“I am studying on the Midwifery BSc Hons Degree Apprenticeship at Greenwich and my employer is Dartford and Gravesham Trust. I work at Darent Valley Hospital.”
“I have always contemplated doing my midwifery training, especially having worked as a Maternity Support Worker (MSW) for many years. However the timing was never quite right with family commitments. Before the apprenticeship programme was advertised, I had been looking to further my career as my children are now older. I saw the advert for the apprenticeship and to be honest it was a no brainer! It provided me with a funded position on the course and I could remain an employee and continue to be paid and receive annual leave entitlement and sick pay. I would also receive a recognised qualification at the end, a guaranteed job, and do a placement within my place of work where the areas and colleagues are familiar.”
“Being an apprentice, you have two roles: being a student and your usual job role. In my case a MSW. Throughout the programme we split our time between the two roles. It can be challenging to differentiate between the two roles for ourselves and our colleagues. For example, I could be working as a MSW one week and then the following week being on placement in the same area as a student. It is important to know the specifics of your roles, and the boundaries and ensure that they don’t become blurred as some tasks you can carry out as a student but not as a MSW and vice versa. Wearing different uniforms helps! When I’m a student I wear the University of Greenwich grey uniform and when I’m a MSW I wear the Trust uniform.”
“The University of Greenwich is an historic university with three campuses in Greenwich, Eltham and Medway. My course is a three-year programme which will give me the qualification to practice as a qualified Midwife. The course is split between academic study where we attend university lecturers and are assessed by essays and exams, and placement time where we work alongside a midwife on wards or in community settings. We provide care to women through pregnancy, labour and in the post-natal period and we have competencies we have to get signed off when deemed competent to do so.”
“There are many aspects of my apprenticeship that give me satisfaction. These include learning something in theory and then putting it into practice whilst on placement; being able to carry out tasks/procedures that you feel nervous about and then you perform them successfully; getting good grades for an essay that you have fretted about and worked hard on. Being part of a woman’s care and knowing you’ve made a difference to her is what gives me most satisfaction!”
“Once qualified there are many aspects to explore within the field of midwifery. You could choose to become a specialist midwife, ward manager, team leaders, or go on to do further training in neonatal care, ultrasound or health visiting.”
“Midwifery is a very privileged profession to work in. As a midwife you support women throughout their pregnancies from the very beginning of the antenatal period, through labour and in the postnatal period, ultimately for women to have a safe pregnancy with the outcome being a healthy baby. It is a precious time and to be able to provide safe and effective care whilst building a trusting relationship can have a huge impact on peoples lives. Women tend to always remember their midwives because they’ve made an impact during an important time of their lives.”
“One of the great advantages of the apprenticeship programme is having some knowledge of the profession before committing to the course. Working as a MSW I saw first-hand how hard midwives work, what the job entails, the shift patterns, the highs, and the lows. To become a qualified midwife will be a huge development in my career and will open further opportunities in the future if I choose to do so.”
