I am a single qualified midwife and am being asked to care for general patients on the maternity ward, am I allowed to do this?

As a midwife you should always be working within your scope of practice referring to the Midwives’ Standards for Practice if you are unsure. The Decision-Making Framework published by the NMBA gives clear instructions on how to define if something is within your scope. There is a quick reference, midwifery flow chart which is easy to read and follow to assist with this.

Within the framework it also mentions that under the National Law, midwives must not be directed to work outside of their professional standard, guidelines, or code of conduct/ethics so if you are put into a situation, you feel is outside of your scope, you must escalate and can refer to the framework for support. There may be occasions where caring for non- maternity patients is within the scope of a midwife’s practice. The Midwife standards for practice state that a midwife’s role may extend to include women’s health, reproductive and sexual health, but if you still determine it to be outside of your individual scope you must escalate to your manager, preferably in writing, and request further educational support and supervision to be able to adopt the practice into your scope.