Midwifery — Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti

Commitment to your education

Whether you are a student or an experienced midwife, we are committed to supporting education options for you.

Wellington Regional Hospital and Hutt Hospital are both teaching hospitals for midwives, nurses and doctors.

Wellington Regional Hospital houses the University of Otago Medical School and Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University Midwifery School on campus. Our hospitals have close relationships with these schools, as well as Te Pūkenga | Otago Polytechnic School of Midwifery's satellite programme.

Our maternity units are lively with midwifery and medical undergraduates, and we are very supportive of postgraduate studies.

For graduate midwives, a 54-week comprehensive first year of practice programme is offered at both Wellington Regional Hospital and Hutt Hospital for eligible new practitioners who want to experience the full scope of midwifery in a supportive environment.

In-house, there are dedicated midwifery educators and midwifery clinical coaches. These teams make sure our staff are confident working across the scope of practice and are up-to-date with the latest practices.

Midwifery educators facilitate all education requirements mandated by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora and the New Zealand Midwifery Council for staff and lead maternity carers. We also support and facilitate optional education and professional development opportunities for our midwives.

If you are interested in attending a midwifery education day, apply through:

• ConnectMe (external link) — for Wellington
• Ko Awatea (external link) — for Hutt

Some of these education days are also accessible to healthcare providers from outside the region. Contact our midwifery education team if you would like to apply:

• email midwifeeducators@ccdhb.org.nz — for Wellington
• Ko Awatea (external link) — for Hutt

Each person offered a position on the graduate midwifery programme will be supported to participate in the Midwifery First Year of Practice (MFYP) programme. You are welcome to apply in your final year of undergraduate study.

Our comprehensive 54-week programme is tailored to provide you with a well-rounded experience. You will work 8-hour shifts on a rostered and rotating basis, with a workload equivalent to 0.8 full-time employment.

Our Programme allows you to strike a balance between your clinical responsibilities, commitments to the Midwifery First Year of Practice (MFYP), and personal life.

At the end of this 54-week programme you will:

• have the opportunity to change your working or rostered hours while retaining your permanent contract
• submit your portfolio for the quality and leadership programme.

Throughout the programme you will consolidate your midwifery knowledge and practical skills within a supportive environment across all of our maternity services.

The midwifery first year of practice programme is a compulsory, national programme for all New Zealand registered midwifery graduates, irrespective of workplace setting.

All our graduate midwives rotate throughout the maternity services across our campuses.

Wellington

The Wellington programme consists of:

• two-week non-clinical period of orientation to the hospital and Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora region, as well as the Women's Health Service
• community midwifery team — one-week supernumerary placement, with one day spent with the community breastfeeding team
• women's clinics — one-week supernumerary placement in the acute assessment unit, diabetic clinic and maternal fetal medicine
• Kenepuru primary birthing facility — 2-week placement, working alongside the core midwife
• antenatal pod — one-week supernumerary placement, followed by an 8-week clinical placement
• postnatal — one-week supernumerary placement, followed by a 16-week clinical placement
• birthing suite — 4-week supernumerary placement, followed by a 20-week clinical placement.

Hutt

• two-week non-clinical period of orientation to the hospital and Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora region, as well as Hutt maternity services
• birthing suite — 4-week supernumerary placement
• maternity ward — 2-week supernumerary placement
• community midwifery team — one-week supernumerary placement
• maternity assessment unit and early pregnancy clinic — one-week supernumerary placement
• outpatient antenatal clinic (including diabetic clinic) — one-week supernumerary placement
• theatre midwifery team — one-week supernumerary placement
• 12 weeks to consolidate skills with clinical coach support in the birthing suite
• 12 weeks to consolidate skills with clinical coach support in the maternity ward.

A clinical midwife educator is responsible for organising and facilitating the graduate midwifery programme. Each clinical area has experienced midwives who will be assigned to support the graduate midwife during her initial orientation period and during each rotation, and will continue to support the graduate in their day-to-day practice.

How we can support the start of your career

Our programmes are designed to build upon the knowledge and experience you gained during your university education. We strive to provide a strong, supportive, and sustainable start to your midwifery career.

Across the district, we provide:

• regular check-ins and guidance from midwife educators and clinical coaches
• graduate interface days, where you can connect with fellow new grads, including lead maternity carers, to share knowledge and skills across the region
• midwifery education opportunities, such as cultural and equity study days, midwifery emergency skills, fetal surveillance, breastfeeding, suturing, and epidural workshops, to fulfil your MFYP and Midwifery Council requirements.
• ongoing midwifery forums dedicated to midwifery practice, educational multidisciplinary meetings (including perinatal mortality reviews), research presentations, micro-teaching sessions and discussions on current topics of interest.

We have supportive teams who nurture our new graduates and each other.

Our obstetric teams are respectful and collaborative. We all work alongside our LMC colleagues and endeavour to provide the best care for whānau.

We are also well supported by our amazing clinical coaches, lactation consultants, social workers, hearing screeners, administrators and a variety of other health professionals.

We work closely with our busy neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), special care baby unit (SCBU) and gynaecology areas.

