Maternity Care Assistant
Award
Certificate of Higher Education
Duration & study mode
1 year
School
Health & Life Sciences
Location
Lanarkshire
Course starting dates
-
Lanarkshire: September
Postgraduate Open Evenings are a great way to learn more about the programmes we deliver, meet staff and students and see what it’s like to study at UWS.
Attend an Open EveningThe Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) Maternity Care Assistant has been developed to develop the knowledge and skills of existing Maternity Care Assistants (MCAs) who are already working in a hospital or community midwifery setting.
The course integrates knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes. It develops your professional and personal maturity along with attributes necessary to work in a multi-disciplinary, woman-centred healthcare environment.
The course is designed to ensure equity to Senior Health Care Support Workers (Scottish Government, 2010) and to meet the requirements related to professional proficiency and fitness for practice in relation to achievement of MCA Competencies (NES, 2006).
MCAs work with childbearing women and their families and with the professionals who provide care and applicants to this course must already be employed in a maternity services setting and be nominated for entry to this course by their Line Manager.
This course is fully funded by the NHS.
The School of Health & Life Sciences at UWS offers a variety of innovative courses with hands-on experience and work in virtual and real-life ward situations.
Our modern healthcare facilities across our Scottish campuses simulate clinical environments as well as home settings to teach caring for the elderly and people with dementia. If you’re learning in London we have face-to-face and online courses that will enable you to accelerate your career in the healthcare sector.
The School’s work on breastfeeding has been internationally recognised by UNICEF and our research into dementia policy and practice won best educational initiative at Scotland's Dementia Awards 2016.
Our students graduate ready to achieve their ambitions in the healthcare sector.
of the world’s universities that are 50 years old, or younger (source: Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2024)
Higher Educational Institution of the Year in The Herald Higher Education Awards 2022
We welcome Scottish, UK and international students and consider all applicants on an individual basis.
Don’t worry if your qualifications are not listed here, we take a range of factors into account when assessing your application and are happy to consider other alternative combinations of qualifications and experience
If you are applying with an EU or non-EU qualification, please check our Postgraduate & Post-experience Entry Requirements page which gives more information about country-specific entry requirements.
You will be considered with relevant academic, vocational or professional qualifications.
All academic degrees/awards at UWS are taught in English. For applicants whose first language is not English*, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level. All English language qualifications must have been gained within two years of the start of your UWS course.
* applicants who are exempt from english language requirements include:
In general terms, if you are applying to study a course at, or above, Year 1 (SCQF Level 7) bachelor’s degree level, then the UKVI’s minimum level of English proficiency is Common European Framework for References of Languages (CEFR) at B2 (Upper Intermediate).
At UWS, we define our general English language requirements using the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training) as follows:
These are minimum requirements and some courses may require a higher standard for admission†.
† Exceptions to this level of IELTS scoring exist for some accredited or professionally-recognised courses (see IELTS Score Exceptions section below for more information).
For our research degrees (MRes, MPhil, PhD, DBA, DProf) applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
For Health, Nursing & Midwifery courses that lead to professional registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (BSc Adult Nursing, MSc Adult Nursing, BSc Mental Health Nursing, MSc Mental Health Nursing, BSc Midwifery and MSc Midwifery), applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
Our BSc Paramedic Science degree leads to professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC); it has different IELTS requirements than other Health-related courses. Although it is not possible to apply for this degree directly as an international student, for applicants who meet SAAS residency requirements and for whom English is not their first language, then the following IELTS scores are required:
For our BSc (Hons) Applied Biomedical Science, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science and MSc Advanced Biomedical Science degrees, which may lead to professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
Our BA (Hons) Social Work and MSc Social Work degrees are professionally recognised by the Scottish Social Services Council and applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
For our Certificate of Higher Education courses, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
In additional to IELTS, we also accept a number of alternative English language for application and admission to our courses for both home/EU and international students at bachelor's degree study at Year 3 (SCQF Level 9), and above. From Cambridge to TOFEL iBT qualifications the number of these qualifications is extensive.
Find out about non-IELTS English Language Tests
UWS has also reviewed a range of High / Secondary School qualifications studied by non-EU applicants that can be used as a basis of entry to a UWS. These range from Botswana GCSEs to USA High School Graduation Diplomas, the number of these qualifications is extensive.
Find out more about international English Language high-hchool qualifications
Applicants who do not meet the minimum English language requirements have the option to study one of our preparatory and pre-sessional English courses. The UWS courses available are:
The CertHE Maternity Care Assistant lasts one year. Each trimester comprises a short theory block followed by defined practice placements to integrate and consolidate evidence-based knowledege and understanding with skills acquisition, attitudes and behaviours.
Topic areas include:
You will undertake practice placements within your NHS Board, and the Board will administer the placement, ensuring you experience a variety of ante and post-natal care settings.
Programme Specification and Module Descriptors for Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses are available to download (PDFs). These provide you with core information concerning your chosen subject.
Completion of this programme could lead to a variety of roles, including:
Further study is also a possibility, including UWS courses such as Health Studies, Childhood Studies or Midwifery.
£3,000 Total cost of study
£3,000 Total cost of study
We will always try to make sure that we publish accurate course information but we do not accept responsibility for any mistakes or omissions. We will also try to make sure that we deliver our courses in line with our published information. However, we may not always be able to do so and you can find further information about this in our enrolment terms and conditions.