BSc (Hons) Midwifery (Pre-registration)
Course Overview
The University of Bolton's NMC-approved pre-registration BSc (Hons) Midwifery degree, offered in partnership with local NHS Foundation Trusts, offers you the skills and knowledge to support expectant mothers through pregnancy and childbirth. There is a shortage of qualified midwives in the UK, so career opportunities are excellent.You'll spend 50% of your time in midwifery practice learning experience at our partner trusts. The rest of your studies will be based at the University, increasing your theoretical understanding and practical knowledge to complement and enhance your learning in the workplace. We'll support you as you learn to care for women and their babies during the antenatal, perinatal and postnatal phases of the pregnancy and childbirth continuum, respecting their individual needs and choices, their cultural, social and religious backgrounds, and also taking into account the needs of their families and carers. We'll work to prepare you to lead their care in a wide range of settings in the community and hospitals, and help you to gain expertise in health promotion and teaching parenting classes.
Together with our partner trusts, we'll work to prepare you to become a confident, professional midwife, able to navigate, deliver and lead the care of women and their babies within the ever-changing health and social care environment. On successful completion of the midwifery qualification, you'll possess the knowledge and skills you need to perform as an autonomous, highly competent, compassionate midwife who can be trusted to maintain professional standards and assure the protection of women, babies and their families and carers.
Highlights
- The University of Bolton's BSc (Hons) Midwifery (Pre-registration) course is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Once you've successfully completed this degree, you'll be eligible to register as a qualified midwife.
- After successfully completing and gaining the midwifery qualification, you'll be given the opportunity to apply for a Band 5 Midwifery post within our partner NHS Foundation Trust community.
- Your practice learning experience may be in a range of hospital and community environments within our partner NHS Foundation Trusts. Our partner trusts offer practice learning experience in a range of settings, such as home births, alongside midwifery-led birth suites and stand-alone birth centres, providing continuity of care and caseloading opportunities.
- Our expert team deliver teaching across the University's sites, which includes the modern state-of-the-art facilities in Bolton One. We currently have four clinical skills suites and plan to expand this provision further across the University's sites. We take a blended learning approach using a range of different teaching and learning methods, including lectures, seminars, problem/enquiry-based learning, e-learning, and peer learning and assessment. Clinical skills and simulated learning are also embedded throughout the programme.
- We’ll provide you with your midwifery uniform for use during your practice learning experience.
Key Features
- We'll work to enable you to learn an extensive range of midwifery skills and techniques so that you can care effectively for women and babies in a variety of healthcare environments throughout the pregnancy and childbirth continuum. Our ambition is for you to become a midwife leader of the future.
- You'll gain first-hand work experience and have the opportunity to develop an invaluable network of professional contacts during your extensive time (50%) gaining practice learning experience.
- The theory elements of the course are delivered at the University of Bolton by professional expert academic tutors from a wide range of clinical and academic backgrounds.
- Qualified healthcare practitioners contribute to many of the modules and are invited as guest speakers so that you have the opportunity to learn from their first-hand examples of current practice.
- We also work to help you appreciate the views of midwifery service users and carers by involving them throughout the course.
- By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Nearby Manchester is one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, and the Northwest of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline, and heritage.
Entry Requirements
- Please note that this course is only available to Home students.
- Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3. Health and social care and biology-related subjects are preferred.
- You must also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English, Mathematics and, preferably, Science. Please contact us for a list of acceptable GCSE equivalents.
- Qualifications gained outside England and Wales will be assessed on an individual basis according to guidance by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
- You'll be asked to attend an interview if your application is successfully short-listed. The interview process will involve face-to-face interviews with academic staff, practice staff and service users. You'll also be assessed on your values, behaviours, communication and problem-solving skills, and undertake a numeracy and literacy assessment. We're seeking students who can demonstrate commitment to a midwifery career, who have excellent communication skills and who are caring, compassionate and courageous.
- If successful at the interview stage, you'll be asked to undergo occupational health screening and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
- You'll be required to satisfactorily pass occupational health screening.
- You'll need to demonstrate that you are of good health and good character prior to enrolment and on an ongoing basis throughout your studies and career.
- This course involves working unsupervised with children and/or vulnerable young people and adults and you must gain an Enhanced Disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) before starting your studies. Charges are payable to cover the cost of the DBS Enhanced Disclosure application and annual registration with the online Update Service.
- If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
- Please note that this course is subject to the University's Fitness to Practise procedure.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
The role of a midwife is diverse and varied. A midwife is usually the main point of contact for the woman and her family during her pregnancy, throughout labour and the period following the birth. Midwives also work with a wide range of health and social care professionals to support mothers and babies and navigate, develop, assess and evaluate individual programmes of care.
This course will support you in developing skills in team working and decision-making, as well as enhance your ability to communicate well and clearly with a diverse group of individuals and manage difficult and stressful situations. As a graduate, you'll also have good observational skills and emotional intelligence, be able to use your initiative and manage your time effectively.
What can I do with this qualification?
Progression could take the form of midwifery leadership or managerial positions. Specialisations are also available in areas such as teenage pregnancy, parent education, infant feeding, mental health, substance misuse, and bereavement counselling and support. Alternatively, you could take on a role in academia and move into the field of midwifery education or research, or take the opportunity to work abroad, exploring midwifery in a global context.
