School of Allied Health and Midwifery

BMid (Hons) Midwifery (2 Year)

BMid (Hons) Full-time 2 years

We believe that the student is at the centre of their own journey to become the future midwife.

We believe that the student is at the centre of their own journey to become the future midwife.

Award
BMid (Hons)
Start date(s)
16 September 2024,18 September 2023
UCAS Code
B721
Course specifications
Course length
Full-time (2 years)
Campus location
Walsall Campus
School
School of Allied Health and Midwifery
UCAS points calculator

Why choose this course?

We believe that the student is at the centre of their own journey to become the future midwife.

We will provide educational opportunities which are student focused, and most importantly, driven by the needs of the mother, her infant, wider family and community. The Bachelor of Midwifery (Honours) programme has been specifically designed to build upon your individual strengths, supporting you become a professional and motivated midwife.

The role of the midwife as a catalyst for improving the health of families is well-recognised. Reflecting the NHS Long Term Plan (2019) our programmes include a strong focus on current public health priorities, the care of vulnerable groups, and the increasingly complex health needs of childbearing women.

 

This two-year programme prepares you to practise safely and effectively as a midwife. It is approved by both the University of Wolverhampton and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) so that when you graduate you are eligible to apply to enter the NMC professional register as a midwife.

 

The programme will enable you to deliver and lead evidence-based care for families and babies, working in partnership with multi-disciplinary teams and reflects the requirements of the ‘Standards of Proficiency for Midwives’ (NMC, 2019). This includes optimising normal physiological processes, providing a first-line response to, and management of complications, as well as supporting women and newborns with additional care needs. Throughout the course there is a strong focus on perinatal mental health, public health and continuity of care. The programme reflects a student-centred approach to education with emphasis on active learning, developing your leadership competencies, research-awareness, professional reflection and critical thinking in preparation for you to assume autonomous practice within the maternity services. In addition, the programme prepares you for employment, providing you with strategies to promote your resilience and focusing on your personal and professional development.

 

INTAKE: September

 

WHERE: Walsall Campus

 

What's unique about this course?

  • State-of-the-art facilities
  • Hands-on experience in a variety of hospital and community settings
  • Work alongside healthcare and other professionals
  • We have excellent partnership with arrangements with local NHS trusts and private sector organisations

What happens on the course?

 50% of your programme will take place in the University and 50% in a variety of clinical practice placement areas.

You will study a range of academic modules based on theory and practice experiences. Through a range of innovative learning and teaching approaches you will be empowered to think critically about evidence-based practice and develop as a self-directed and life-long learner.

Combined with simulated skills practice and a strong foundation of evidence-based theoretical knowledge, this allows you to become a knowledgeable, safe and effective practitioner. Practising in our skills laboratories allows you to test out your practical skills in a safe environment.

Midwifery practice is informed by contemporary evidence-based research and expert knowledge. We believe that the curriculum reflects the ‘art’ and ‘science’ of midwifery. Fundamental to safe and effective midwifery practice is the awareness, understanding and application of key knowledge and skills; as well as the development of the professional values required of a registered midwife.

The future midwife is a reflective and critical thinker able to acknowledge the importance of lifelong learning, in order to help develop themselves and the profession further. We will ensure you are provided with opportunities to understand the role of the midwife as a colleague, scholar and leader.

Midwifery Curriculum Model

The course adopts a spiral curriculum which means that you will see the same topics revisited during each year, but in your third year they will increase in complexity promoting more advanced applications of areas previously covered, thereby increasing your proficiency and expertise. Your new learning will build upon previous learning to reinforce what you already know and to support you to develop competence and confidence.

Midwifery Two Year Spiral Curriculum Framework

The programme offers you added value opportunities such as Newborn Life Support (NLS) training which is approved by the Resuscitation Council UK, Practical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training (PROMPT) as well as providing you with full training to become competent in the Newborn Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) prior to registration.

The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative principles are also woven into the fabric of the course. Students evaluate the quality of teaching positively and have the opportunity to develop their clinical skills in newly refurbished and well equipped clinical skills laboratories.

Our assessment strategy aims to mirror professional practices and real-world contexts, preparing you for the challenges of independent and team work, and developing skills that will help you to succeed in the workplace. You will experience creative, engaging and meaningful assessment tasks which contribute to your ongoing development as a critical thinker and as a life-long learner. Assessments will build on each other and grow in complexity, enabling you to see the connections across modules and years.

Placements are undertaken with one of five NHS trusts; The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.

A learning support fund is available, subject to availability.  

Student accommodation is available at our Wolverhampton, Walsall and Telford campuses.

 

Course Modules

Potential Career Paths

You will be prepared for the developing role of the midwife and be equipped with the tools to be integrated into a sustainable, reflective workforce. On successfully completing the course you will exit with both an academic award, Bachelor of Midwifery (Hons), and the professional NMC registration as a midwife.

