What Are Midwives and What Do They Do?

[Post updated November 2025]

Giving birth is not something that we do alone. While some women may choose a more hands-off birth approach, having midwife advice throughout your pregnancy and birth journey is important.

But what is a midwife, and what is their role in the UK?

In our recent blog post about what health visitors are, we talked about how it takes a village to raise a child. While that phrase doesn’t ring quite as true as it might once have done, the community around us is still a very important factor for new parents. In addition to health visitors, a team of midwives is a crucial element of prenatal care, midwifery care during pregnancy care, labour, birth and the postpartum period.

What is a Midwife?

A midwife is a registered nurse or midwife with specialised training in pregnancy, childbirth and women’s health. They are experts in normal pregnancy and birth who give personalised care and guidance. Unlike obstetricians, doctors who specialise in pregnancy and childbirth and usually handle more complex medical situations, midwives are the key point of contact for families during pregnancy, birth and the immediate postpartum experience.

In the UK, midwives are regulated healthcare professionals who complete an accredited midwifery degree (often a bachelor’s degree) through an accredited midwifery programme, with ongoing midwifery education and supervision. They practise independently within their scope and provide an independent provision of care for low-risk pregnancies, while working closely with obstetric teams for high-risk pregnancies and complex medical conditions.

Midwives support a holistic approach to maternity, recognising childbirth as a natural process while remaining vigilant for risk factors that may require medical interventions. They coordinate with other healthcare providers and health professionals such as obstetricians, anaesthetists, neonatologists, perinatal mental-health teams and health visitors.

What Do Midwives Do in the UK?

Here’s a more detailed look at what midwifery care involves, from prenatal visits to birth to postpartum care and postpartum support.

Prenatal Care (Antenatal Care)

Throughout your pregnancy, your community midwife will be your primary point of contact, unless you’re referred to an obstetric team due to high risk. They provide regular check-ups to monitor your health and your baby’s development. This includes blood-pressure checks, weight monitoring, listening to your baby’s heartbeat, and discussing any concerns you may have.

Midwives also offer education and support on topics like nutrition, exercise (read more about safe physical activity in pregnancy here) and preparing for birth. At specific appointments, you may discuss your mental health, breastfeeding and creating a birth plan. They can advise on preconception care, reproductive health, and family planning services, and they discuss screening, vaccinations and routine gynaecological care (such as the UK cervical screening programme) as relevant across different stages of life.

For expectant mothers with a low-risk pregnancy, midwives typically lead the majority of patient care antenatally, with timely referral if concerns arise. They also provide emotional support and signpost local health services and classes for pregnant women and partners.

Labour and Birth

When you’re in labour, you will be supported by one or more midwives either in the hospital setting, a midwife-led birth centre, or at home births, depending on your choice of place of birth. This may be your familiar community midwife or a member of the hospital or birth-centre team.

Their support includes:

• Monitoring you and your baby during labour, checking progress and vital signs.
• Offering pain management techniques and natural approaches such as breathing, position changes and water birth (where available), and advising on pain medication options (for example, gas & air, and referral for epidural where appropriate).
• Providing or suggesting medical interventions when needed and escalating to obstetric care where indicated.
• Ensuring your birth plan is understood and that you are central to decision-making, such as if you will be using hypnobirthing.
• Facilitating the “golden hour” after birth, such as early skin-to-skin, newborn care and first feed.

Many UK midwife-attended births take place in hospital or birth centres, but planned unmedicated birth at home is also an option for suitable low-risk cases. Your midwife will help you assess whether you’re a good candidate for each setting.

Postpartum Care (Postnatal Care)

After giving birth, your midwife continues to provide vital support during the crucial postpartum period. Immediately after birth, they check for tears, provide stitches if needed and support feeding, whether that’s breastfeeding or bottle feeding, while monitoring both your physical recovery and mental health. 

Once you’ve been discharged from hospital or your birth unit, you’ll usually continue under midwife care at home. Typically you can expect a visit within 24–36 hours, then another at around five days. These visits include weighing the baby, performing the newborn blood-spot test, checking your recovery and reviewing feeding and newborn care. You are usually discharged from midwife care between 10 and 14 days after birth, but this can extend to up to 28 days in certain circumstances.

Your midwife can also advise on family planning services and birth control options post-birth, signpost perinatal mental health support, and coordinate onward care with your GP and health visitors.

Who are Independent Midwives?

In the UK, we have access to all the care described above as part of the NHS service, but families are able to choose to have the support of an independent midwife instead of or in addition to this. Independent midwives are registered midwives who operate outside the NHS system. They are highly skilled and experienced professionals with a passion for normal birth. While adhering to the same high standards of care as NHS midwives, they often offer greater flexibility and continuity of care throughout pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period.

Families may choose to have an independent midwife as they can offer the opportunity to build a stronger relationship with more of a focus on individualised care since they can give more time than the standard NHS system can allow and there is a better guarantee of continuity of care. There may be a specific reason for a family to choose an independent midwife, such as a preference towards a home birth which they are not sure they’ll be able to manage with the NHS, or a potential complication such as twins or breech birth where a specific independent midwife may have been able to become more experienced.

