TWENTY-two recruits responded when Wye Valley NHS Trust put out its call for midwives a year ago.

Five of those who answered started at Hereford County Hospital this week.

All five passed through the Trust’s new midwifery academy which opened when the call went out.

The academy provides newly qualified and experienced midwives, with specialist advice, support, and continuous training and development.

Rebekah Pitt, a newly qualified midwife who moved from Wales in January to join the  academy, said: “The training offered by the academy is excellent and is definitely helping with my transition from training to working on the maternity ward.  It’s giving me the confidence and practice based learning at a much earlier stage to provide high quality care to women.

“It involves an eighteen month programme of additional training and support, starting with eight weeks rotation of work experience in various areas within maternity. These include the antenatal clinic, maternity ward, maternity triage, special care baby unit, and in the community, which is providing a great insight into the midwifery role”.     
 
Maxine Chong, Head of Midwifery at Wye Valley NHS Trust, said: “We’re delighted to hear that many of our applicants have chosen this Trust because of our comprehensive preceptorship package and the creation of the midwifery academy.

“We’ve also redesigned our interview process to provide a more comprehensive assessment criteria to ensure that we continue to recruit a high calibre of midwives to our midwifery team”.

Every midwife working at the Trust is involved in and supported by the new academy.

The Trust is planning to make further appointments to the midwifery team in the coming months.  For more call Zoe Broad on 01432 355444 ext 5514 or Di Finch on 01432 355444 ext 5828.