WSLHD Midwifery Professional Development Pathway Statement

WSLHD is a dynamic and challenging place to work with an excellent maternity service across three facilities.

Part of this specialised care provision requires a commitment to the growth and development of Midwifery staff and in particular to ‘grow our own’ midwives so we can retain and develop a sustainable, contemporary and innovative midwifery workforce.

To facilitate this process the district has developed a career Midwifery Professional Development Pathway to enable a way to measure and monitor midwifery practice and competency. This also promotes alignment across WSLHD with safe and excellent quality health care outcomes as well as support Midwifery succession planning.

Skill division is complex due to the speciality of each area. Foundational midwifery training expands to allow each midwife to develop specialised knowledge in a particular area or rotate through all areas resulting in a broader skill set, both of which are essential to the wards and units.

The WSLHD Midwifery Professional Development Pathway is a broad guideline for the advancement of midwifery skills. Skill development and attainment is dependent upon unpredictable exposure to opportunities for learning. Midwives taking leave, including maternity or long service must be factored into this pathway.

These competency pathways are monitored by ME’s, CME’s and MUM’s on a regular basis as part of the RM’s individual performance development review and an annual audit report is produced by the CME which is tabled at Leadership meetings and Nursing and Midwifery Education meetings.

This WSLHD Midwifery Professional Development Pathway is a general guideline and should be individually tailored to meet the midwife’s growth and development and career progression.

WSLHD Midwifery Professional Development Pathway Key