Midwifery Undergraduate Courses

• Our course is accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and meets the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly standards, the gold-standard for midwifery programmes and an important quality mark for trusts
• Our Clinical Skills Suite is built to professional standards and is a safe environment for you to develop the competences that you’ll need to thrive in your career. The suite includes a replica ward, counselling rooms and a treatment room, all fully equipped with the latest clinical resources
• Our Immersive Interactive Simulation Suite replicates a range of different scenarios that midwifes may find themselves working in. You’ll be ‘immersed’ into different environments to gain a greater understanding of the varied pressures you’ll encounter and the range of factors you’ll need to consider when working as a midwife
• You will use equipment for practical training which is specific to midwifery, for example birthing beds and birthing mattresses, maternal and neonatal resuscitation equipment. You will also learn to use emergency equipment tailored to various scenarios
• Practical experience is a hallmark of our course. Drawing on our flourishing employer links, we offer work placements in a broad spectrum of health and social care settings, for example, maternity hospital trusts, midwifery led units, and community midwifery
• Our Midwifery programme is not just clinical, we look at a range of situations to empower women
• As a midwife you are an advocate for women to make sure they have a voice. The role of the midwife involves providing women with choices, for examples in place of birth, and it is the role of the midwife to support the woman to make an informed decision. Women need support from midwives in both low risk and high risk settings, and the midwife, as the lead professional in these settings, provides an open, non judgmental, holistic approach to women and newborn health
• The University of Derby won the award for "Outstanding Contribution to Student Affairs" at the Student Nursing Times Awards 2022 for the work that BSc (Hons) Midwifery student, Kayty Richards, has done in her role as President for the first Midwifery Society 'Midwifery Rocks'. Read the full story here. The University was also shortlisted in multiple other categories. 

What is the role of a midwife?

Midwives provide skilled, knowledgeable, respectful and compassionate care for all women, newborn infants and their families. They work across the continuum from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labour and birth, postpartum and the early weeks of a newborns life. This includes women's future reproductive health, well-being and decisions in promoting very early child development and the parents transition to parenthood.

• Midwives optimise normal physiological processes and support safe, physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual situations working to promote positive outcomes and to anticipate and prevent complications
• Midwives make a vital contribution to the quality and safety of maternity care, combining clinical knowledge, understanding and skills with interpersonal and cultural competence
• Midwives make an important contribution to the wider public health agenda, addressing social and health inequalities
• Midwives are highly trained to anticipate and recognise any changes which may lead to complications and additional care needs
• Midwives provide and evaluate care in partnership with women, partners, and families if appropriate, referring and collaborating with other health care professionals as required 

Employability

Following registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, midwives can work in the trust obstetric maternity unit, midwife led unit or in the community. Midwives may specialise in roles such as diabetes specialist midwife, bereavement services, vulnerable women or safeguarding. Midwives can also work in managerial, research or teaching roles.