Midwifery

Midwifery is a specialist clinical profession built around the care of women and their families from early pregnancy through to the weeks after birth. Midwives work with a high degree of clinical autonomy in the management of normal pregnancy and childbirth, and in close partnership with obstetricians, neonatologists, and other health professionals when complexity or risk is identified. The role demands both the technical precision of a clinician and the sustained human presence that women in labour and new parents depend on.

At the University of the West of Scotland, this three-year full-time programme prepares you for registration as a midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. You will study the physiology of pregnancy, labour, and the postnatal period, pharmacology and medication management, neonatal care, safeguarding, and the evidence base that underlies contemporary midwifery practice. Clinical placements in hospitals, birth centres, and community settings give you hands-on experience across the full range of antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care, building the clinical competence and professional judgement that registration requires.

This programme leads directly to NMC registration as a midwife, enabling you to practise across the NHS and in independent and private midwifery settings. Career paths include hospital midwifery, community practice, alongside birth centre and home birth work. With experience, midwives develop specialist interests in areas such as fetal monitoring, infant feeding, mental health in pregnancy and the postnatal period, or safeguarding, and many move into consultancy, education, or management roles.

Postgraduate study in midwifery, public health, and advanced clinical practice is available for those who wish to develop their expertise or pursue research.