Any midwifes on here? Advice please?

RoxieW

Any midwifes reading- please could you advise me or point me in the right direction?

I previously worked in the media - a job which required lots of travel and being away from home and, although I enjoyed my job, found v difficult with two young children. At the minute I'm a SAHM and am looking into the future and considering midwifery as an option.

I have a HND but its in media, and I dont have science A levels so I guess I'd be looking at a long haul of going back to college and then Uni - so prob 5 years re-training.

My question is - what are the hours and shifts like for midwifes? Is it jugglable to fit with family life? Can you choose your own shifts or do they just get allocated to you? Is there any option of term time working or doing some night shifts or weekends during holidays for example instead of days?

I've read that part-time, term-time etc is an option but I wanted to know whether realistically this can happen or is it just a lucky few?

I guess I just want to know whether its fairly flexible and will fit better with my family life before I commit to 5 years of training.

Many thanks for any replies.

Oldernotwiser

I can't answer your questions about shifts but you don't need science "A" levels to study midwifery; for the Advanced diploma you need 7 GCSEs including English, Maths and a Science although most entrants will have studied at a higher level than this. I would contact the educational institution where you hope to study for any specific information about their entrance requirements.

Although there's a shortage of midwives at present, entry is more competitive than nursing and many recently qualified midwives have had difficulties in finding work because of job cuts in the NHS. It's a funny old world!

MrsMop

The best thing you can do is contact the University you are interested in and ask them about entry requirements. How long age did you do your HND?
A lot of people do Access courses which can be either a year or two years long ( part-time) then the degree is 3 years.

Shifts differ between hospitals - again ring the hospital. You are allocated shifts although you can request days you want to work, but will be different every week between day, late and night shifts. So for example you could request to work nights when the kids are off.

I would also echo what Oldernotwiser said about it being difficult to get a place - I would think about getting some hospital experience. Many hospitals have a work experience programme and any care experience would be an advantage.

HTH

RubyShoes

Hi.
I am a midwife. I qualified April last year.

As of yet, I don't have a job. I am not alone in this either. Its all to do with the 'debt' that the NHS is in. They simply refuse to employ new staff when people leave, and make the ones who are left work harder!

Anyway, aside from the dire job prospects, the hours are not exactly family friendly either.

Im sorry to say this, but you will need to be prepared for the sh*t hours, and very little choice in them, particularly so while you are training. You are expected to fit in with your mentors hours, no matter what kind of hassle that brings for you!

I have occasionally managed to change a shift, but it wasn't often. I didn't dare ask very often, as it is very much looked down on. You are expected to get on with it. :rolleyes: Thats the caring NHS for you!!

When you qualify, yes there are so called family friendly options, but these are, like you say, for the 'few'. You will have the option to work PT, if there are any jobs though!!

But term time, and altered working patterns, nope! Not very likely, especially when you are newly qualified. You are expected to take what you get.

You might get more flexibility in swapping the odd shift though once qualified, if someone is prepared to swap with you.

The shift times vary, but typically, an early shift would be 7.5-8 hours between 7am-3.30pm ish, and a late again would be 7.5-8 hours between 1pm-10pm. Nights could be something like 8.45pm-7.45am.. Long days start when the early starts, and finish when the lates finish.

Hope that makes sense.

I am hoping to do 3 long days a week. But, I can only hope. It would never be guarenteed.

Ruby
x

midwife_twinkie

well i have to agree with ruby, the shifts are long and hard and there is always that worry of working bank holidays, xmas, weekends i have been told i have to work 12 hour shifts which makes me wonder what happens when you have a really busy shift and have had no time to eat or even have a drink which often happens, you lose concentration and before you know it you have caused some major error, management dont give a c**p about staff they are not interested about how short staffed you are or how dangerously busy you are. I love my job but have had enough of the shifts, the policies and the low staffing levels that make you so stressed as you cant give the women the advice and guidence these women need. Midwifery is going down the pan big time and i am sadly leaving this year as i feel i cant take anymore of the stress that goes with been a midwife, which is sad as i trained hard to get where i am BUT i have come to realise my family and myself are more important so there for i will be taking a lower paid job that leaves me stress free and able to sleep at night from not worring about making major errors, working nights when i find the incredibly hard to do them, not having the worry of having to work both xmas & new year, working weekends oh and the fear of litigation that seems the trend at the moment dont want to put a dampener on things but this is how i feel midwifery is not all about delivering healthy bouncing babies its all the c**p that goes with it ok i will shut up as i am getting on my own nerves now ! from one very frustrated, over worked stressed to hell midwife

LilacPixie

I'm not a MW but my mother in law is and I know her working pattern quite well.

