Regulating the midwives of today and the future
As the professional regulator of midwives, we support midwives to deliver safe and effective midwifery care through our regulatory processes.
Practising as a midwife in the UK outlines our approach to the regulation of midwives. It brings together in one place all of the information for midwives, women and families, and anyone else with an interest in midwifery in the UK.
The Future Midwife standards are our bespoke education and proficiency standards that set the foundations for midwives’ education. They establish what we expect a new midwife to know, understand and be capable of doing, at the start of their career.
Our standards sit alongside the Code, which outlines the standards of behaviour and conduct expected of professionals on our register, and our standards for revalidation, which promote lifelong learning.
Revalidation helps make sure midwives keep up to date, and continue to develop their midwifery knowledge and expertise, to maintain excellent standards of practice.
What you can expect from your midwife
It's important that everyone feels confident about the care they can expect from the midwives on our register.
We've introduced new standards for midwifery in the UK, supporting them to deliver safe, effective, and kind care now and in the future. As a result, our midwives are at the forefront of improving people's health and wellbeing.
We've made a short animation to help you understand what you can expect from your midwife.
Midwifery as a protected function and title
Midwifery is a protected function in the UK, meaning it's a criminal offence for any person other than a registered midwife, or a registered medical practitioner, to attend on a woman in childbirth (except in emergencies or when in training as a student midwife or medical student).
It's also a criminal offence for someone to falsely represent themselves as being on our register and use the protected title of ‘Midwife’, or falsely represent themselves as possessing midwifery qualifications.
Our midwifery plan
We want to support midwives to deliver the best and safest care possible, and to use our influence with others who can make changes to support midwives. We can do all of these things better by ensuring the voice of midwifery is heard in every part of the NMC.
Our vision for midwifery is safe, effective and kind midwifery practice that improves the health and wellbeing of mothers, babies and their families.
Our values
- we are fair
- we are kind
- we collaborate
- we are ambitious
We want to reflect these values in all of our work with and for midwives.
Foundations of our midwifery work
To deliver our vision, we need to be strategic, responsive, and proactive, ensuring the specific needs of the midwifery profession are articulated and visible in all our work as a regulator.
We’re focused on strengthening and reinforcing a consistent approach to midwifery across all of our activities.
NMC Council
Justine Craig is a Midwife and a member of our Council. Both our Council Associates, Tracey MacCormack and Dr Gloria Rowland, are also Midwives.
The Midwifery Panel
Our Midwifery Panel plays an important role in providing advice to the Council. It meets four times a year and the discussions and debates inform Council decisions in relation to midwifery.
The midwifery unit
Two full time senior midwifery advisers provide advice and guidance across to all of our colleagues in the NMC. This ensures that the midwifery voice is considered in all aspects of our operational work.
They also collaborate with midwifery stakeholders outside the NMC – including the Royal College of Midwives – to ensure we collaborate on policies that will impact on women and families.
To get in touch with the midwifery unit, please get in touch.
Midwifery education
Lead midwives for education (LMEs) are employed by approved education institutions (AEIs) that provide pre-registration midwifery programmes.
We hold two meetings a year with the Lead Midwives for Education Strategic Reference Group (LMESRG) to discuss topics around midwifery education. Those conversations inform our work around the standards and quality assurance.
Communicating with midwives
Our quarterly newsletter highlights what we’re doing to support you, and features midwives from across the UK.
