Chloe Searle

After graduating from a University of Cumbria degree in Midwifery in 2022, Chloe was awarded Newly Qualified Midwife of the Year by the MAMA Academy, a charity committed to promoting safer pregnancies across the UK. Here, Chloe reflects on her time at Cumbria, the life-long friends she's made, and how her degree studies have helped her reach where she is today.

I’m Chloe. I trained to become a Midwife at University of Cumbria, qualifying in September 2022. Throughout my course I carried out the majority of my training in Carlisle but had some placements in West Cumbria. I am originally from South Cumbria so I relocated to Carlisle for my training.

A New Beginning in Carlisle

Moving to Carlisle was an experience in itself. I made new friends, had the northern Lakes on my doorstep for evening walks and paddleboarding, got a part-time job at a local cocktail bar and spent my spare evenings exploring the nightlife it had to bring.

My training is something I will always remember, it had its ups and downs. A Midwifery degree is a challenging degree, you have university assignments as well as placement time. Juggling that with personal life took time to adjust to. The tutors were supportive and offered advice on how to manage this. 

Image: Chloe's Midwifery cohort in her first year at Cumbria

Compared to other universities, the cohort is small. This meant that you ended up knowing everyone and becoming friends, some that will be life-long. We were able to support one another with assignments and discussing cases that we may have found difficult in placement.

Varied Placements

The placements were my favourite. We carried out a mixture of community, labour ward, antenatal clinic and postnatal ward placements. I was lucky to be part of the continuity of carer model throughout my final year, following women from their booking appointment right through to delivery. This was a beautiful experience and an honour to be part of.

Image: Chloe's graduation in November 2022

Stepping into the Professional World

I am now a midwife at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. I had no ties keeping me to Carlisle so when applying for jobs occurred, I applied for all the big hospitals in the UK. Liverpool stole my heart with a great preceptorship programme that has excellent support for their newly qualified.

Image: Newly Qualified Midwife cohort at Liverpool Women's Hospital (October 2022)

I have had the privilege to care for hundreds of women, bring another 120 babies into the world since qualifying (yes, I am still counting). I have looked after more challenging women who have been sick, delivering babies with complicated conditions, or caring for women who have sadly lost their baby in pregnancy, as well as low risk deliveries on the Midwife-led Unit and high-risk women on the Delivery Suite.

Newly Qualified Midwife of the Year 

Since being qualified, I am honoured to have been awarded ‘Newly Qualified Midwife of the Year’ from the MAMA Academy, being nominated by another colleague.

Image: Chloe's Newly Qualified Midwife of the Year award

This was an honour but is something I am very proud of. Without the support of the Midwifery lecturing team at UoC this wouldn’t have been achievable, they supported me through tough times and periods I thought I may not be able to complete the course.

All it takes is the love for midwifery, determination and good support to become a great midwife whether aspiring, training or qualified.

Since being qualified, I am honoured to have been awarded ‘Newly Qualified Midwife of the Year’ from the Mama Academy, being nominated by another colleague. This was an honour but is something I am very proud of. Without the support of the Midwifery lecturing team at UoC this wouldn’t have been achievable.