Midwifery and the ONMSD
The term midwife means with woman. Midwives recognise pregnancy, labour, birth and the postnatal period as a healthy and profound experience in women’s lives.
Midwives work in partnership with women to support the mother and her baby.
Midwifery protects and enhances the health of women and babies. This protects and enhances the health and wellbeing of society.
Role of National Lead for Midwifery ONMSD
The ONMSD National Lead for Midwifery is responsible for:
- Provision of midwifery expert leadership, guidance and support to the Office of Nursing & Midwifery Services Director and working collaboratively with the National Women and Infants Programme in the implementation of the National Maternity Strategy
- Providing leadership necessary to ensure that maternity services are high quality, evidence-based and woman-centred
- Provides the ONMSD, the National Women and Infants Health Programme Office and the HSE with expert leadership, guidance and support in the context of the delivery of evidence based midwifery care to women and their families
- The National Lead for Midwifery has as a guiding focus a philosophy that provides for individualised and family-centred maternity care, with a strong emphasis on skilled, sensitive, evidence-based and respectful midwifery care
Education programmes for midwives
These short and long midwifery education programmes are available to inform your clinical practice and progress your career:
- Professional Certificate Examination of the Newborn
- International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners
- PROMPT Maternity UK
- American Academy of Paediatrics Neonatal Resuscitation Programme
- The S.T.A.B.L.E. programme
- Midwife Medicinal Product Prescribing
- Perinatal Mental Health for Midwives, Practice Nurses and Public Health Nurses
- Supporting Breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding Challenges
Ask your line manager and your Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Education about other education programmes.
Resources
Practice standards for midwives:
- NMBI's code of Professional Conduct and Ethics
- NMBI Practice Standards for Midwives (PDF, 33 MB, 28 pages)
Termination of pregnancy:
- The Termination of Pregnancy Health Act 2018 (Abortion)
- Unplanned pregnancy resources for healthcare professionals
Intrapartum fetal heart-rate monitoring:
- Clinical Practice Guideline Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring
- HSE Home Birth policies and procedures
Pregnancy loss and perinatal death:
Perinatal mental health services:
- HSE Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services Model of Care
- HSE Mind Mothers Project: Perinatal Mental Health Care
Alcohol and drug misuse in pregnancy:
Lone working:
National Maternity Strategy:
- National Maternity Strategy: Creating a Better Future Together (2016 - 2026) (PDF, 9.93 MB, 133 pages)
- HSE National Maternity Strategy Implementation Plan 2017 (PDF, 393KB, 20 pages)
- National Women and Infants Health Programme
Maternity patient safety statements:
Midwifery quality care metrics:
Confidential Maternal Death Enquiry - Ireland
National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre: