Doctor or Midwife?

I’ve wanted to become a doctor for the past few years, i was ready to face the long years and time spent studying but now im not sure as i know for most specialities its hard to have a family and money is very bad at the start. Now im thinking midwifery because even though money is also supposed to be quite tight and schedules are long hours and overtime, it’s supposed to be easier to have a family and kids😫😫 I’m finding it so hard to decide because i love the idea of being a doctor and progressing and specialising in a certain speciality like paediatrics but then i love the idea of being a midwife because i want one to one patient time, and caring for them, and not being the one to have to prescribe stuff but actually being there to help the patient, it sounds dumb because it clearly looks like being a midwife is a better choice for me but i want that income stability and i feel like i’m too young to decide what to choose as i want to be able to have a stable life and have my own family, as well as the fact ive been stuck to this idea of becoming a doctor for so long just to now be like hmm ill be a midwife😕😕 edit: also the fact that i need to apply for unis now and i was thinking for putting medicine but what if i dont get the grades and then cant do either because apparently putting midwifery as alternate option looks bad on you as it shows ur not sure😖😖

I also expect there will still be options for career progression in midwifery in the form of non-clinical roles (alongside seeing patients) if you choose - e.g. management, training roles.
If you do decide to stick with medicine (I don't know what stage you're at) - you can be guided by your grades, your UCAT score, the Alevels or equivalent that you've chosen. It is really really tough to get into.
However if your grades etc are amazing, and you get in - it is possible to work part-time even as a core trainee doctor, and certainly as a higher (specialist) trainee. I just probably wouldn't choose surgery, anaesthetics due to very early starts (meaning it would be more difficult to drop your own children to nursery/school as they won't be open!), and A&E medicine - as even as a consultant you need to be present pretty often at night. Other specialties you can either do on-calls from home, or you can be a specialty doctor or a consultant with no out of hours on-calls. Or a part-time GP who doesn't do out of hours.
Good luck. I think you can make either career work.

