Hard Cases: The toughest step to becoming a midwife was the paperwork

This article is part of LinkedIn's Hard Cases series, where doctors and medical professionals share the toughest challenges they've faced in their careers. You can read more about it here and follow along using hashtag #HardCases.

I qualified as a Midwife in December of 2015 from the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece.

I have always been passionate about midwifery and I knew from the beginning that I wanted to further my knowledge and expertise with a career working for the NHS.

The maternity system in Greece is extensively medicalised and obstetric-led, with a large number of Caesarean sections (up to 70% in private clinics, according to official statistics) and I knew that I wanted more from my midwifery career. So shortly before graduating, I applied for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) pack in order to gain my NMC registration to practice in the UK.

As a UK national who grew up in Greece, I imagined that I would not have as many language requirements and that, as Greece is also an EU member, the crossover would be relatively straightforward. I was mistaken.

On close inspection of the requirements, I quickly found myself met with continuous roadblocks. As paper after paper was not accepted for one reason or another, I grew more and more anxious. I found myself chasing after bureaucracy again and again, for although I am a British National, I grew up in another country so nothing was straightforward for me. Even simply proving who I was. I realised I essentially belonged to nowhere.

Everything from my passport copy to my criminal checks was over-complicated. In the end I decided to move over to the UK in September 2016 in the hopes that I would be able to get more things sorted out. I started applying for jobs in the NHS and I finally sent off all of my paperwork for my NMC registration. I felt very relieved.

That relief was short-lived. With two interviews on the way, I was informed that, although I had been told numerous times in various correspondences that I would not need to sit the IELTS examination as I was a native English speaker, lo and behold I did have to do the exams. My world crumbled. As I had been sitting and waiting for my papers to go through, had I known, rather than gaining other qualifications to pass the time, I could have been working on my English exams. It was yet another brick in the wall between me and my dream career as an NHS midwife.

I was devastated.

All I could do was get right to it. I am a master of stepping out of my comfort zone and in the face of such adversity giving up was never an option. Had I given up and gone home, although the thought did cross my mind, I would never have forgiven myself.

I booked myself in to sit my IELTS examinations (at great personal expense I might add) one week following the news in October 2016. I started to study and quickly realised that I had no idea what I was doing. Tears and tantrums followed until I managed to find a small language school called “Flying Classrooms” in Norwich where I managed to book myself a couple of lessons.

The teachers were wonderful. Thankfully, I was lucky as I did not have many requirements with the use of the English language as it is my mother tongue, but with the format of the examinations. I had not had to sit external examinations for so many years, it was an almost sickeningly nerve wracking experience, but I got through it. A month later when I got the results, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief as I had surpassed the much coveted grade 7 mark, required by the NMC in order to “qualify” for registration, with an 8.5. Finally the dream was drawing closer.

I had my first interviews at the beginning of November so it seemed everything was all set. My second interview was successful and in January 2017 I got my first job as a qualified midwife at the Great Western Hospital Foundation trust in Swindon, very far away from my family and anyone I knew, but it was a start.

I did not receive my NMC pin until the middle of January 2017. In short, my whole NMC journey commenced in November 2015 and I did not receive my pin until January 2017. It was a long and arduous road that often felt like it had no end.

Since commencing work as a midwife in the UK I have had to overcome many additional barriers and have had many a hopeless shift wondering why I did this to myself. Almost two years down the line I am proud to say I have overcome much adversity and have recently completed my competencies and gained the confidence to become a Band 6 midwife and mentor at my Trust with their incredible support and guidance.

I will not forget the rocky road and turmoil that brought me this far and the determination I continue to have to overcome the walls placed in front of me to practice in the best possible way and care for the women and families that I love so much. I could never do anything else but be a midwife.

 As practitioners we are grateful for monitory bodies such as the NMC as they promote patient safety above all else. However, in times that the NHS is chronically understaffed and overworked, do we really need these barriers discouraging people who genuinely wish to offer their services to this wonderful system for all these incredible people?

The Royal College of Midwives estimates that the NHS needs 3,500 midwives to relieve a countrywide shortage as more midwives are leaving the profession than joining it. An average of 960 NMC tests were delivered each month to overseas applicants during the first quarter of this year with a pass rate of 76%. 

There have been many lessons learned along this journey. I have been blessed with good fortune up till now in my work. Hard shifts come and go but I have yet to be scarred. I’m sure it will come, and when it does I will be ready. For me, my first step into the world of the NHS was the hardest.

M.H. Clarke

Band 6 Rotational Midwife

Great Western Hospital Foundation Trust