Tackling the Cost of Living Crisis: Midwifery Students Undertaking Their 36-Week Internship in Wexford General Hospital

January 2025 saw the commencement of two midwifery internship practice placements at Wexford Maternity unit. All midwifery students at University College Dublin (UCD) historically completed their internship in the National Maternity Hospital. Through collaborative efforts and a labour of foresight between the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems UCD and Wexford Maternity unit, two midwifery interns are now afforded the opportunity to complete their 36-week internship in Wexford Maternity Unit.

The internship pilot, which has future potential to extend to other regional Hospitals in the locality, expands student midwife allocations and provides the opportunity to increase student midwife numbers, resulting in more midwives qualifying across Dublin and South-East. Discussions surrounding the pilot commenced late 2023 with Wexford Maternity’s Clinical Placement Coordinator, Laura Egan and the UCD link lecturer Mary Curtin. This exciting initiative was formally agreed by The Director of Midwifery and the Senior Management Team in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems UCD in 2024.  Preparatory work for the commencement of the internship was undertaken throughout 2024 to ensure the placement met the standards and requirements of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI).

The two internship placements has resulted in two students midwives who reside in the locality being able to  live with their families and, in today’s cost of living and housing crisis, avoid costly fees associated with commuting and/or renting. This has had a significant positive impact for these midwifery interns who chose to complete their internship in Wexford General Hospital. We hope to further expand and offer more practice placements to midwifery students in Wexford Maternity Unit and support UCD to increase undergraduate midwifery student places.