A review of supervisory investigations and supervised practice programmes

Abstract

The 1902 Midwives Act introduced the role of supervisor of midwives (SoM) as a means of regulating the profession by ensuring that they were educated appropriately. While the Act has been updated with the Nurses and Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1997, the role has remained the same. The role aims to protect mothers and babies by actively promoting a safe standard in practice, identifying poor practice and implementing remedial action when required. Furthermore, the statutory supervision of midwives is independent of employment and employers, to ensure that midwives registered and working within the UK are entitled to practise as a midwife and competent to remain on the midwives' part of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register. The purpose of this article is to guide midwives through the process that supervision must follow to ensure equity and transparency in the investigatory process; the purpose being to determine if the midwife is in breach of the standards for practice set by the NMC. This article will be of interest to all practising midwives, including midwifery managers, who have to resource supervised practice programmes as well as providing an update for SOMs. It will explain why, when undertaken appropriately, supervised practice programmes can provide a positive learning opportunity for a midwife who finds herself on supervised practice.