Midwife Interview Questions and Answers (NHS, 2026)

Treat blood loss that is still coming as an emergency. Call for help early, stay with the woman and keep her informed, start the actions in your local haemorrhage guideline, measure the blood loss and monitor her observations. Make sure the obstetric and anaesthetic team are on their way, and record everything.

After a birth on labour ward I was caring for a woman whose bleeding did not slow down. I felt her uterus, which was soft, so I rubbed up a contraction, helped her empty her bladder and rang the emergency bell. I spoke to her and her partner throughout, explaining that I was worried about the bleeding and that more people were coming. I put in a second cannula, took bloods and began fluids and the medicines in our haemorrhage guideline as prescribed, while a colleague weighed pads and kept the total, and I monitored her pulse and blood pressure every few minutes. The obstetric registrar and anaesthetist arrived and took over decisions about further treatment. I recorded the times and amounts, made sure she was warm and, afterwards, sat down with her and her partner to explain what had happened and what the plan was for her recovery.

Call for help immediately, note the time of the head being born, tell the woman what is happening and follow the sequence of manoeuvres you have been trained in. Avoid pulling harder. Record who attended and when, and talk to the woman and her partner afterwards.

As a student with my supervising midwife, I saw the head deliver and then retract, and the shoulders would not follow. My supervisor said calmly 'This is shoulder dystocia' and pressed the emergency bell. She noted the time, told the woman clearly what was happening and asked her to stop pushing, and changed her position as we had practised in our emergency skills drill. I held the woman's leg and counted the time as instructed, and the team arrived and completed the manoeuvres in the order they had been trained. The baby was born and was checked by the paediatricians. I wrote what I had observed and the time, and we debriefed with the woman, explaining what happened and why. I learned that the training drills matter, because people do what they have practised and the woman hears a calm voice.

Explain your worry honestly, ask permission before you examine her, and offer what she is willing to accept. Escalate the concern to the coordinator or obstetrician whether or not she agrees to every step, because the safety concern is yours too. If she declines, record the discussion and continue to support her.

In labour I looked at the trace and thought the baby's heart rate pattern was not reassuring. I told the woman gently, 'I'm a little worried about the baby's heart rate. Can I explain what I'm seeing?' She said she did not want to be examined or moved onto the bed. I explained the reason, that the baby might be short of oxygen, and asked what worried her. She was afraid of a caesarean. I said what the options might be and that nothing would happen without her agreement. I asked her if I could get the coordinator and registrar to look at the trace and she agreed. They explained the options, she accepted a vaginal examination and a different position, and the trace improved. I recorded the discussion, who I told and what she agreed to. If she had declined, I would have kept monitoring what she allowed and kept the team informed.

Act on the trend and the story as well as the score. Repeat the full set of observations, look at her, ask about pain, bleeding and how she feels, and use the maternity early warning score to guide escalation. Tell the obstetric team using SBAR, and stay with her until she is reviewed.

Twelve hours after her caesarean a woman told me she felt hot and wobbly. Her heart rate had crept up over two sets of observations and her temperature was only slightly raised. I rechecked everything myself, checked the wound, her pain and bleeding and her fluid output, and then used the MEOWS chart, which asked for a medical review. I called the obstetric registrar with SBAR: day zero caesarean, heart rate rising, feels unwell, I'm worried about infection or bleeding and I'd like her reviewed within thirty minutes. While we waited I sat her up, checked her cannula and repeated observations every fifteen minutes. The registrar started the sepsis pathway. I recorded what I did and I told the night midwife to watch her closely.

Give balanced, honest information about all four birth settings, listen to why she wants home, and explain what would happen if labour changed, including transfer. Record the discussion and the plan, share it with the whole team, and then support her choice fully whichever setting she picks.

I would ask her what matters about birthing at home: familiarity, privacy, control. I would explain all four birth settings, home, freestanding midwifery unit, alongside midwifery unit and obstetric unit, as NICE advises, and tell her honestly what each offers and what each cannot. I would talk about what home birth involves in our area, how we respond if labour does not progress or the baby's heart rate changes, and how long a transfer would take. I would ask what would worry her about having to move, and make a plan with her that includes who would come, how she would get to hospital, and what she wants if she must transfer. I would write it all down in her notes, share the plan with the team and make sure she has our contact number. Whatever she chooses, she gets my full support.

Start by listening to how she feels and what she wants. Watch a feed, help with positioning and attachment, check the baby's output and weight, and tell her the options honestly. Respect her decision whichever way she goes, and make sure she knows where to get help.

I visited a mother on day four who said it hurt and she wanted to stop. I asked her to tell me how feeds were going and sat with her through one. The baby was not well attached, so I showed her a different hold and how to help the baby open wide, and the pain eased. I checked the baby's nappies and weight, which were fine, and reassured her. I told her it was fine to choose to combine breastfeeding and formula if she wished and that I would support whichever way she decided. I gave her the contact for the local infant feeding support and my phone number, and I visited again two days later. She was still feeding and told me she felt more confident. I recorded the feed observation and the plan.

Make sure she has understood the reason for the recommendation and the risks and benefits of both options, in words she can follow. Then respect her decision, tell the obstetrician, record the conversation, and offer a plan for monitoring and review. Your role is not to persuade her but to support an informed choice.

A woman at forty-one weeks was recommended induction and decided she wanted to wait. I asked her what she understood and what worried her. She felt the birth would be more medical and was afraid of a long labour. I explained the reason for the recommendation, what induction involves, the risks of waiting and the risks of induction, and offered her written information and time to think. She still declined. I told the obstetrician I had talked it through with her, and arranged a conversation with a consultant midwife so she could ask her own questions. She agreed to monitoring and a plan to review the next day. I documented the discussion, her understanding and her decision, and told her she could change her mind at any time.

Create a chance to see her alone in a routine way, such as a urine sample or a test. Ask directly and kindly, never in front of the partner, tell her what you can and cannot keep confidential, and follow your trust's safeguarding and domestic abuse pathway. Do not put her at risk by confronting the partner.

At an antenatal appointment a woman was quiet and her partner answered every question. I noticed she flinched when he spoke. I said I needed a urine sample and asked her to come with me to the toilet. In the corridor I said I ask all my women about their safety at home, and asked if she felt safe. She told me quietly that he controlled her phone and money and had hit her. I explained I would need to share her safety concern with my safeguarding midwife, and asked how she preferred to be contacted. I gave her the domestic abuse helpline number in a form that would not be noticed, wrote the conversation up factually, and spoke to the safeguarding team that day. They arranged an appointment with an advocate. We agreed a way she could contact me if she needed to, which would not alert him.

Assess who is at greatest risk first, then use triage to prioritise by clinical need, not by who arrived first. Escalate the staffing shortage to the coordinator and manager, call in help, and talk to women who are waiting so they know what is happening. Record the risk.

On a night shift we had two midwives off sick, four women in established labour and a queue of women in triage. I told the coordinator I thought the unit was unsafe and asked her to call the on-call manager and open the contingency plan. I reviewed the triage list with the registrar so that women with reduced movements, bleeding or hypertension were seen first. I told every woman waiting how long she might wait and why, and checked in on them. I asked the maternity support workers to take on observations they were competent in and kept my own caseload small so that I could oversee the unit with the coordinator. We completed an incident report for the staffing risk. In the morning we shared what happened at the safety huddle.