Hi lovely! I’ve just been accepted onto a Midwifery degree starting this September, and I remember really struggling at the beginning when deciding between Nursing and Midwifery. I know you’re currently choosing between Midwifery and Medicine, so I thought I’d share everything I’ve found out in case it helps give you a deeper understanding of what Midwifery actually involves. I did a proper deep dive before applying to make sure it was the right path for me, so hopefully this helps if you’re in a similar place.
I got to see what midwives do first-hand when I was pregnant with my son, and it really stuck with me how patient-focused the role is. Continuity of care is a big part of it – often you’re assigned one main midwife who supports you throughout your pregnancy. Midwives help women make informed choices about their care, explain the pros and cons of different options, and create personalised care and birth plans based on each woman’s preferences. So it’s not just about delivering babies – it’s much broader than that.
During labour, midwives are the lead professionals for low-risk births, and even in caesareans or emergency births, they’re still involved. They’re the ones who receive the baby in theatre, check the baby over, and hand them to the mother for that first skin-to-skin contact. After the birth, the midwife also carries out a full NIPE (Neonatal and Infant Physical Examination) to check for any congenital abnormalities and make referrals if needed. In antenatal clinics, midwives can request lab tests and blood work, review results, and make referrals if anything is outside normal ranges. So there’s definitely a clinical aspect to the role too.
The job really breaks down into three main stages – antenatal (where you run consultations, monitor the pregnancy, and plan the birth), intrapartum (supporting the mother through labour and delivering the baby), and postnatal (helping with things like feeding, checking in on the mother’s emotional wellbeing, and making sure she has support once discharged).
You also mentioned that one of the reasons you’re leaning towards Medicine is the ability to specialise – but that definitely exists within Midwifery as well, which not everyone realises. You can specialise in areas like lactation, where you become a breastfeeding support expert, or maternal medicine, where you work with women who have pre-existing conditions like diabetes or pre-eclampsia. There’s fetal medicine, which usually involves advanced ultrasound skills and working with babies who may have abnormalities picked up before birth. There’s obstetric emergency care, which deals with high-risk situations like breech births or haemorrhages. Perinatal mental health is another area, where you support women who are struggling mentally during or after pregnancy. Other specialisms include public health and safeguarding midwives, and even bereavement midwives who support families after a loss. So there are lots of different routes you can go down depending on your interests.
You also said you were worried about the financial side, which I totally understand – that was something I considered too. At the moment, the starting salary for a newly qualified midwife is £29,970 per year, which is basically £30,000. It might not sound like loads compared to a doctor, but it’s well above minimum wage and was always my personal baseline for what I knew I could live on comfortably with my son and partner. That’s Band 5 on the NHS pay scale, and the pay increases every year for five years, eventually reaching £36,483.
Where I live, my local trust offers a 12-month preceptorship programme for newly qualified midwives. This is a year-long support system to help you transition from student to fully independent practitioner, and you’re paid at Band 5 during this time. Once you’ve completed your competencies, you progress into a rotational Band 6 role – working both in the community (doing home visits, consultations, antenatal checks, etc.) and in the hospital (labour ward, triage phone lines, and postnatal wards). Band 6 currently pays between £37,336 and £44,932, which is essentially the same as two full-time minimum wage jobs after 5 years. For me, it’s more than enough to support my family without relying on extra income from my partner. No, you won’t be rich, but if you live within your means and budget sensibly, it’s more than enough to get by and live life without huge financial pressures – including being in a better position to get on the property ladder, afford a yearly holiday, and just have that sense of financial stability that’s so valuable, especially when raising a child.
As a midwife, you’re a healthcare professional in your own right and become an expert in all things related to pregnancy and childbirth. You work more independently than nurses in many situations and have greater responsibility when it comes to clinical decision-making, based on evidence and best practice.
If you’re looking to progress clinically (as opposed to going down the managerial route), you can specialise further and move into Band 7 as a Specialist Midwife (as discussed earlier), this has a pay bracket of £46,148–£52,809. You can also complete a master’s degree in Advanced Clinical Practice to work towards becoming an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in your chosen specialism within your Trust, or eventually work as a Consultant Midwife. Those roles starts at Band 8a, which is £53,755–£60,504. After qualifying, you can also complete an NMC-approved Independent Prescribing course, which allows you to prescribe medications within your role, with or without an MSc – but both would be essential if you want to progress to the advanced practitioner level. This route is more aligned with the kind of clinical work and autonomy you’d get as a doctor that you are looking for, rather than the managerial side of healthcare.
Of course, if you do prefer the managerial side, there are options there too – Charge Midwife, Senior Charge Midwife, Ward Manager – but that path tends to be more focused on running teams, managing rotas, stock ordering, budgeting, and being more hands-off in terms of patient care.
Also just to reassure you – this will be my second degree. My first was in Animal Science, and I’ve worked as a vet care assistant and in veterinary labs. The great thing is that Midwifery is one of the degrees that’s still eligible for full Student Finance funding even as a second degree (provided you’re not already a registered professional), so you don’t need to worry about that being a barrier. And if you’d rather wait a bit before applying and get some work experience or take time to think clearly, that’s okay too – one of the criteria for most universities is academic study within the last five years, so there’s no pressure to rush. You have time and space to make the decision that feels right for you.
Feel free to respond with any questions you may have or just want to chat more about the course or application process – I’m always happy to help!

Honestly thank you so much! This is the response i’ve been looking for, i never knew you could specialise into so many things as a midwife so now i think it is definitely the career choice for me, and as for the income that is the answer i was hoping to receive, im not looking to be rich or anything i just want that stability and like you said being able to climb the property ladder and have a family! I think progressing into the more clinical side is for me aswell to stay being hands on rather than on the managerial side so this has really been an eye opener and secured my choices! I couldn’t thank you enough, and good luck on starting ur degree in september you will smash it, i look forward to hopefully being in the same position next september💗

