To re-train as a midwife?

i trained in 2016 - I had 6 young children and although it was tough, I managed. Your age isn’t a problem, there’s such a mix of ages on the course. Jobs wise, I’ve not seen a student midwife yet not get a job, I’m not sure about other areas though. I’d say fully research the course and the job, it’s changed a lot even since I qualified in 2019! The degree also opens the doors for other jobs too

Nurse here not midwife but recently qualified in my mid 40s.
the shifts are exhausting - 12 hours on your feet and although some people like it because you get more days off than working 9-5 I was knackered at the end of a shift and had no time with the kids on working days. Also I despised night shifts - could never get the sleep right and just felt like a zombie.
As others have said things feel pretty bleak in the nhs at the moment and there’s also so many more complex patients than I’ve ever known and the system can feel quite broken and frustrating at times. I had worked in the nhs for a long time before the course so was aware of some of the issues but had not spent much time on wards and things felt much more relentless in hospitals than community nursing.
I also had a previous degree but found the nursing degree so tough.
I work in community nursing which is much more family friendly and I really love my job though it is quite a specialist area and feels very different to my experiences on placement.
it would be really useful to get some experience within an inpatient setting if you can before applyIng just to see if it’s what you’re expecting.

Thank you for not taking that the wrong way and I'm sorry you have that deeper understanding ❤️

We could swap the odd shift but overall no.

You have a mentor for each placement and are generally expected to work the same shifts they do, although this didn't have to be 100% of the time.

It also depends on the shift coordinator or band 7 who is doing the off duties. By my third year, the delivery suite coordinator was pretty relaxed and let me put down what shifts I wanted to do, however postnatal you were told what yiu were on with very little room for change.

Sometimes you don't get your shifts till the week before so doesn't leave much time for planning. Plus, expect to work nights. Especially when trying to get your numbers. You need to deliver 40 babies to qualify, and babies like to be born at night!

No idea about the mortgage side of things but I did consider this a while ago and a friend of mine who is a midwife, renowned in her field and now a college lecturer, and she literally sat me down and told me the ins and outs of it and by that I mean she told me the brutal truth of having to deal with stillbirth etc.

Have you really got what it takes to deal with that before you go career jumping and risking it all??

Please be honest with yourself on that as it's not all sweetness and sunshine, it really can be horrific.

Not to piss on your chips but sometimes we all need a little reality check in the area that you're not looking at if you get what I mean.

Hi OP, I began my training aged 50 after a career in a different sector
I qualified but did not practice as I could not get a job in my local trust (and did not want to travel)
I was left with the strong impression this was because I was noticed as being outspoken (in a polite way of course) and questioning- the very things our university expected us to be. Other students who were less qualified but more amenable got jobs.
My DC were all at uni themselves or later in secondary school so no childcare issues but i cant stress enough how flexible your childcare needs to be as we often didn't know our shifts till almost the day before.
I see you already have a degree and I would caution that your expectations of what a degree course involves may be at odds with what you experience. It took me a few assignments to realise that my academic background (social science) was not helpful, in fact the reverse, and critical thinking, wide reading, and building an argument were not required.
Lastly I would say that an awful lot depends on your mentors- some are great and others not, and this really affects your learning experience.
Having said all that I loved the job and don't regret doing it at all- but I had the luxury of a paid off mortgage and a partner with a secure income, so the risk was slight.

I retriained when I was mid 30s. I had two young children and it was a challenge (I'd done previous degrees and this was by far the toughest). I had to be a mum, a student and complete work placements. I missed holidays with my children because their summer holidays fell differently to mine etc. but I love my job and it was amazing to graduate with my children being there.

However would I train now, probably not. They have increased student numbers so now students are fighting to get their numbers. Their experience isn't always great because there can be too many students in one area. Also for the past few years there has been a struggle to get jobs after. This year a lot of the trusts in my area have put a freeze on recruitment so students are either not getting a job as a midwife or having to work far from home, after accruing three years of student debt. Hopefully this will change in the next 10 years but it's not a great situation at the moment.

Hi OP, I started my training when I was 40, 10 years ago now. When I qualified, all our cohort were offered jobs. Not necessarily where they trained, but there certainly was vacancies. Where abouts in the UK are you? Have you searched for vacancies to see if there are jobs being advertised at the moment?

