Draft Midwife Registration Programmes Standards
NMBI is holding a public consultation on the Draft Midwife Registration Programme Standards for undergraduate students.
We would really appreciate your views. Your first step is to read the draft consultation document below; and then submit your feedback by completing the online survey.
The closing date for submitting your feedback is 5pm on Tuesday, 3 June 2025.
Draft Midwife Registration Programmes Standards
.pdf Download (4MB)
Download
About the Standards
As part of our role, we are mandated under the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011, as amended to publish the standards and requirements to guide the design, development, delivery and evaluation of nursing and midwifery registration programmes.
NMBI sets the regulatory standards and then the Higher Education Institutions, with their practice partners, write the programme curricula that map to these standards.
The new standards and curricula will be in place for student midwives entering third level from the Autumn of 2027. A key difference will be increasing community practice placements which is in line with national health policy and Sláintecare. The students will undertake their paid internship for three months at the end of third year and six-months in fourth year.
Between 1 and 7 May, NMBI held a number of information sessions which you can watch in the video below.
Background
In August 2022, NMBI with the Chief Nurse’s Office in the Department of Health co-sponsored an evidence-based review of the undergraduate education programmes leading to nursing and midwifery education. The RUN-ME research report was published October 2023, which made several recommendations. Included in the recommendations is an increase in community placements for nurses and midwives in line with national healthcare policies.
From May 2023 to December 2024, the Department of Health Expert Review Body (ERB) and Implementation Action Group 1 (IAG) co-ordinated a national engagement review, inviting involvement from key stakeholders. Several actions were outlined including the development of new education programme standards by NMBI.
In February 2025, NMBI convened an advisory group with key midwifery stakeholders to advise on the development of the standards.