They help pregnant women stay healthy throughout the pregnancy and minimise complications.
-
is a midwife a nurse?
Yes. A midwife is a registered nurse qualified to provide care to pregnant women and assist in delivery. They also help them in postnatal care.
-
do midwives do caesarean delivery?
If the pregnancy has complications and requires a C-section, a midwife refers the patient to an obstetrician or a surgeon.
-
can a man work as a midwife?
Yes. Men who work as midwives are called male midwives, and they provide similar services to female midwives.
-
how do I apply for a midwife vacancy?
Applying for a midwife job is easy: create a Randstad profile and search our job offers for vacancies in your area. Then simply send us your CV and cover letter. Need help with your application? Check out all our job search tips here!
