Midwifery training to return to Kent in September with new course

The new course will use remote controlled mannequins to simulate births

Midwife training will return to Kent for the first time since the Nursing and Midwifery Council stopped courses at Canterbury Christchurch University.

The University of Greenwich will offer training for 65 students on its Medway Campus from September.

Accreditation for the Canterbury courses was withdrawn in May because of fears over quality and safety.

Maternity services have been under pressure in the county since the Kirkup report was published last year.

It found up to 45 babies might have survived if they had received better care at East Kent NHS Hospitals Trust.

The new course at the University of Greenwich uses state of the art training methods, including remotely controlled mannequins to replicate a birth.

It is one of nine education institutions to offer degree apprenticeship schemes in midwifery, allowing students to work alongside staff in Kent hospitals.

Prof Derek Moore said the training is being brought forward "rapidly"

Prof Derek Moore, vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences at Greenwich University, said: "We were looking to increase anyway because of the NHS workforce, but obviously what's happened with Canterbury Christchurch has opened up an opportunity for us.

"We want to contribute to the workforce in Kent and so we've looked to rapidly bring this forward and start to deliver from September, something we might have done anyway, but on a larger scale than we probably would have done."

Kirstin Shepherd, a third year student midwife at Greenwich believes recruitment is vital for the profession.

"You want to be one of those people that helps to make a difference" she said. "It's not going to get better if we don't have more people joining the profession who are passionate about making positive changes."

And Laura Martin, also in her third year, agreed.

She said: "If it's something you feel a calling towards, because you do need to have that calling, you need to have that passion, because it is so hard to get into, so hard to get through and so hard to do.

"If you've got that passion then go for it. There's more and more avenues opening up."

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].