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Midwife
Bolton Foundation NHS Trust

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  Benash 

Midwife 

00:07  My name’s Benash. I’m the specialist cultural liaison midwife. 
00:10  They will know that you were the midwife, the support work, the cheerleader, the carer and their champion. You give them the confidence in themselves, in their body and their ability to birth and that is just a small part of being a midwife. 
00:34  To be a midwife you need patience with yourself and patience with others. You also need to have really good communication skills. The people you’re caring for need to know what’s happening, need to understand, need to be able to make key decisions about themselves, their little one and their families according to the advice and guidance you and the other professionals within the team give. 
01:07  I always said I was gonna go to university, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I read five prospectuses back to front and learnt about midwifery which I’d never heard about and never even considered. I wasn’t the most confident and I wasn’t the most academic, I struggled with certain aspects of learning. I later found out in university I had dyslexia, but the practical and the theoretical aspect were balanced cos in midwifery when you’re doing your training you do 50-50, you have to from year go straight into hospital and with mentorship and guidance you present and you start caring from get, the get-go. 
01:59  As a midwife you have to do so many many many things so one of the things that you can do to start preparing for midwifery is try volunteering at a hospital. Have conversations with people who have recently had babies and understand and learn what they did, what their midwives did with them, what care they gave. So talking about these things and writing about these things is really important and write about them in your applications and talk about them in your interviews. 
02:31  END OF TRANSCRIPTION  

 

“I wasn’t the most confident and I wasn’t the most academic, I struggled with certain aspects of learning.” Benash later found she had dyslexia. She decided to become a midwife after reading about the course and enjoyed the mix of practical and classroom learning.

More information about Midwives

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ÂŁ40,040
average salary

The UK average salary is ÂŁ29,813

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35
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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100%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Midwives deliver, or assist in the delivery of babies, provide antenatal and postnatal care and advise parents on baby care. They work with other healthcare professionals, and advise on and teach midwifery practice.
Qualifications
A degree in midwifery is essential. Registered nurses can do a 12-18 month shortened course but graduates from other disciplines must undertake the full three or four-year degree programme. Entry to midwifery training without a degree or HND is also possible. Applicants must have a minimum of five GCSEs (or equivalent) and at least two A-levels (or equivalent) for degree programmes. There is a lower age limit of 17 years 6 months to enter training.
Tasks
  • Monitors condition and progress of patient and baby throughout pregnancy;
  • Delivers babies in normal births and assists doctors with difficult deliveries;
  • Monitors recovery of mother in postnatal period and supervises the nursing of premature and other babies requiring special attention;
  • Advises on baby care, exercise, diet and family planning issues;
  • Supervises more junior staff and directs the work of the midwifery unit;
  • Plans and manages midwifery care services;
  • Delivers lectures and other forms of training in midwifery practice.
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Employment status
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