Once qualified, this will open up the prospect of many jobs in clinical practice, hospital or community settings, research, teaching or managerial roles.

Registered midwives (RM) continue to study after they have qualified, often in a specialist area, as they develop their career path and can work abroad in places such as Australia, New Zealand or EU countries as well as many other countries across the world.

Additional Information

Everything you need to know about this course!

  • We are proud to confirm that our £300 travel fund to support eligible new UK full-time undergraduate entrants with the costs of travel, continues 2020/21 and 21/22 entrants.  
  • At Walsall Campus you will be taught in our state-of-the-art skills facility in the Sister Dora Building. The skills laboratories have an immersive simulation suite, meaning we can change the environment without moving the students. Through these simulations, you will get a sense of the environment in clinical practice and apply appropriate responses.
  • The new state-of-the-art skills and simulation suite at Walsall Campus allows you to gain a sense of the clinical practice environment and apply appropriate responses. The new skills suite now includes simulated in-hospital, home and community environments and the use of world-leading technologies such as a virtual dissection anatomy table, allowing for 3D images of human anatomy and diseases to come alive to support learning and inquiry.
  • You will gain hands-on experience in a variety of hospital and community settings, working alongside a range of healthcare and other professionals. You will experience opportunities for inter-disciplinary learning across all nursing pathways and with midwifery, social work and social care.The University prides itself on its excellent partnership working arrangements with local NHS trusts and private, voluntary and independent sector organisations for placement opportunities. This partnership works to provide excellent support for you whilst you are on placement ensuring that you are supported and exposed to relevant learning opportunities. Our tutors work closely with practice staff to promote a dynamic, interactive learning environment in which you are encouraged to be an active participant in learning rather than a passive recipient.
  • Inter-professional learning (IPL) opportunities (when professionals and/students from different disciplines, learn from and about each other’s roles) are embedded in all three years of the programme. IPL is vital in supporting you to develop the knowledge, skills and insights necessary to ultimately deliver the highest quality of care and work within increasingly integrated and complex health and social care settings.
  • When you apply to the University of Wolverhampton, we provide you with a list of all of our placement providers. You then get to select a first and second choice as to where you would like to spend your time in practice. Students always evaluate this well as it means you get to know your local Trust – the Trust gets to grow their own workforce, and you as the student have a greater chance of earning a job at the end of your course.

Who will teach you on this course?

All of the lecturing staff in the midwifery team are Registered Midwives. You will benefit from the team’s expertise, which draws on a wealth of different experiences including a range of clinical, managerial, commissioning and research.

Visiting and honorary lecturers/speakers from a wide range of healthcare and related fields will also participate in the programme who will share contemporary and real-world examples of practice.

We work very closely with service users and carers, people who have had experiences themselves of maternity services and want to make a difference to what you, our student midwives, experience. They inform the course content and are involved in its delivery.

Want to find out more?

Why not attend one of our Open Days, where you will have the opportunity to talk to staff and students who are currently studying and find out more about the course and our facilities?

Twitter: @wlv_health #wlvmidwiferyteam

Facebook: facebook.com/wlvhealth

As a Registered Midwife you will:

  • meet the NMC ‘Standards of Proficiency for Midwives’
  • have obtained the subject knowledge and understanding surrounding the professional and ethical conduct of a midwife, to deliver a high standard of appropriate midwifery care and leadership and supervision of others, as well as being able to reflect on your personal and professional development
  • demonstrate subject-specific knowledge related to maternity care, including professional and ethical practice, appropriate care delivery, managing care and personal and professional management
  • identify health and social care policy trends and be able to use evidence and develop arguments to underpin your own practice, to evaluate the delivery of healthcare services
  • be able to apply decision-making and problem-solving techniques in order to provide quality care to patients and support their families.

Location Mode Fee Year
Home Full-time £9250 per year 2022-23
Home Full-time £9250 per year 2023-24
Home Full-time £9250 per year 2023-24
Home Full-time £9250 per year 2024-25
International Full-time £13450 per year 2022-23
International Full-time £14450 per year 2023-24
International Full-time £14450 per year 2023-24
International Full-time £14950 per year 2024-25

The University is committed to a transparent fee structure, with no hidden costs, to help you make an informed decision. This includes information on what is included in the fee and how fees are calculated and reviewed

  • You should be a qualified adult nurse on the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Professional Register.
  • You should have achieved a minimum of a Level 5 (Diploma in Higher Education) qualification or equivalent and you will also need to demonstrate a strong educational/continuing professional development profile over the previous three to five years
  • A minimum of 6 months post qualification experience is essential.
  •  
  • Applicants will also be required to provide a satisfactory personal statement and references.
  •  
  • Those meeting the entry requirements will be shortlisted for a values-based selection process and will be subsequently required to meet a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check and Occupational Health requirements.

