BSc (Hons) Midwifery

Why study this subject?

Did you know? There were 625,008 live births in England and Wales in 2021, an increase from 2020 (Office for National Statistics).

There is huge demand for midwives in hospitals around the country. Each birth is a unique experience for mother and baby, but midwifery is about so much more than just delivering babies. It is about the professional care of mothers – before, during, and after the birth of their child - helping to keep them safe and comfortable during this intimate and life-changing experience.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

A degree in Midwifery at BNU will help you become a competent, confident and compassionate midwife able to provide sensitive and person-centred care.

Designed in collaboration with practice partners, service users and the University, our degree focuses on:

• continuum of care
• optimising physiological processes
• supporting safe physical, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual situations
• working to promote positive outcomes and to anticipate and prevent complications.

You’ll either be based at our Aylesbury Campus, in Buckinghamshire, or at our Uxbridge Campus, in West London. You’ll  benefit from a mix of on-campus and distance teaching as well as local placements.

Our experienced and supportive lecturers are passionate about midwifery and maintain close links with practice, ensuring that the programme is always kept up-to-date. In addition, guest speakers will deliver sessions, so you can benefit from their specific experiences,  expertise, and insights.

At BNU, we recognise roles in this field are hands-on – that’s why you’ll take part in simulated learning experiences throughout the course using our specialised facilities. This will enable you to recreate authentic scenarios and practise your skills in a safe environment.

Opportunity modules are a part of the BNU curriculum for many of our courses. On our BSc (Hons) in Midwifery, opportunity modules are optional. Whilst you can gain credits for each opportunity module, these will not count towards your final degree award. You can choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

As a BNU student, you will automatically become a member of Bucks Students’ Union giving you access to a wide range of services that we offer for free. You’ll also be able to join the Midwifery Society where you’ll have the ability to attend a variety of extra-curricular activities and events.

Midwifery placements

Half of your time on the course will be spent on a clinical placement with local trusts across a wide range of maternity services. Our students are highly respected whilst out in practice.

The NHS Trust we are currently working with for clinical placements include:

• Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS trust
• Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (Wexham Park and Frimley Park)
• Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
• Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

What facilities can I use?

At both our Uxbridge and Aylesbury campuses, we have impressive facilities with state-of-the-art equipment. You’ll get to recreate real scenarios in realistic ‘wards’ so when you’re out on placement you’ll be familiar with your surroundings and be confident in your midwifery skills.

With our simulation facilities, you’ll be able to learn and practice with equipment that is as close to the real thing as possible, enabling you to build your skills and knowledge in a safe environment.

Our equipment is replicated exactly on both sites, ensuring that all students get the same opportunities, and occasionally will come together for vital shared learning experiences.

What will I study?

At BNU, you will gain the skills and knowledge that will help you to provide effective, evidence-based and individualised care as a qualified midwife.

Throughout this programme you will develop an understanding of pregnancy, labour, birth and the postpartum period on the early weeks of life and the longer-term health and well-being of society.

Throughout the degree, you’ll develop your skills to build effective relationships, working in partnership with women and their families to:

• provide safe and compassionate maternity care
• demonstrate sensitive and systematic knowledge
• show a detailed understanding of the physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual factors that may affect the maternity journey.

You will also gain the skills to support all aspects of infant feeding and understand the long-term implications on infant development, and the wider health of society.

On successful completion of this degree, you will also be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the processes, resources and policies influencing organisational change, within healthcare, utilising developments in digital health technology.

As a qualified midwife, you will also be able to promote, protect and advocate for the public health needs of women, newborns and their families, using evidence-based practice to mitigate against health and social inequalities.

How will I be taught and assessed?

At BNU, we utilise a variety of blended learning and teaching methods including:

• seminar-based teaching
• lectures
• authentic scenarios and case studies
• presentations
• online learning resources
• peer learning
• reflection
• role modelling
• simulation.

To complement the academic sessions on campus, you are required to undertake independent study which will include further reading, utilising the University Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard™), professional websites, academic databases, and library resources.  

Simulation, utilising our impressive facilities, will help build your expertise and develop the behaviours you’ll need in your future career as a midwife. It will incorporate the use of high and low fidelity simulation for a fully-immersive training environment. Within this learning environment, real-time evolving clinical situations can be simulated, repeated and evaluated using reflection and debriefing. This will help build your confidence as well as develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills with the potential to gain proficiency in essential midwifery skills.

The simulation areas are equipped to a high standard, offering a range of equipment that is endorsed by PROMPT™, in line with local trust partner training requirements. The essential element of de-brief in simulation is undisputed; audio/visual technology (smots™/CCTV) is available and widely used by the teaching teams to enhance feedback to students.

You will benefit from theory and placement blocks, so you can apply, and reflect, on clinical practice within your academic studies. In your first year, there will be more of a focus on the theory elements to help build your confidence. As you progress to your second year, there is more of a balance theory/practice split. In your final year, there is more of a focus on clinical placement to help develop you for autonomous practice and your future career as a midwife.

As midwifery professionals and educators, staff within the School of Nursing & Midwifery bring a wealth of clinical expertise and research activity. In addition to our experienced and supportive teaching team, field specific/interprofessional academics and specialist guest speakers will also deliver tailored sessions. This will allow you to benefit from their experiences, expertise, insights and perspectives. There will also be opportunity to have shared learning with other healthcare students throughout the programme.

You will be supported every step of your journey towards becoming a proficient and caring midwife. There’s a range of support services you can access across the University. You’ll also be able to turn to personal tutors, module leaders and course leaders for advice and guidance. In practice, you will remain supported by personal tutors and course leaders, in addition to practice supervisors, practice assessors and academic assessors. Additionally, in practice, you are supported through practice visitor activities.

We’ve ensured that the assessments are varied and relevant to the practical elements of the course and your future profession, and include:

• essays/written assessments
• OSCE’s (Observed structured Clinical Examinations’)
• VIVA’s (Voiced Examination)
• presentations
• digital video uploads
• case study.

In your practice placements, you are assessed using the NMC approved national practice document, the MORA (Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement), by Practice assessors, who are appropriately trained registered midwives.