The teams across our district are here to provide excellent care to whānau and to embrace the diversity and culture of our communities.

More information about the programme is on the New Zealand College of Midwives website.

Midwifery First Year of Practice (MFYP) — New Zealand College of Midwives (external link)

Meeting your Midwifery Council requirements is easy as we offer regular midwifery education, including:

• midwifery emergency skills refresher day
• fetal surveillance education programme
• breastfeeding
• epidural workshop
• violence intervention programme.

Other opportunities include:

• joining our midwifery forums dedicated to practice and resilience
• educational multidisciplinary meetings such as reviews, research presentations and current topics of interest
• attending micro-teaching throughout the year.

We work closely with:

• University of Otago
• Victoria University of Wellington
• Otago Polytechnic.

Education in our clinical areas is further enabled by our:

• midwifery educators
• clinical coaches
• clinical midwife managers.

Support is always available.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora encourages health professionals to consider midwifery as a great career choice.

Otago Polytechnic and ARA Polytechnic have been approved to provide a shortened course for those with an existing health degree wanting to become midwives.

Registered nurses are required to complete 2 specific topics, and other health professionals 3. Then you can join midwifery students at the start of their second year to progress with this exciting career change.

To discuss recognition of prior learning:

• email carolyn.coles@ccdhb.org.nz
• phone 027 836 0294

The Neurobirth Podcast is a 7-episode limited series about the childbearing journey, from preconception through to the early weeks of parenting, through the lenses of ADHD and autism.

It was commissioned by Carolyn Stobbs on behalf of Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora in 2023 to bring research, evidence-based practice, and lived experience of pregnancy, ADHD, and autism to a wide-reaching audience in an audio format.

Hosts Bronwyn Rideout and Amy Taylor are neurodivergent midwives in Aotearoa New Zealand who work in different sectors of the maternity system: Amy in the community as a lead maternity carer and Bronwyn at a tertiary hospital as a core/hospital midwife. They were approached to produce the podcast due to the impact of their venture with Hutt Maternity and the Wellington branch of the New Zealand College of Midwives, the Neurodiversity in Pregnancy, Birth, and Early Parenting Workshop.

Each episode of the Neurobirth Podcast focuses on different topics about pregnancy and how neurodivergent traits and behaviours may present and impact perinatal care.

Topics

• Episode 1: Neurodiversity 101 — What is neurodiversity?, what it means to be neurodivergent, intersectionality, and who is missing out on timely diagnosis?
• Episodes 2 & 3: The senses — A 2-parter which covers sensory processing, hypo- and hypersensitivity, stemming, and controversies around weighted blankets and fidget toys.
• Episode 4: Communication — Tips on improving communication between healthcare providers and neurodivergent consumers, spoon theory, the double empathy problem.
• Episode 5: General/preconception health — What current research says about health outcomes for autistics and ADHDers and its implications for perinatal care.
• Episode 6: Antenatal, labour, and birth — What does research tell us and where are the gaps?
• Episode 7: Postnatal and early parenting — Mental health, infant feeding, adjusting to parenting, and contraception.

Continuing education requirements

You can claim time spent listening and reflecting on the podcast as part of your continuing education requirements for the Midwifery Council's recertification programme.

Episodes — The Neurobirth Podcast (external link)

Midwifery Council education certificates — The Neurobirth Podcast (external link)

Our quality and leadership programme (QLP) is a professional development pathway that exists within midwifery.

It is aimed at assisting and supporting midwives to further develop their knowledge and skills and promote quality care for women/people and babies.

The QLP also provides a mechanism to acknowledge, value and encourage the professional development of midwives, and recognise the additional roles many undertake.

We strongly support QLP progression and would like to invite you to apply. If you need assistance in preparing your portfolio, just ask.

Successful entry onto the QLP carries a financial reward that is dependent on the domain achieved and your contracted FTE.

Currently, a confident midwife is eligible for an additional $3,000 pro rata per annum, while a midwife on the leadership domain is eligible for an extra $4,500 pro rata per annum. These allowances are paid fortnightly pro rata based on full-time equivalent (FTE) worked and apply as long as the midwife maintains that level of the QLP. These allowances are discontinued if the domain is not maintained.

Portfolio re-submission is required every 3 years, but should you wish to progress from the confident to leadership domain there is no need to delay. The application process is easy, so contact your team today for help.

There is no requirement for midwives working in senior roles to be on the QLP.

QLP professional development leave

• Senior midwives — 10 study days
• Leadership — 10 study days
• Confident — 5 study days
• Competent — 4 study days

Confident study day allowance includes one day for activities to support portfolio progression or maintenance. Leadership study day allowance includes 2 days for activities to support portfolio progression or maintenance.

Leave is pro rata based on FTE worked as long as the employee maintains that level of QLP.

Example: a midwife on the confident domain is entitled to 5 study days (40 hours) if working full time. If the midwife is working 0.6 FTE then 40 hours at 0.6 FTE is 24 hours per annum.

Pro-rata to no less than 8 hours per calendar year for part-time employees. Entitlement is from date of entry or progression onto the QLP.

Quality and Leadership Programme — MERAS (external link)

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