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Support women/persons throughout their journey from conception to birth and beyond. Gain in-depth skills and knowledge of pregnancy, labour, birth, and early parenthood. Graduate with the qualifications needed to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a registered midwife.
Midwifery is a rewarding, dynamic, and highly-skilled profession. The role of the midwife is central in ensuring that women/persons have a safe and life-enhancing experience throughout pregnancy, labour, and the first few weeks after birth. As a midwife, you'll also be responsible for making sure newborn infants and families have the best possible start in life.
On the BSc (Hons Midwifery Practice course, you’ll follow a woman/persons-centred approach to maternity care by applying a biopsychosocial model to enrich your practice as a midwife, tackling health inequalities and providing evidence-based practice. This midwifery degree has a focus on mental health within maternity and the role of the midwife in supporting women/persons and families with mental health issues.
Clinical placements will make up 50% of your time on the course, in a range of settings both in and out of hospital, under the supervision of registered practitioners. You'll also have regular contact with our Patient, Carer and Public Involvement (PCPI) participants who all have experience as patients or carers.
On successful completion of the course, you'll be eligible to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a registered midwife. You'll have five years from starting the course to complete and register with the NMC.
Studying on the BSc (Hons) Midwifery Practice course will allow you to learn through a variety of methods including lectures, seminars, group work, clinical skills simulation, online/e-learning, and tutorials.
50% of your time over the duration of the midwifery course will be in a clinical environment, allowing you to directly apply theory to practice. You'll experience a wide variety of clinical settings across midwifery services at any one of our NHS partner Trusts and mental health Trusts (placements are limited so you'll be expected to travel to ensure you gain experience in a wide range of areas). This will give you a taste of what to expect once you qualify as a midwife.
Assessment methods include written essays, examinations, OSCEs, presentations, VIVAs, clinical placements, and the completion of your Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement (MORA).
As the latest addition to our Nursing and Midwifery courses, here, you can explore everything you need to know about the BSc (Hons) Midwifery Practice degree – from the skills you’ll gain to the careers you can look forward to when you graduate.
Find out more about our Midwifery degree
Explore our Living Lab and Helen McArdle House, home to state of the art facilities and equipment for our Nursing, Midwifery, and Paramedic Science students.
Read more about our fantastic facilities
Are you interested in a career as a nurse or midwife but aren’t sure which of our courses is right for you? Find out more about the nursing and midwifery degrees we offer at Sunderland and who they may be suitable for.
Find out which nursing our midwifery course is most suitable for you
We don’t currently display entry requirements for United States. Please contact the Student Admin team on studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk or 0191 515 3154.
Enhanced Project Qualification in a relevant subject will also be considered.
Our admissions policy uses a range of flexible options to support you to study with us. This may include a reduced offer of up to 16 UCAS tariff points, (or equivalent). Find out if you are eligible.
If you already have a degree (minimum 2.2 at full honours) or your qualification is not listed above, you'll be classed as a mature student. Please note, your degree must have been obtained within the last five years for you to be considered eligible to study this course.
Your completed application form will be reviewed by our Admissions team to ensure that you have the required entry qualifications. Your personal statement will then be assessed by our Academic Admissions tutors and, if successful, you'll be shortlisted for interview.
The selection process will include a group activity and four mini-interviews which will assess you on your values, problem solving, and communication skills.
Medical assessments of your mental and physical health and disclosure of criminal convictions apply to all health courses and are based on current NMC requirements. Midwives are registered health care professionals and the ability to practise safely, effectively, and professionally is essential, so all applicants are required to follow our fitness to practise procedures. This means you're required to complete the following:
Instructions on how you complete these checks will be sent to you once you hold a conditional firm offer with us. These forms are then reviewed alongside your application, and you must meet both the academic and fitness to practise requirements before you'll be given an unconditional offer. If yo'ure successful, you'll also need to complete an annual declaration form to confirm you're fit and there are no changes to your DBS.
Annual fees are:
Please note, we're unable to accept international applicants.
A non-repayable grant of £5,000 and extra payments worth up to £3,000 is available to eligible home students for each year of study. Read more about the Training Grant on The NHS Business Services Authority website.