Independent midwives do charge a fee though, and you’ll want to make sure that you choose one carefully who has all the right qualifications. There are websites such as Independent Midwives UK who can help you select someone who is right for you. You should also ask about indemnity, transfer protocols to hospital, and how care interfaces with NHS health services in your area.

Settings of Midwifery Care in the UK

Midwifery care is available across three main settings, each with different benefits:

• Hospital setting: Obstetric care on site, full access to monitoring and interventions, suitable for high-risk pregnancies or when complications are anticipated.
• Birth centres: Midwife-led units focused on the natural process with lower intervention rates for healthy women with low-risk pregnancies. Some are alongside hospitals; others are freestanding.
• Home births: Planned at home for selected low-risk cases; emphasises a calm environment, continuity and emotional support. Midwives bring equipment and clear transfer plans if needed.

Your midwife will help you weigh up your preferences, local outcomes and health statistics, and any risk factors, to decide where you’ll feel safest and most supported for your birth experience.

When Does a Midwife Refer to an Obstetrician?

Midwives specialise in low-risk pregnancy and the physiological aspects of birth. If complications arise or you have factors which cause your pregnancy to be considered as high risk, such as high blood pressure, reduced fetal movements, abnormal bleeding, breech presentation, or concerning test results, your midwife will escalate to obstetric care or maternal–fetal medicine specialists.

This shared-care model ensures timely medical care when needed while preserving personalised patient care and choice wherever possible.

The Benefits of Midwifery Care

• Continuity and personalisation: A known midwife or small team provides ongoing patient care across pregnancy, birth and postnatal weeks.
• Holistic approach and informed choice: Emphasis on your values, birth plan and clear explanations.
• Appropriate use of intervention: For low-risk pregnancies, midwife-led care often means fewer unnecessary medical interventions.
• Stronger postnatal support: Early weeks are supported with feeding help, postpartum support, and links to community health services.
• Choice of setting: From home births and birth centres to hospital, including options like water birth and unmedicated birth where appropriate.

Challenges and What to Consider When Talking to Your Midwife

• Service pressures: NHS staffing can impact continuity and appointment times; ask your unit about how continuity is organised.
• Escalation plans: Understand how and when your care transfers to obstetrics, and what that means for pain-relief options and monitoring.
• Place of birth: Discuss benefits and limitations of home births, birth centres and hospital units in your area, considering your risk factors.
• Flexibility: A birth plan is useful, but plans can change; midwives help adapt so you remain informed and involved.

Midwives and Cord Blood/Cord Tissue Collection

If you’re considering cord blood collection at birth, this is something that midwives will be able to discuss with you, to help you weigh up whether it’s a choice you’d like to make. They can explain the benefits and potential uses of cord blood stem cells, as well as the collection process itself. They can also provide you with resources to learn more and help you make an informed decision. If it’s something you choose to do, your community midwife will assist you with incorporating it into your birth plan.

At the birth, midwives may be available to assist with the cord blood collection process. They will ensure the collection is done safely and efficiently, following the right protocol. Even if they are not involved in the collection itself, your midwife can help by holding the space for you while the collection is done, such as ensuring that you get the option to delay cord clamping before collection or keeping a quiet and peaceful golden hour environment after birth while the cord blood is collected. Midwives can also coordinate with private cord-blood banks on logistics, ensuring newborn care and parental wishes remain the priority.

If you’re also considering cord tissue, your midwife can explain how both options fit within midwifery care, and how decisions may differ for low-risk versus high-risk pregnancies. For more on the differences, see our guide to cord blood vs cord tissue.

Questions to Ask Your Midwife or Team

Use this list to guide your conversations:

1. Is my pregnancy considered low risk or high risk, and what are my specific risk factors?
2. Which settings are available to me: home birth, birth centre, or hospital setting? What are the pros and cons of each?
3. What pain management options are offered (including water birth, natural methods, and access to pain medication)?
4. How will my birth plan be recorded and respected, and how do we adapt it if circumstances change?
5. What are the arrangements for continuity of care and emotional support during labour?
6. What does postpartum care look like in my area? Visit schedule, feeding support, mental-health screening and signposting?
7. If I’m interested in cord blood/cord tissue, how is this included in my plan (including delayed cord clamping)?
8. How do you work with GPs and health visitors for ongoing health services after discharge?

Midwives are highly trained healthcare professionals who support pregnant women and families through prenatal care, labour and birth, and postpartum care. In the UK, midwives lead care for low-risk pregnancies, referring to obstetric care when needed, and they practise in a range of settings, birth centres, home births and hospitals, so you can plan the birth experience that suits you.

Whether you choose NHS care alone or add an independent midwife, you’ll benefit from personalised support, a holistic approach, and clear guidance on options like water birth, unmedicated birth, and stem-cell collection. Your midwife’s role is to help you feel informed, empowered and safe before, during and after birth.