Success for Maternity Care Assistants

NHS Western Isles is delighted to congratulate four of its Maternity Care Assistants – Mary McWilliams, Dolina Macleod, Becky Thornton and Charlotte Rowe – who have each successfully completed their Maternity Care Assistant course with the University of the West of Scotland.  

Awarded the Certificate of Higher Education MCA at the Subject Exam Board, the staff have demonstrated their ability to recognise and understand the role and responsibilities of the Maternity Care Assistant (MCA) in relation to caring for women, their babies and their family adopting a woman centred approach. 

Catherine MacDonald, NHS Western Isles Head of Midwifery, said “I would like to congratulate each student for their very hard work.  The course was quite comprehensive and challenging at times – this is a fantastic achievement!"  

As part of the course, they undertook training in cannulation and venepuncture, blood spot screening of newborn, and many more aspects relevant to maternity services.  In addition, they were introduced to ethical, legal and professional responsibilities in relation to communication, continuity of care, confidentiality, consent, accountability, conflict and professional behaviour. 

Catherine added, “They currently manage the ultrasound clinics with supervision from the midwifery staff, they are all trained in hearing screening of the newborn and we look forward to them adopting their new knowledge and skills into the maternity workforce.” 

The students have successfully passed their programme with an excellent set of academic achievement and will shortly be getting to work within the local communities, to support and complement the existing maternity service being offered across the Outer Hebrides.