It helps if you live locally to more than one hospital as you will obviously have more options. It will be harder if there is only one and they don't have a high staff turnover.

With childcare, you will absolutely need a robust plan in place. You will be expected to work nights, weekends, long days full time when on placement.

Twas ever thus.Of those 40 spaces, probably 15-20 will actually finish the course because it is so demanding. It's a shock being on the wards with a lack of willing mentors, the uni just shove you in there and you hope your mentor doesn't run away from you (literally). Sink or swim for up to 14 hours a day.

Some years are better for job prospects. Things are particularly shit right now but it could be completely different in 3-4 years.

I started my training with a toddler, most of my bursary went on childcare and I missed out on lots of time with him to balance placements and assignments. I qualified and couldn’t get a job so commuted to London for over a year before getting a temp post closer to home then around 2 years later finally secured a permanent post. Most of our newly qualified midwives this year are being told they won’t get jobs- many wonderful students who would be a massive asset to the workforce. The issues I believe is uni cohorts being too big and a lack of funding for staffing numbers- adequate staffing would result in much safer care, less delays to assess care and more satisfaction in the care provided resulting in fewer complains. It can be a wonderful job but can also be extremely hard both physically and emotionally - many of my long serving colleagues are able to retire at 55 due to pension rules but those of use who joined after 2008 ish cannot access our pensions until state pension age without penalties and that’s a really worry how we will actually be able to meet the needs of the role in our 60s.

This is not the case in Scotland as students don’t pay fees, they are covered by the NHS and students get a 1k bursary from the NHS on top. So the NHS is paying £££ to train these people and then there aren’t any jobs.

I’m a nurse in Scotland and I work with health care assistants who are newly qualified midwives because they can’t find jobs. Also have a health care assistant who qualified as a paramedic last year and can’t find a job. There was something like 12 jobs for 50 newly qualified paramedics and I understand the situation for midwives is similar.

I find it outrageous. Such bad workforce planning.

Job wise, when I started my training we were told you’d walk straight into a job at the trust you trained with and my trust absolutely did take in all their students if they wanted a job.

Last year we were told we’d have to interview as the competition was so high! I did and I was grateful to get my job, on my chosen site, but many didn’t.

This year, I sat on the panel for the preceptorship interviews. There were the equivalent of 18 full time band 5 jobs and we interviewed 90 candidates. What I would say is the quality from some unis was awful! My panel personally interviewed 10 and we only appointed 2.

So in my experience, there may be lots of candidates but they all aren’t great. It may be a good thing for midwifery going forward that jobs are more competitive so we are only taking on the best.

I am also happy to answer any questions.

There's still a massive shortage of midwives, the lack of jobs will be down to money not the falling birth rate. It's so sad to hear that newly qualified midwives aren't finding jobs.

I'm a community midwife and absolutely love my job! I trained pre-children so didn't have that worry but you do need reliable childcare. Our student's placement blocks are full time plus they have assignments on top. And obviously once you qualify your shift pattern will likely be something like 7am-8pm, or 7:30pm-7:30am for nights. I work community due to the hospital hours and we don't have family locally to step in.

Happy to answer any questions x

I think low birth rate is having an effect on jobs. I did read somewhere there were like 20 jobs for 400 graduates.

That brought a tear to my eye!

I was on nights last night and am currently sat at a club watching my son. I won’t get any sleep today and I feel a bit crap but when I left this morning, the woman I was caring for took my hand and said she wished I didn’t have to go. You don’t get that love with many jobs I imagine.

With family support. In the first year my mum used to look after my son as she only lived round the corner. She’d take him to school and pick him up and sleep over night with him. She sadly died the Christmas of my second year and my dad stepped in. He has been my absolute hero and still provides childcare now.

There are no childminders near me that open at 6.30 and close at 8pm which is what I need so I’d never cope without him.

I work permanent nights now (2 a week) as this works better for my dad and the extra pay for nights means ai can survive on 2 shifts a week. I occasionally pick up extras when my son is with his dad too.

It’s hard but honestly so so worth it. I love my job so much.