Midwifery Careers
Last updated: 05 October 2022
Midwifery Careers
Midwifery is a truly exceptional and rewarding career, and here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) our excellent team of Midwives provide the highest quality of care and support to women and their families, throughout their entire pregnancy journey and beyond.
Our Midwives are the lead health professionals and contacts for the women within our community, providing evidence-based information and helping them to make informed choices about the options and services available throughout pregnancy.
A day in the life
You’ll be the expert on childbirth and your responsibilities are likely to be diverse. You’ll provide:
- provide full antenatal care, including parenting classes, clinical examinations and screening
- identify high-risk pregnancies
- monitor pregnant individuals and support them during labour and the birthing process
- teach new and expectant parents how to feed, care for and bathe their babies
Your development
You'll need to be committed to learning and always keeping their skills and knowledge up to date. Once you have qualified as a midwife, there are a wide range of opportunities. You may want to undertake further training and become a health visitor or move into management, teaching or clinical research.
For more information regarding joining our Midwifery team, please submit a form through the ‘Contact us’ page or contact the Human Resources team, who are more than happy to help, on 02392 286577 or email hr.inbox@porthosp.nhs.uk.
My story
Wendy Escott
Midwife - Labour Ward Clinical Lead
What made you become a midwife? – “Whilst training to be a nurse it was the midwifery articles in the ‘Nursing Times’ that really appealed to me. Supporting individuals and their families through such a momentous event like the birth of a child is the best job in the world. The autonomy of practice a midwife has is very rewarding.”
How did you become a midwife? – “After qualifying as a nurse, I worked for a couple of years on a surgical ward before commencing the 18-month training for midwifery.”
What do you do on a day to day basis? – “I am currently the labour ward manager. This includes providing clinical support to staff on the labour ward and managing the day to day business – stock, staffing, innovations and improvements.”
Why did you choose PHU? – I began my nurse training in Portsmouth Hospitals in 1984. My husband’s jobs have been local, so I’ve had no reason to work elsewhere and I very much enjoy working at PHU.”
What do you enjoy about being a midwife? – “As a midwife you have the privilege of accompanying individuals through the amazing journey of pregnancy and birth. It’s a great mixture of using academic knowledge in a practical hands-on way.”
Career plans and advice for others – Midwifery is a fantastic career but does need resilience and commitment. Care is provided 24/7, 365 days a year, so you need to be prepared for this. It can be very busy and stressful but also, very rewarding.”
