Making Britain Work
Making Britain Work

Innovative Midwifery Postgraduate diploma in partnership with NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles and NHS Orkney

24 Apr 2019

The University of the Highlands and Islands has welcomed its first cohort of students onto an innovative new midwifery course. Nineteen students gathered at the Centre for Health Science in Inverness to begin the shortened midwifery programme.
 
The postgraduate diploma has been developed in partnership with NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles and NHS Orkney. It will enable registered nurses to become fully qualified midwives in 20 months, helping to meet the needs of communities across the north of Scotland.
 
The course will have an emphasis on providing care in a remote and rural context. Students will learn through a combination of face-to-face classes at the Centre for Health Science, online study via the university’s virtual learning environment and placements with NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Orkney and NHS Grampian in urban, remote and rural island-practice areas.
 
The Scottish Government is providing funding to cover the students’ tuition fees, offering bursaries and, together with NHS boards, funding the salary costs of existing employees undertaking the course.
 
Professor Crichton Lang, University of the Highlands and Islands Deputy Principal and Head of its School of Health, Social Care and Life Sciences, said: “We are delighted that all of the development work to establish this programme has now come to fruition in this first cohort of trainee midwives beginning their studies. We wish them every success.”