If you currently serve (or have recently served) within the Armed Forces, then the Ministry of Defence's ELCAS scheme may be able to help cover your funding for this course. Read more about funding for Armed Forces personnel.
Take a look at the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.
This information was correct at the time of publication.
A degree in midwifery will make you highly employable, as you'll have the ability to work globally with a qualification that's accepted both nationally and internationally. Job opportunities are flexible, both within the NHS and community settings, and in the UK and overseas.
There were 44,125 midwives on the NMC register in 2024, which was a 5.8% increase on the previous year. The national midwife shortage continues, with the NHS in England short of the equivalent of around 2,500 full-time midwives.
Most midwives are employed by the NHS, working in hospitals, maternity and birthing centres, and in the community. You can also find employment in private hospitals, independent practices and the armed forces. Starting salaries for newly qualified midwives are set at band 5, which starts at £29,970.
As your knowledge and expertise increase, you could move into more senior practitioner roles such as consultant midwife, where you'll have the potential to earn over £50,000 per year. Other leadership roles within the profession include becoming a supervisor of midwives, whose role it is to protect the public and support midwives in their practice. This is a key role that many midwives aspire to. You could also become a team or unit manager, with responsibility for managing other staff with ongoing hands-on involvement with clients. This could then lead to further influential roles such as head of midwifery and director of midwifery services.
You may choose to specialise in a particular area of perinatal care and study for further qualifications, which may involve carrying out research to help move the profession forward.
You could undertake further study to teach midwifery students at a university. If you stay in practice, you could consider the role of consultant midwife, providing clinical leadership for midwives and other healthcare professionals across maternity services. You could also move into neonatal nursing or health visiting.
At all levels of the course, you'll undertake unpaid clinical placements including community midwifery, antenatal and postnatal wards, delivery suite and clinics. These occur in blocks of varying duration.
During placement, you're required to provide care for a certain number of women/persons and babies in specific categories, as required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). These include:
You'll evidence this in the Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement (MORA).
Placements can take place at any of our partner Trusts. As you may be expected to travel long distances, start your shift in the early hours, or finish your shift late at night, you could be entitled to Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) which allows you to make a retrospective claim for excess travel costs and/or expenses for temporary accommodation near to the location of your placement. Find out more about the NHS Learning Support Fund.
With the support on hand at Sunderland, I know I will achieve my dream career.
Going on placement has been amazing, it's exciting to be able to put the evidence into practice.
Sunderland's midwifery facilities and the support of the lecturing team are first-class.
Do I need work experience?
We appreciate that it is not possible to obtain work experience in the health or caring environment. As an alternative we would recommend that you investigate the field you are interested in through online resources, professional body websites and healthcare organisations so you can demonstrate a clear understanding of the role.
What should I include in my personal statement?
Your personal statement provides a unique opportunity to express your personal qualities and attributes related to a rewarding career in midwifery. The statement should include a clear articulation of:
For more advice on your personal statement please read our article on how to write a personal statement when you have no work experience.
What does a midwifery interview involve?
Our interviews will consist of an individual interview and group activity. For advice on how to prepare, please read our article on how to prepare for interviews for healthcare degrees.
How many weeks holiday is there each year?
You will have seven weeks of holiday per year, with two weeks off at Christmas. The remaining five weeks is spread across the rest of the academic year. The timings of the holidays will vary over the three years and we do try, where possible, to align some of these to the school holidays. You are unable to take holiday outside of these set times, but you will be provided with a three year plan on enrolment.
How far will I have to travel for my placements?
You will undertake your placements at any of our partner NHS Trusts. Placements are limited so you will be expected to travel to ensure you gain experience in a wide range of areas. This will allow you to enhance your clinical experience and develop into a midwife with the knowledge and skills needed to be a safe and effective practitioner.
How long are the placement shifts?
Your standard working week will be around 37.5 hours on a shift pattern which can include nights, early starts, evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Shifts can be anywhere between 7-12 hours and the pattern can vary between trusts. Your shifts will be confirmed four weeks prior to starting your placement. It's not possible to fit placements around school hours and holidays.