Midwives are the experts on childbirth and their day-to-day role includes supporting women during labour and the birthing process, providing full antenatal care, such as parenting classes, clinical examinations and screenings, as well as teaching new and expectant mothers how to feed, care for and bathe their babies.
Newly qualified midwives in the NHS earn around £30,000 a year, progressing up to £36,483 after 4 years’ experience. But career development opportunities mean as a team leader a midwife could earn up to £44,962 and as a consultant midwife, up to £85,601.
Find out all you need to know about rates of pay, working life and entry requirements and must have skills on the NHS health careers website
Whilst studying, financial support is available for eligible students through the NHS Learning Support Fund, which does not have to be paid back. This includes a training grant of £5000 per year, plus parental support payments for those with children.
If you care about people and would like to be at the very start of a family’s journey, providing care and support to women and their families while pregnant, throughout labour and during the period after a baby’s birth, working in maternity is the career for you.
Within the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity and Neonatal System (WY&H LMNS) there are roles in each of the six Provider NHS Trusts – Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust.
Our nationally recognised maternity services attract and retain a highly effective workforce that will be well led, innovative and will continuously learn.
Our vision for West Yorkshire and Harrogate is to have a full establishment of maternity professionals, reflective of our diverse local populations, who feel encouraged and supported to develop and progress in their chosen careers.
We are creating an inclusive and diverse workplace, and as part of our commitment to improve healthcare career opportunities for everyone, we treat all applicants fairly and consistently. We actively encourage applications irrespective of people’s age, disability, sex, gender identity and expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or personal circumstances.
What sort of work would you do? You might be surprised by the range of maternity roles in our Trusts.
As a maternity support worker, you'll work under the supervision of a registered midwife.
You'll be:
As a registered midwife you will mainly deal with pregnant women requiring professional support and advice. You are likely to be the lead health professional and contact for a woman, providing evidence-based information and helping her make informed choices about the options and services available throughout her pregnancy.
You will provide full antenatal care, including parenting classes, clinical examinations and screening, identify high-risk pregnancies, monitor women and support them during labour and the birthing process. You will also teach new and expectant mothers how to feed, care for and bathe their babies.
You will work with women, birthing people and families from many diverse backgrounds in different care settings providing them with emotional, physical and psychological support.
There are many opportunities to progress your career in clinical practice across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. For example, in specialist midwife roles in perinatal mental health or public health, education, practice education, research, leadership and management, clinical governance and supervision.
Everyone needs to know the practicalities before choosing a new career such as where you might work and how to apply, not to mention the pay and benefits. You can find all this and more on the Health Careers website.
A career in health and care is for the long term. You can improve your skills and get training in roles that interest you, progress at your own pace, in a place that’s local to you. We have apprenticeship opportunities available in many of the different careers to help you develop in the role whilst being paid.
All of our Trusts put supporting and developing people to achieve their potential at the heart of their values. We don’t just want to give you a job, but the opportunity for a career that can be for as long as you want it.
