Midwifery at Birmingham

MSc Midwifery

The course has been developed in partnership with practice partners, service users and advocacy groups in response to a call from Health Education England to train additional midwives to support a workforce shortage in the NHS. The NHS needs more highly skilled midwives to deliver a safe and compassionate service that meets women’s needs, so this is a fantastic opportunity to join a rewarding profession that is very much in need in the region and nationally. 

Our new MSc Midwifery offers currently registered adult nurses a route to a shortened two-year postgraduate programme leading to registration as a midwife. We are also offering a Degree Apprenticeship route.

Health Education England are funding up to 300 students across the country to undertake a shortened midwifery course covering salary and tuition fees. The University of Birmingham’s School of Nursing and Midwifery have 20 of those funded places available. Please contact us at midwiferyadmissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk and we can guide you through the application process and discuss the range of placement providers available to you.

You will study and work alongside researchers, senior experienced academics, clinical midwives and experts in their fields, exploring relevant issues to women, their families and newborns. With a range of world-leading hospitals just on our doorstep, the University of Birmingham is uniquely placed in the West Midlands to offer high-quality, effective placements that help you to translate your learning into practice.

Expertise in Midwifery

We have a number of staff with expertise in midwifery who you will interact with and look forward to growing this team over the coming years:

• Mrs Teresa Shalofsky, Associate Professor in Midwifery, Registered Midwife, Lead Midwife for Education.
• Ms Claire Nutt, Assistant Professor in Midwifery, Registered Midwife, Admissions tutor and Practice Liaison for Midwifery
• Professor Caroline Bradbury-Jones, Professor of Gender Based Violence and Health, Registered Nurse, Midwife and Health Visitor.
• Professor Sara Kenyon, Professor of Evidence Based Maternity Care, Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives.
• Lauren Philp von Woyna, Associate Professor in Midwifery, Registered Midwife, BSc Midwifery Apprenticeship lead
• Louise Aktin, Assistant Professor in Midwifery, Registered Midwife, MSc Midwifery lead
• Professor Julie Taylor, Head of School, Professor in Nursing.

Our maternal health research

Maternal health expertise isn’t new to the University. In fact, we’ve been providing research in this field for many years.

Our research centres include the WHO Collaborating Centre for Global Women’s Health, the Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, and Maternal and Child Health, and we are developing, testing and implementing solutions to save women’s lives across the world by improving their standards of care during pregnancy and childbirth. Find out more about our research. 

A proud history

The University of Birmingham has a proud history of pushing for positive changes in the care for women and babies during pregnancy and childbirth.

In 1943 Sir Leonard Gregory Parsons (then Dean of the Medical Faculty at Birmingham, and member of the GMC, as Councillor of the Royal College of Physicians and as medical officer for the Ministry of Health for the Midland Region) lamented the loss of 43,000 neonatal lives each year in the UK, mainly as a result of asphyxia, birth injury, prematurity and infections. He deplored the general neglect of life by British paediatricians and emphasised the fact that the mother and baby formed a biological unit whose interests should never be separated. Two years later, in 1945, Parsons wrote in the foreword to Dr Victoria Mary Crosse’s Prematurity: “This book, which is unique in British literature, will prove invaluable to obstetricians, paediatricians, general practitioners and nurses, and if the advice given by Dr. Crosse is put into practice on anything like a considerable scale the long overdue reduction in neonatal mortality will have begun.” In memory of him, the Chair of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University is named after him.

Dr Dame Hilda Nora Lloyd was the first woman to be elected as president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1949 and in doing so, became the first female president of any UK medical royal college. After studying for her initial MBChB degree with us, she also started her academic career at the University of Birmingham as a resident in obstetrics and gynaecology. Dame Hilda Lloyd pioneered the obstetrical ‘flying squad’ which were crucial in saving the lives of mothers and babies, particularly in deprived areas of Birmingham where she was particularly concerned with STDs and illegal abortions. She also founded the Women’s Visiting Gynaecological Club, which encouraged women to enter the speciality and provided support and mentorship to encourage new female clinicians. The Dame Hilda Lloyd Network is run from the University in her honour.