She works 32 hours per week over 3 shift patterns. 7am-3pm, 2pm-10pm and 9pm to 8am :eek: Quite often she is late out of work because she works in the labour ward and can't very well just up and leave when someone is at 2nd stage (pushing). Quite often she will be finishing at 10pm one day with a 7am start the next.

Her shifts are allocate to her in 4-5 week blocks around 3 weeks before her current block is due to finish, she can request certain days off duty but thats just a request and isn't a guarantee.

When my huby and his siblings were younger she used to work 3 nights night shift and sleep while they were at school.

Realistically i think the NHS is like any other employer you need to be there a while to get the best shifts the newbies get all the rubbish.

MrsMop

Forgot to say a really good website is https://www.studentmidwives.co.uk - you'll get loads of good advice on there.

RoxieW

Thank you so much for all the helpful replies. Its something that I'd really like to do but it seems it will b an impossibility if its completely different shifts from week to week as no nursery or childminder will work on the basis. So is it not possible to say - I can do earlier or nights but not lates? Or 3 night shifts, or long days a week and it just stays like that? Earlies would be perfect for me as I get to spent time with the boys after school or doing something like 3 night shifts or 2 long days as then at least I'm getting some free days with the boys. But if you never know what you're going to get then its going to very difficult.
Also, how often do you have to be 'on call' and what does this involve? Do you get paid the whole time so that I could have the little ones in childcare 'in case' or are you expected to drop your family and rush in?

midwife_twinkie

my advice to you roxy is stay at home and enjoy the time you have with your boys and maybe think abut it when they have gone to school i worked nights when my kids were little and i dont know how on earth i did it they nearly killed me!! i felt ill all the time and looking back i could not give my kids the time they needed due to the fact that i felt exhausted all the time and if i could turn the clock back i would have stayed at home with them sorry for been so negative but that is how nursing and midwifery has made me feel. But good luck if you want to be a midwife so much i am sure you may become one oneday, but believe me in todays world of midwifery and nursing its a job i wouldnt advise anyone to go into sorry.

Oldernotwiser

RoxieW wrote: »

Thank you so much for all the helpful replies. Its something that I'd really like to do but it seems it will b an impossibility if its completely different shifts from week to week as no nursery or childminder will work on the basis. So is it not possible to say - I can do earlier or nights but not lates? Or 3 night shifts, or long days a week and it just stays like that? Earlies would be perfect for me as I get to spent time with the boys after school or doing something like 3 night shifts or 2 long days as then at least I'm getting some free days with the boys. But if you never know what you're going to get then its going to very difficult.
Also, how often do you have to be 'on call' and what does this involve? Do you get paid the whole time so that I could have the little ones in childcare 'in case' or are you expected to drop your family and rush in?

Unfortunately if it's perfect for you then it's going to be perfect for everybody else who has young children. How old will your children be in 4/5 years time and what sort of hours does your OH do?

LittleOne83

I'm currently a 2nd year student midwife and loving it. I don't have kids or family commitments but most of the students in my class do. They all have young children and so far we're on our 3rd pregnancy in the group! They all seem to manage with the shifts and childcare. It's a case of having great support from family and friends who are willing to help out in any way they can.
The shifts aren't too bad. Where I study you have blocks of 5 weeks...and you're either in uni studying 3 or 4 days a week or on placement. When on placement you're expected to work 30 hours and have a day in uni. So this could be 3 night shifts, 2 long days and a half day or 4 or 5 half days. We don't have to work with our mentor all the time so if there's a shift we can't do for whatever reason we just find someone else to work with. If in your case you wanted to spend the afternoons with your children and your mentor worked a 12 hour shift, you could go in for the early and leave at 3ish. Where I am you self rosta your shifts so just decide what you wanna do and do it. As long as you have the required hours in the required areas at the end of the year it doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you work with your mentor most of the time and get your skills signed off.

As for your studies, many people take an access course or some take an open uni module. I did open uni K100 understanding health and social care and this seemed to be enough....but I'm doing the diploma which is now being phased out. Midwifery is going to be a degree only course. I would look at unis and trusts that you'd be interested in working at and contact the uni regarding the quallifications you need. As a mature student they may be different to someone fresh out of college.

As for shifts when qualified, where I am the midwives can request what sort of shifts they do...we have some on permament nights, some who only do half shifts and some who do 12's. Most people who do 12's also have 1 week in 4 or 5 of nights. And that's if you want to work in a hospital setting. If you became a community midwife the hours are more like office hours, with some weekends and on call for homebirths.
HTH