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midwives often find 5 minutes during the shift to sign anything on mora however this is usually during the middle of the shift which isn't of any use to us as students who cannot sign timesheets until 15 minutes before the shift. 90% of midwives do not have the time to log on to mora 15 minutes before the end of the shift due to handover and ending cares with women. the 5 minutes they offer during the shift is usually the first and last time they will offer to sign or remember to Sign no matter how many emails are sent or reminders in person afterwards.once handover has taken place it is usually about 20-30 minutes after the shift ends and staff including us as students want to be getting home to children etc.

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difficult and time consuming emailing and reminding for things to be signed.

Still need timeshares signing from 1st year and now I cannot remember who I worked with.

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Reluctance and / or lack of time to sign timesheets, proficiencies, births, care records and feedback at the end of shift.

Frequently midwives will request you to email them and they will "do it later". However, it can be very time-consuming to have to repeatedly chase these midwives to actually sign the things requested, with many students still having outstanding signatures despite several emails and requests over the phone or in person.

We try to understand that it can be a very busy job and a midwife can not always access a computer at the end of the shift to sign this but when we try to contact them several times over weeks or months and do not receive a signature or even a response to email correspondence it feels like there is a lack of respect towards us as student midwives as it appears we are not worth the time to respond.

When asked in person it is stated that they will look at it but then still does not get signed.

Finally, it can be concerning to ask for feedback from a midwife if they are unable or willing to complete it on the day as you are then having to remind them several times to do so. resulting in worry that your feedback will not reflect the work carried out on the shift if it is left too long or could reflect annoyance if they perceive the reminders to complete this as pestering.

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Some of the midwives in certain areas are not very friendly to students, quite off putting and make you feel like you don’t belong, shouldn’t be there or you’re a nuisance.

I think it’s very intimidating to walk onto an area as a student and have everyone ignore you or be made to feel like they can’t be bothered working with you.

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I have had to create a spreadsheet where I now log every email I send to Midwives for having items signed off. I'm still waiting for proficiencies to be signed from October. Currently waiting for 3 x separate sign offs from different midwives. Its very frustrating when we are fulfilling out part of the deal. Despite having half an hour reflection this often looks like an hour plus by the time we have written a comprehensive account. I always ask on shift and are often told 'we will do this later' or 'send me an email' which then never gets responded to.

I would like to add this is not all midwives and I'm fully supportive of the pressure they are under to complete their live paperwork for women dealt with but we are only asking for something which is required by the NMC.

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Whilst I accept it's a MORA requirement to gain feedback I have a real issue with this on two fold:

1) PS feedback - It's really frustrating when you have a great shift and develop a great relationship with your PS and they promise some excellent feedback then don't do it. I get they are extremely busy and it's probably the last thing they feel like doing but this really boosts your confidence when the feedback is good. Certainly not expecting outstanding every time and even welcome constructive criticism but when you end up chasing timesheets, you end up not even bothering for feedback. This should not be something we have to chase or ask for it should be forthcoming as standard from PS regardless of the grading.

2) Service User - Having had a great experience with CoC from booking to delivery, I asked if she would be happy to provide feedback when she felt up to it. She messaged me the next day to say she had done me some substantial feedback and left it with the desk on CBS. That night I returned for a shift t be told 'No, there is nothing here for you' - I will not be asking the service user to repeat this so what a wasted opportunity that was to have some great feedback.

I do not think it appropriate to be asking women for feedback for doing my job, Unsolicited feedback is the best you can get and in my experience when someone is put on the spot the feedback is always going to be 'Good'. The PS feedback should be sufficient for this. I will not be asking women for feedback after birth especially as this is not appropriate.

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We have been told to CC the PEF team or Uclan when chasing signatures. The one time I did this I received the reply that the certain midwife was on shift on certain dates and to call the CBS to chase them there. This is not appropriate and feel is going to create further discord between midwives and students. I will continue to keep a record but feel that 'reporting' on them by CC 'Teacher' is not the way forward. We have to work with these professionals when we qualify and do not want to create bad blood before we start.

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Having read some of these posts I truly believe that having a dedicated Mentor would alleviate most of these issues. I get why this was changed due to familiarity but there can be checks put in place to ensure that this does not happen such as Band 7 check ins, Uclan check ins - To be assigned the same midwife I appreciate is a logistical headache but it shouldn't really affect the midwives. As students we have to accept that we will be required to work with specific midwives and work their shifts. This would also alleviate the going back to square one on each shift when the PS don't know your skills. As mentors they would know your skills and I'm sure there are enough midwives who would welcome this idea as it must be incredibly difficult for them to have different students to supervise at the expense of their PIN

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Some of the practice areas don't get their off-duty out in a timely manner. Postnatal ward and Burnley Birth Centre spring to-mind. Birth Centre are not always very responsive to messages, in this case I emailed the new birth centre email address with my off-duty requests and got my rota two week's later having been allocated shifts on Uni days. I emailed back straight away and with just over a week to go, have still not heard back again.

Although postnatal seem to get the off-duty out late, they have been accommodating when I had a childcare problem, and with Spoke days.

PS feedback and getting timesheets signed is a perennial problem. I have heard from one PS that the midwives have been discussing how to manage it, too.

In terms of complements I love that Birth Suite have a new notice board with information for student midwives on it. There is general info for students as well as a list of the students there that month and their allocated area PS. This is really helpful in a practice area that can be daunting and disorientating at first (an orientation booklet would be helpful, too). I hope whoever has done it knows it has been appreciated and feels encouraged to keep going with it!

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I was down to work a NIPE shift following our NIPE theory so I could learn, get some NIPE’s signed off, and also make up some hours in our holidays. Once I arrived on the PN ward I was told they were far too busy to be going NIPE’s with a student and I was left to ‘help’ on a zone as ‘they could do with an extra pair of hands’.

Thankfully the midwife had time to run through 3 NIPE’s with me that shifts, but I felt the day has been wasted.

In hindsight I should have contacted another unit to see if they had capacity for students so I could gain experience in other areas, so I do acknowledge I could have used my time more wisely.

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Placement hours in Burnley birth centre are always a struggle to get. So much so that it can be anything up until the week before and you still don’t have your shifts for the week. This is no use to people who have to make childcare arrangements nor would it be acceptable or tolerated from birth centre midwives. A group email address was created to avoid the responsibility of one midwife picking up students requests or availability and this still made no difference. 

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Placement hours in Burnley birth centre are always a struggle to get. So much so that it can be anything up until the week before and you still don’t have your shifts for the week. This is no use to people who have to make childcare arrangements nor would it be acceptable or tolerated from birth centre midwives. A group email address was created to avoid the responsibility of one midwife picking up students requests or availability and this still made no difference. 