Alternative career options
Graduates can use this qualification as a stepping-stone into many other careers. Some of these roles may require relevant experience and/or postgraduate study. The knowledge and skills you'll develop on this programme will underpin a number of alternative career opportunities, including:
- Public health
- Health promotion
- Management/leadership
- Teaching and education
- Clinical research
- Overseas aid and development
- Fertility and family planning
- Voluntary organisations
- Counselling and bereavement support
- Mental health
- Teenage pregnancy
- Midwifery consultancy
Professional Recognition
The University of Bolton's BSc (Hons) Midwifery (Pre-registration) degree is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
On successfully completing the degree, you'll be eligible to apply for professional registration with the NMC.
Fees & Funding
Healthcare students starting and continuing their course from 1 September 2020 onwards can apply for additional funding support from the NHS Learning Support Fund. Please visit NHS Learning Support Fund web page for details.
Home/EU Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
Bursaries
Important note regarding tuition fees: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
How to apply
Home Applicants
Course application details are unavailable at present
International Applicants
Course application details are unavailable at present
Partner Organisation Applicants
Option currently unavailable.
Teaching & Assessment
Modern healthcare professionals require a range of skills and values. Our practice partners and tutors will help you to gain experience in a range of midwifery care scenarios designed to develop your skills in a safe and supportive environment.
Your studies will be split with 50% dedicated to theory and 50% committed to practice learning experience at our partner NHS Foundation Trusts (please note, considerable travelling may be required). As you progress through the course, we'll guide and encourage you to draw on your practice learning experience while studying theory and apply the theory you've learned to your practice so you can understand how the two complement each other.
The course explores contemporary concepts and approaches to midwifery care throughout the pregnancy and childbirth continuum. You'll learn about the structure and function of the human body, dysfunction, pathophysiology, immunology and microbiology, focusing particularly on the anatomy and physiology of reproduction and fertility and the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on the body's systems.
Our expert team will support you in learning about acute and long-term physical and mental health conditions and their impact on pregnancy (and vice versa), as well as pharmacology and the therapeutic effects of major drug groups on the body. To become an expert on pregnancy and childbirth, you'll need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the emotional, physical and psychological processes of pregnancy and birth. We'll encourage you to gain knowledge of counselling techniques so you can offer effective support and advice in cases of stillbirth, miscarriage, termination, neonatal death and neonatal abnormalities. We'll help you to develop multi-agency and collaborative working skills, and emphasise the importance of safeguarding. Topics such as assessment, care planning, law, ethics, health policy, and the importance of communication with service users, healthcare colleagues and professionals from other agencies are covered. You'll have the opportunity to learn about the importance of research and how its application in healthcare can transform outcomes for women, newborn infants and families, how to access and assess the latest research, and how to incorporate your findings into care plans and intervention strategies.
We'll work to help you gain key transferable skills, including the ability to work independently, adapt to changing circumstances, work in teams and groups, and listen and respond to service users from a diverse population. You'll also be encouraged to develop planning and time management, rational decision-making, critical thinking, physical assessment and communication skills during your studies. We aim for you to develop into a midwife who understands and appreciates the needs of women, babies and their families and carers, who is compassionate, kind and empathetic, and who respects and supports the woman's privacy, dignity and individuality.
For theory-based modules, we use a blended approach that includes lectures, presentations, simulations delivered by tutors, seminar discussions, small group workshops, small group and one-to-one tutorials, virtual learning environments (VLE) and e-learning packages. You'll also need to undertake a significant amount of personal study, including general background reading, preparing for seminar activities, working on assignments and revising for examinations.
To help support your learning, the University also offers additional study skills sessions, such as essay writing, library skills and electronic searching, and numeracy.
We use a range of assessment methods, including written essays, reflections, workbooks and reports, time-constrained written exams, drug calculation exams, skills exams, oral viva presentations, posters and seminar presentations. The assessment of practice and theory are equally weighted in their contribution to the degree award as a whole.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Mandatory Training and Preparation for HE4 Placement
- The Midwife as a Professional and Scholar I
- Physiological Principles of Maternity Care I
- Public Health and Universal Access to Care I
- Effective Midwifery Care and the Skilled Practitioner I
- Mandatory Training and Preparation for HE5 Placement
- The Midwife as a Professional and Scholar II
- Physiological Principles of Maternity Care II
- Public Health and Universal Access to Care II
- Effective Midwifery Care and the Skilled Practitioner II
- Mandatory Training and Preparation for HE6 Placement
- The Midwife as a Professional and Scholar III
- Physiological Principles of Maternity Care III
- Public Health and Universal Access to Care III
- Effective Midwifery Care and the Skilled Practitioner III
Assessment methods
| Level | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Coursework 50% Practical exams 40% Written exams 10% |
| Level 2 | Coursework 40% Practical exams 30% Written exams 30% |
| Level 3 | Coursework 70% Practical exams 15% Written exams 15% |
Learning Activities
| Level | Activity |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Guided independent study 35% Placement/study abroad 30% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 35% |
| Level 2 | Guided independent study 36% Placement/study abroad 32% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 32% |
| Level 3 | Guided independent study 28% Placement/study abroad 44% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 28% |
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
