The Student Room Group

Midwifery or adult nursing

I currently hold an offer for adult nursing and midwifery at 2 different universities . I’m unsure on which one to pick. Passion wise l would say l lean more towards midwifery but the problem comes that l have done some research and l have found out that there’s more variety in adult nursing than midwifery. Money wise it says midwives earn more compared to nurses ( correct me if lm wrong ) . also the university lm offered the course( midwifery ) is in London and London is so expensive to live there as a student . I have found out that l can take a mini course of 18 months to qualify as midwife after doing adult nursing but the problem is l don’t want to drown myself in debt and allegedly, some hospital are not accepting people that go on this path to be a midwife ( is this true ) .I would really appreciate some more insight on both courses (thank you )
Original post by parallel-vise
I currently hold an offer for adult nursing and midwifery at 2 different universities . I’m unsure on which one to pick. Passion wise l would say l lean more towards midwifery but the problem comes that l have done some research and l have found out that there’s more variety in adult nursing than midwifery. Money wise it says midwives earn more compared to nurses ( correct me if lm wrong ) . also the university lm offered the course( midwifery ) is in London and London is so expensive to live there as a student . I have found out that l can take a mini course of 18 months to qualify as midwife after doing adult nursing but the problem is l don’t want to drown myself in debt and allegedly, some hospital are not accepting people that go on this path to be a midwife ( is this true ) .I would really appreciate some more insight on both courses (thank you )

Hi

Yea you are 100% correct about adult nursing having a lot more variation of roles as a qualified adult nurse.
The issue with applying for midwifery is that each university only takes in a very limited numbers of potential students each year ( this is down to the amount of job vacancies available at the end of the 3 years in each individual health board trusts throughout the UK).
As a newly qualified midwife or adult nurse or any other nurse roles you start at the same rate of pay - bottom of band 5 pay scale and then each year it increases.

There's some health board trusts offering newly qualified midwives band 6 roles but I disagree with that one because they don't have any experience behind them as a newly qualified midwife as I think you should have a minimum of about 12-18 months experience working as a registered midwife before you can start applying for higher bands.
I was only a year qualified when I applied for a band 6 role but it didn't mean I would get the job but I did and then I had to wait for a minimum of five years before applying for the band 7 job but I got the role before my five years was up as band 6. This applies to all of the nursing roles in the NHS.

Just to let you know currently NMC and certain health board trusts is trying to stop the shortened midwife degree course which means everyone has to complete the whole 3 years for to be a midwife or a nurse. Also if you are capable of getting somewhat that does the shortened midwife degree course after you complete your nursing degree you'll not be able to work as a registered nurse throughout your shortened midwife degree as they expect you to solely concentrate on becoming a midwife and you'll be able to apply for your registration again nearer the time you are almost completing the shortened midwife degree.

Basically if you want to be a midwife then go on and apply to the university and see what happens with your application, you might be rejected but you could also be offered a alternative nursing course which you can accept or not.

And you can always apply for a job working on the maternity unit as a adult nurse and learn lots more. You are involved/ assist with everything but delivering babies.
There's always opportunities to apply for a maternity care assistant/support worker as you are trained in every aspect of midwifery except again you are not allowed to do anything delivering of babies.

Yes London is very expensive.

At the end of the day you are the only person who can decide on what career route you want to do.
You get the opportunity to go for promotion up the career ladder in all nursing roles - it is really depend on whether you are capable of taking on the lots of extra responsibilities for each promotion you take. Basically if you want different variation of nursing roles then adult nursing is perfect for you.


