Will the Minister outline what steps the Welsh Government has taken to strengthen midwifery leadership in education and research?

Answered by Minister for Health and Social Services | Answered on 10/12/2019

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is introducing new midwifery education standards to underpin the pre-registration programmes that will replace the existing UK programmes from 2021/22 academic year. The new standards have a greater emphasis on midwives developing research skills and on having evidence based research to underpin their clinical practice. Each of the approved higher education institutions that provide the midwifery programme have a range of experienced midwifery academic staff and there are a number of professors on midwifery employed in Wales. Cardiff University is the only dedicated World Health Organization collaborating centre on midwifery education and practice in the Northern Hemisphere.

For qualified midwives, the Welsh Government has strengthened midwifery practice by the introduction of employer-led clinical supervision. All midwives in NHS Wales have dedicated midwifery supervision support, offered on a one to one and group discussion basis. This ensures that evidence based practice and reflection are utilised to drive improvements in care. The Welsh Government currently provides £40,000 per annum to offer training for the supervisors to fulfil this role. In the current financial year, the Welsh Government has funded midwives nominated by health boards to undertake a Kings Fund leadership course to support their clinical supervision role.

The Welsh Government will by providing financial support to enable midwives who have been successful in their submissions to attend and present at the triennial International Confederation of Midwives Congress in 2020. This will provide them with the opportunity to showcase achievements from Wales as well as learn from other international experiences