Other Requirements

If you meet the academic entry requirements you may be shortlisted for a values-based interview.

You will need to demonstrate that, on entry to the programme, you have capability for digital and technological literacy to meet course outcomes. Evidence of your digital literacy and technological literacy capability is linked to the online application process.

You will also be required to provide a satisfactory personal statement and reference (academic or employer).

 

Additional Information

Free Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Occupational Health Check:

Due to the professional nature of some of our courses you may also be required to complete a Declaration of Health and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check.  We will coordinate both of these non-academic conditions with you should your course require this and you receive an offer from us

There will be no cost for the DBS this is free to applicants who have secured an offer and have chosen to study at the University of Wolverhampton.

 

During the course you will be required to attend clinical placements and you will be invited to discuss a preferred placement area/s from a selection of pre-determined locations; however your preferred choice is not guaranteed so it is essential that you are able and willing to travel to placement.

 

You will also need to complete an occupational health assessment questionnaire and meet occupational health requirements. If you are accepted onto the course, all of your vaccinations will need to be up to date before you attend placement and the University provides a vaccination programme to ensure that you are appropriately covered.

 

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

If you have previously studied a professional course at another University or College, we will require an academic reference from your previous higher education institution.

 

Student Visa Requirements:

Applicants who require a student visa to enter the UK are not eligible to be considered for this course. 

Skilled Worker Visa Requirements:

Applicants who are in the UK on a Skilled Worker Visa or are a dependent of a Skilled worker are not eligible to be considered for this course. 

 

“The University of Wolverhampton was my first choice and I knew this once I had visited the Walsall Campus, it has a relaxed feel as it is not too big giving it more of a close-knit community and personal feel. The time spent in placement is very beneficial as you also gain the practical experience and learn skills of the job at first-hand experience. I would recommend visiting the University as it certainly helped me make my decision. I am looking forward to graduating so I can commence my chosen profession as a midwife.”

Melissa Turner, BSc (Hons) Midwifery leading to registered Midwife   

“I chose the University of Wolverhampton because of the atmosphere I experienced at the Open Day and the staff were so friendly, helpful and engaging. I was also interested in the placement trust areas which the University work with. The course curriculum at the university is great, there is also the additional training such as NIPE, and this appealed to me the most and confirmed my choice as the place of study and was the start to my journey to fulfil my dream of becoming a midwife. I thoroughly enjoyed my time out in placement as I gained valuable experience of clinical working and patient interaction which is vital alongside of academic work. My tip I would give to all future students is to be determined, passionate and confident when at placement or in teaching. I am particularly interested in community based practice and once I graduate would like to explore this field as well as returning to my studies in the future. I have learnt a lot since I commenced this course and the experience as a whole has been life changing, I have witnessed my first birth as a future health professional and I was honoured, I feel very privileged to be a part of the University.”

Laura Mackillop, BSc (Hons) Midwifery leading to registered Midwife   

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

Recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for the purpose of registration as a qualified midwife.

Tuition Fees Loan (Home Fee Status):

By studying an undergraduate or postgraduate pre-registration programme you are eligible for a Tuition Fee loan. of up to £9,250. The loan will support your studies and enable you to start a rewarding career in healthcare.


Changes for EU students:

The UK government has confirmed that EU students starting courses from 1 August 2021 will normally be classified as Overseas (International) students for fee purposes. More information about the change is available at UKCISA:

EU citizens living in the UK with 'settled' status, and Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland, will still be classified as Home students, providing they meet the usual residency requirements, for more information about EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) click here.


NHS Grant:

All new and continuing nursing, midwifery and most allied health professionals’ students on pre-registration courses will also receive a grant of at least £5,000 per year that is not means-tested and will not have to be repaid.

An additional payment of up to £3,000 per academic year will be available to eligible students. Eligibility will include the following:

• £1,000 towards childcare costs • £1,000 if studying in a region that is struggling to recruit • £1,000 if studying a shortage specialism

Among others, the shortage specialisms have been confirmed to include:

• Mental health nursing

• Learning disability nursing

Read the full press release on the Government website to find out more or access“The recent grants for health courses explained"


Additional funding:

Is available via NHS Business Services Authority

The Learning Support Fund offers students additional support while studying for their degree. This includes:

• Dependants allowance of £1,000 per student per year

• Additional travel and accommodation costs to clinical placements over their normal daily travel costs

• An exceptional hardship fund of up to £3,000 per student per academic year


You can find more information on the University’s Funding, cost, fee and support pages.

Telephone

01902 32 22 22

Email

enquiries@wlv.ac.uk

Online

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