Midwifery Degree

[Rox3]

I am looking to do a career change to be a midwife which I have always dreamed off but could never do due to finance and childcare. My kids are now grown up and I am in the position to start looking. I am now 42 and going to give myself 2 years to gain the relevant qualifications through the access to higher education on learn direct. I work 9/5 in an office Monday to Friday so was wondering about anyone’s experience if they managed to get a place ok the degree without volunteering or is this something I would need to do? Thanks

Midwifery is very hard to get on to. There are few places and a lot of applicants. You will almost certainly need some kind of experience and a good reason for want of a better word to get a place . I’m a current student nurse and gave up my job and worked in a nursing home for a year alongside the access course.

Basically you will have a lot of competition, so yes do as much as you can to maximise your chance.

Also have you looked into job vacancies for midwives atm, it doesn’t look good. Doesn’t look great for new nurses either tbf but here I am! 😂

SO interesting as I know there's a shortage and I would have assumed they would be trying to get as many qualified as possible! Midwives are leaving because it's understaffed to the point it's unsafe around here...

It’ll be a temporary issue, it goes in cycles and has been this way for over 20 years. The job market in 5 years time will be very different.

Midwifery is a hard course, really hard, with long shifts. Competition to get in a course is tough but slightly better now as cohort sizes have increased.
What makes you want to be a midwife? It's an amazing job but very often different to people's perceptions of the role.

Wes Streeting is about to tell hospitals they have to guarantee jobs to all the students they have. I imagine the result of that will be placement capacity is decimated, they probably won’t even offer placements to half the number of current students, a quarter maybe. Which will mean a lot of universities will close down their midwifery, physio, OT, radiography courses….possibly even nursing as it won’t be financially viable to run them. I’d say if this goes ahead competition is going to get a lot worse.

Seriously consider this. I saw online the other day there have been recruitment freezes in the NHS and there aren't as many B5 midwifery jobs as you would think. I'm a speech therapist and it's the same - reported shortage but not many vacancies

I am hoping this would be the case as if all went to plan I would graduate in 5 years time. I see so many negative comments that there afnt enpugh jobs so gives me doubts but at the same time part of me feels if I don’t at least try how will I ever know. I will be 47 by the time I graduate if I did get on a degree in 2027 which ive always felt would be too old but I’ll still have 20 years plus to give to the career. My children will be finished with uni in 2 years which is why I can’t look into before x

Yes this does worry me to be honest but makes me think how will I know if I don’t try or what the situation may be in 5 years. Have you done your degree or are you already a nurse/midwife? X

I wanted to be a midwife after having my children, I find pregnancy absolutely fascinating and during both my births I had very different experiences. Although my births were straight forward the midwife on my last birth was absolutely amazing to the point I remember her name 17 years on. I want to provide that level of care to someone and be there reassurance. My stepdaughter lost a child at 24 weeks and had to give birth, she stayed in the unit for a week and the care she received was amazing. It was such a heartbreaking time for us as a family but they are like angels and again I would like to provide that for another mother or family going through the same. I have never been able to afford to or have childcare to train but now they are grown up I feel that it’s my time. I just feel it will be hard to volunteer at the moment whilst working 40 hours a week in the office and trying to compete the online access course but I feel like if I don’t try I won’t know. Do they take a certain percentage of mature students to young students do you know?

You need to talk to your local uni and see what they say as different unis will have different requirements. It's open day season at the minute so get down to one and find out what you need to do.

They are normally understanding of the fact it's hard to get direct experience but could you volunteer part time on something vaguely related - might be general health care/care home roles or non health care but women specific ie womens refuge. Failing that unis might be happy enough if you have experience of dealing with the general public/customers and can discuss transferable skills.

There is no set ratio for mature students but normally about 50% of cohorts are mature students.

I’m currently a second year student and I’m 51😊

I did what your doing, put it off for years because kids, money, time, too old etc then thought I’ve got 20 bloody years left!

This thread is so enlightening. I’m a nurse and wouldn’t say the course was particularly hard? Obviously there are complexities being a mature student but I would say there were complexities when I was 17 too 😅 the job freeze isn’t ideal but the need for more nurses, midwives etc is never going to go away. My mum did her mental health nurse training in her 40’s and smashed it. Your kids will be so proud I bet! I’d go to your preferred uni open day and discuss pathways to getting onto the course, IE if it’s likely you’d get a place without having worked in the area etc. You could maybe try & do HCA work in the mean time?