Band 7 senior charge midwife
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post by Tracey_W
Hi
Yea you are 100% correct about adult nursing having a lot more variation of roles as a qualified adult nurse.
The issue with applying for midwifery is that each university only takes in a very limited numbers of potential students each year ( this is down to the amount of job vacancies available at the end of the 3 years in each individual health board trusts throughout the UK).
As a newly qualified midwife or adult nurse or any other nurse roles you start at the same rate of pay - bottom of band 5 pay scale and then each year it increases.
There's some health board trusts offering newly qualified midwives band 6 roles but I disagree with that one because they don't have any experience behind them as a newly qualified midwife as I think you should have a minimum of about 12-18 months experience working as a registered midwife before you can start applying for higher bands.
I was only a year qualified when I applied for a band 6 role but it didn't mean I would get the job but I did and then I had to wait for a minimum of five years before applying for the band 7 job but I got the role before my five years was up as band 6. This applies to all of the nursing roles in the NHS.
Just to let you know currently NMC and certain health board trusts is trying to stop the shortened midwife degree course which means everyone has to complete the whole 3 years for to be a midwife or a nurse. Also if you are capable of getting somewhat that does the shortened midwife degree course after you complete your nursing degree you'll not be able to work as a registered nurse throughout your shortened midwife degree as they expect you to solely concentrate on becoming a midwife and you'll be able to apply for your registration again nearer the time you are almost completing the shortened midwife degree.
Basically if you want to be a midwife then go on and apply to the university and see what happens with your application, you might be rejected but you could also be offered a alternative nursing course which you can accept or not.
And you can always apply for a job working on the maternity unit as a adult nurse and learn lots more. You are involved/ assist with everything but delivering babies.
There's always opportunities to apply for a maternity care assistant/support worker as you are trained in every aspect of midwifery except again you are not allowed to do anything delivering of babies.
Yes London is very expensive.
At the end of the day you are the only person who can decide on what career route you want to do.
You get the opportunity to go for promotion up the career ladder in all nursing roles - it is really depend on whether you are capable of taking on the lots of extra responsibilities for each promotion you take. Basically if you want different variation of nursing roles then adult nursing is perfect for you.
Band 7 senior charge midwife

Thank you Tracey . I still have a couple questions if that’s okay ?
1. Who get paid more when starting and during promotion midwife or nurse.
2 . Also just to double check midwives do get promotions but it takes time to get promoted?
3 . does midwifery have variety of roles to choose from?

1.

After graduation (midwifery)do l get to pick where l want to specialise ?

2.

What’s the midwifery job scarcity am l guaranteed a job after uni ?

3.

If you had to pick between midwifery or adult nursing which one would you pick?

Original post by parallel-vise
Thank you Tracey . I still have a couple questions if that’s okay ?
1. Who get paid more when starting and during promotion midwife or nurse.
2 . Also just to double check midwives do get promotions but it takes time to get promoted?
3 . does midwifery have variety of roles to choose from?

1.

After graduation (midwifery)do l get to pick where l want to specialise ?

2.

What’s the midwifery job scarcity am l guaranteed a job after uni ?

3.

If you had to pick between midwifery or adult nursing which one would you pick?


Hi
Apologies for late reply 😔

I answered the question about pay in previous message to you - as a newly qualified nurse or midwife you are paid exactly the same at bottom of band 5 pay scale. And it's same as you gain promotion throughout your career. ( No difference )

Have a look at this for pay for NHS nursing staff....
Royal College of Nursing
https://www.rcn.org.uk NHS-pay...
NHS pay scales 2023 - 2024

Except in Scotland they are paid slightly more than in England because of the Scottish green appreciate there NHS staff.


Yes even as a nurse or midwife it takes time to do promotion as there's set rules laid down by NHS in their job design for higher nursing band's.

After graduation these are some of the areas you can choose to work in which you'll have to pick during applying for a midwife job as a newly qualified midwife.
Midwife has some variety of different things you can do - 1) work as a midwife in maternity unit, (2) beautiful a community midwife working in a GP practice & ( 3) district nursing midwife teams for 24/7 cover throughout the day and night for mother's to be at home incase they are required to attend,

Below are some examples of jobs you can do as a midwife as there's more than these. ..

What other jobs can midwives do in the UK....
Jobs you can get with a nursing and midwifery degree
Accident and Emergency. Working as an A&E nurse, the clue is in the name! ...
Critical Care (ITU) ...
District/Community nursing. ...
Oncology nursing. ...
Practice nurse in a GP surgery. ...
Diabetes nurse. ...
Specialist epilepsy clinics. ...
Community Learning Disability Nursing Teams.


After university - all depends on you securing a midwife job prior to you qualifying ( making sure you have it in place for when you receive your PIN back from the NMC and then arrange a start date).

I wanted to start as a adult nurse as said to you previously and then eventually do middle and then work as a midwife as it's a worthwhile job you do every day.

Tracey xxx

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