Midwifery

Midwifery is a profession built on the care of women through one of the most significant experiences of their lives, supporting them through pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period, and ensuring the health and wellbeing of newborns in their first days. It demands clinical expertise, the ability to provide emotionally sensitive and person-centred care, professional judgement, and the capacity to act decisively when complications arise. Edinburgh Napier's midwifery programme combines the science and the art of the profession in a four-year degree that leads to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The programme at Edinburgh Napier places a woman-centred approach at its core, treating the wellbeing and autonomy of the women in your care as the organising principle of practice, alongside a commitment to compassion and professionalism. You will develop a thorough grounding in the physiology of pregnancy, labour, and the postnatal period, in the assessment of maternal and neonatal health, and in the clinical skills required to provide safe and effective care. The programme runs over four years, with practice placements integrated throughout, giving you sustained experience in real midwifery environments under the supervision of qualified practitioners.

Edinburgh Napier's links with NHS Lothian and other Scottish health boards provide a rich range of placement settings.

Qualified midwives work across community, hospital, and birth centre settings, supporting women from early pregnancy through to postnatal discharge. With experience, midwives move into specialist roles in areas such as high-risk obstetrics, infant feeding support, bereavement care, and maternal mental health, as well as into education, research, and management. The profession is valued and in sustained demand across Scotland and the wider UK.