Midwife volunteering?

[Mumof1wifeof1]

Hi.

Does anyone have any advice on how to become a volunteer in midwifery?

Long story short. So, I've wanted to become a midwife for as long as I could remember but never had the confidence to go for it. I sometimes worry if I'm even cut out for it (again I think my confidence is low) I have spoken to a few people about it and they have said before Covid hospitals used to offer a volunteering positions. I've contacted the hospital near me in Swansea and they have said thats exactly what they used to do but again since covid they haven't brought it back. The hospital even said on the phone they miss it as they found it so helpful with an extra pair of hands available.

Has anyone heard anything like volunteering to become a midwife? I'd love to be able to see if I would love the job as much as I think I would. But things that scare me are the expectations on the NHS staff etc.

Just feeling a bit lost with it all to be honest.

You can’t volunteer to be a midwife. Our volunteers help in the wards. Help the mums, help with meals etc.
Maybe look at maternity care assistant roles to give you some insight ?

Oh ok I understand, it makes sense. I can't seem to find any information on being a care assistant within maternity though. 🫤

This is the kind of job that PP means, I think. https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/candidate/jobadvert/C9421-25-0618?searchFormType=main&keyword=Maternity%20support&language=en
Have a look on NHS jobs if this kind of thing appeals. In general, however, to apply to do midwifery at uni you just need to have some sort of volunteering experience/personal experience with babies. They want to know why you want the job. What’s your academic background? Maybe an access to healthcare course would be a good idea?

If there’s nothing on health care assistant maternity jobs think about health care assistant on other depts such as gynae/paediatrics/ theatre. Not maternity but would give you some experience/ knowledge/ insight of some aspects of midwifery.

You probably won’t find anything specific about being a maternity care assistant. You can see if you can join the hospital “on the bank” as a paid health care assistant. Being on the bank is basically a zero hours contract, there will be shifts available which you can choose to do…..so you could potentially put yourself down for maternity ward shifts. But they are popular and depending on the hospital might not even be advertised to the bank.

im a midwife, and a midwifery lecturer. You don’t need experience with babies to get on a midwifery course but you should try to get healthcare experience/experience of working with women. Midwifery is much more about women than babies. Go to open days at your local uni and ask what they’re looking for, what qualifications you need, etc….its a very competitive course to get onto.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I'm going to look into it at my local uni. Sounds like the first step.