04/09/2023
Our Maternity Services directorate is delighted that four of their midwife support workers have been accepted into the Midwifery Course Degree Programme to follow their dreams of becoming midwives of the future!
Brenda McCabe, Interim Head of Midwifery, Gynaecology and New Born Hearing Screening for the Western Trust said:
“We are absolutely delighted for four of our midwife support workers (Band 3), (two from the South West Acute Hospital and two from Altnagelvin Hospital) who first started in the maternity ward as maternity health care assistant (Band 2)) have been encouraged and supported along with their own aspirations to become midwives. They eagerly applied and have now been accepted into the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Midwifery Course Degree Programme in academic year 2023/24.
“This is a tremendous achievement for these ladies and their colleagues at both South West Acute Hospital and Altnagelvin Hospital are extremely proud of them. Congratulations Colleen, Jade, Gail and Poppy we wish you every success in your midwifery journey.“It shows that alternative routes are available to become a midwife and that the Western Trust will encourage and support staff to reach their full potential to pursue avenues to progress in their career in the Trust. We are committed to developing and nurturing our workforce in maternity and training and retaining staff making the Western Trust a Great Place to Work.”
Midwife Support Worker Colleen Gormley from Ederney and based at the South West Acute Hospital said:
“I have always had a desire to become a midwife, but with having my family young I put University to the back of my mind, working more flexible roles and working an acute role in the Western Trust for 10 years. When a native Ederney lady Ita McAndrews returned to University as a mature student she inspired me to aim to go down the same path. I then worked in Maternity Ward at the South West Acute Hospital and trained as a Midwife Support Worker. I saw the excellent care provided to women and their babies by all the staff and how students at all levels are trained so well and this increased my desire to become a Midwife.
Working in maternity has provided me with extra skills and qualities to prepare for my which I am so excite (and a little nervous) to get started in September 2023!”
Midwife Support Worker Jade Doherty from Omagh and based at the South West Acute Hospital said:
“My decision to study and become a midwife stems from my own personal experience. Having had a successful career in Marketing, I went through a life changing experience in 2017 when my husband and I lost our twins Abel and Ayah. Since then we have welcomed our son Tobias and daughter Emerson. Having experienced pregnancies ending in both loss and life, and having experienced the dedication, compassion and care of the midwives who tended to us, my passion to pursue midwifery as a vocation was born. With serious thought, I made the decision to change my career in 2018.
In order to do this I left my job and started from the ground up. Working as a Carer in the community and subsequently finding employment with the Maternity Ward at the South West Acute Hospital, Enniskillen in 2020. From my time here I have completed training as a Band 3 Midwife Support Worker which has confirmed my desire to become a Midwife.”