Hi lovely! I’ve just been accepted onto a Midwifery degree starting this September, and I remember really struggling at the beginning when deciding between Nursing and Midwifery. I know you’re currently choosing between Midwifery and Medicine, so I thought I’d share everything I’ve found out in case it helps give you a deeper understanding of what Midwifery actually involves. I did a proper deep dive before applying to make sure it was the right path for me, so hopefully this helps if you’re in a similar place.
I got to see what midwives do first-hand when I was pregnant with my son, and it really stuck with me how patient-focused the role is. Continuity of care is a big part of it – often you’re assigned one main midwife who supports you throughout your pregnancy. Midwives help women make informed choices about their care, explain the pros and cons of different options, and create personalised care and birth plans based on each woman’s preferences. So it’s not just about delivering babies – it’s much broader than that.
During labour, midwives are the lead professionals for low-risk births, and even in caesareans or emergency births, they’re still involved. They’re the ones who receive the baby in theatre, check the baby over, and hand them to the mother for that first skin-to-skin contact. After the birth, the midwife also carries out a full NIPE (Neonatal and Infant Physical Examination) to check for any congenital abnormalities and make referrals if needed. In antenatal clinics, midwives can request lab tests and blood work, review results, and make referrals if anything is outside normal ranges. So there’s definitely a clinical aspect to the role too.
The job really breaks down into three main stages – antenatal (where you run consultations, monitor the pregnancy, and plan the birth), intrapartum (supporting the mother through labour and delivering the baby), and postnatal (helping with things like feeding, checking in on the mother’s emotional wellbeing, and making sure she has support once discharged).
You also mentioned that one of the reasons you’re leaning towards Medicine is the ability to specialise – but that definitely exists within Midwifery as well, which not everyone realises. You can specialise in areas like lactation, where you become a breastfeeding support expert, or maternal medicine, where you work with women who have pre-existing conditions like diabetes or pre-eclampsia. There’s fetal medicine, which usually involves advanced ultrasound skills and working with babies who may have abnormalities picked up before birth. There’s obstetric emergency care, which deals with high-risk situations like breech births or haemorrhages. Perinatal mental health is another area, where you support women who are struggling mentally during or after pregnancy. Other specialisms include public health and safeguarding midwives, and even bereavement midwives who support families after a loss. So there are lots of different routes you can go down depending on your interests.
You also said you were worried about the financial side, which I totally understand – that was something I considered too. At the moment, the starting salary for a newly qualified midwife is £29,970 per year, which is basically £30,000. It might not sound like loads compared to a doctor, but it’s well above minimum wage and was always my personal baseline for what I knew I could live on comfortably with my son and partner. That’s Band 5 on the NHS pay scale, and the pay increases every year for five years, eventually reaching £36,483.
Where I live, my local trust offers a 12-month preceptorship programme for newly qualified midwives. This is a year-long support system to help you transition from student to fully independent practitioner, and you’re paid at Band 5 during this time. Once you’ve completed your competencies, you progress into a rotational Band 6 role – working both in the community (doing home visits, consultations, antenatal checks, etc.) and in the hospital (labour ward, triage phone lines, and postnatal wards). Band 6 currently pays between £37,336 and £44,932, which is essentially the same as two full-time minimum wage jobs after 5 years. For me, it’s more than enough to support my family without relying on extra income from my partner. No, you won’t be rich, but if you live within your means and budget sensibly, it’s more than enough to get by and live life without huge financial pressures – including being in a better position to get on the property ladder, afford a yearly holiday, and just have that sense of financial stability that’s so valuable, especially when raising a child.
As a midwife, you’re a healthcare professional in your own right and become an expert in all things related to pregnancy and childbirth. You work more independently than nurses in many situations and have greater responsibility when it comes to clinical decision-making, based on evidence and best practice.
If you’re looking to progress clinically (as opposed to going down the managerial route), you can specialise further and move into Band 7 as a Specialist Midwife (as discussed earlier), this has a pay bracket of £46,148–£52,809. You can also complete a master’s degree in Advanced Clinical Practice to work towards becoming an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in your chosen specialism within your Trust, or eventually work as a Consultant Midwife. Those roles starts at Band 8a, which is £53,755–£60,504. After qualifying, you can also complete an NMC-approved Independent Prescribing course, which allows you to prescribe medications within your role, with or without an MSc – but both would be essential if you want to progress to the advanced practitioner level. This route is more aligned with the kind of clinical work and autonomy you’d get as a doctor that you are looking for, rather than the managerial side of healthcare.
Of course, if you do prefer the managerial side, there are options there too – Charge Midwife, Senior Charge Midwife, Ward Manager – but that path tends to be more focused on running teams, managing rotas, stock ordering, budgeting, and being more hands-off in terms of patient care.
Also just to reassure you – this will be my second degree. My first was in Animal Science, and I’ve worked as a vet care assistant and in veterinary labs. The great thing is that Midwifery is one of the degrees that’s still eligible for full Student Finance funding even as a second degree (provided you’re not already a registered professional), so you don’t need to worry about that being a barrier. And if you’d rather wait a bit before applying and get some work experience or take time to think clearly, that’s okay too – one of the criteria for most universities is academic study within the last five years, so there’s no pressure to rush. You have time and space to make the decision that feels right for you.
Feel free to respond with any questions you may have or just want to chat more about the course or application process – I’m always happy to help!

Nursing first followed by the midwife follow on course and you'll be a more effective midwife overall.
The scope/range of pregnancies that occur today mean that a solid nursing background will mean you are better able to manage more complicated pregnancies.
Nursing is hard for a variety of reasons but midwifery is harder and involves a great deal of responsibility very early on.

So you wouldn't recommend becoming a midwife by itself? Nursing first then midwifery?