Midwifery Council notification · Written to Code of Conduct
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Midwives for Midwives facing a Midwifery Council investigation, complaint or allegation
The allegation concerns your professionalism, behaviour or conduct as a midwife.
- Communication — what was said in labour, or a woman not listened to
- Dishonesty — notes that do not match the birth, or a false claim
- Boundaries — a boundaries breach with a woman, whānau or colleague
- The interface — a consultation, transfer or handover handled badly
- Unsafe practice — fatigue, or a second midwife not called
- Social media — a photo or post a small community could identify
- Cultural safety — whānau excluded from a birth plan, tikanga dismissed
- Any other — professional concern or allegation of unprofessional conduct
Facing an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or misconduct like these — from the Midwifery Council, a Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal?
Help with a Midwifery Council investigation, complaint or allegation starts here. This CPD course helps you remediate — and demonstrate the remediation, with a dated certificate for your written response, your portfolio or a Committee or Tribunal direction.
Immediate access · certificate on completion · twelve months' access
- 2 CPD hours
- Self-paced
- Written for New Zealand
- CPD certificate
- Bulk buy: any 5 for NZ$850 · any 10 for NZ$1,400
At a glance
- Who it is for
- Any midwife facing a Midwifery Council notification, complaint or allegation, a Professional Conduct Committee investigation or a competence review about professional behaviour or conduct — an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct
- Authorities covered
- The Midwifery Council (Te Tatau o te Whare Kahu), its Professional Conduct Committees and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal
- Length
- 10 sections, 55 lessons, 2 CPD hours
- Format
- Self-paced, online, immediate access, twelve months from purchase
- Certificate
- Issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses on completion, dated, with the course title and 2 CPD hours
- Price
- NZ$200 · any 5 for NZ$850 · any 10 for NZ$1,400
Certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics CoursesRemediation courses for regulatory processes.
Who this course is for
Facing an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct
The Council’s letter says a remark in labour, a tone at a postnatal visit, the way a transfer was handled or a shortcut fell short of the Code of Conduct. This course is how you account for it — and show you have remediated.
Dealing with a Midwifery Council notification or complaint
A woman or her whānau — a common source of conduct concerns about midwives — a colleague, the hospital or your employer has raised a concern, and the Council has asked for your account. Most professionalism concerns are decided on it; this course gives it the structure the Council reads for.
Facing a competence review by a panel of midwives
A panel of experienced midwives will review your practice against the Standards of Competence, often through a case review of one event, and may set a competence programme. A dated certificate and a reflective account are evidence the panel can weigh.
Under investigation by a Professional Conduct Committee
Two midwives and a layperson have the file and want your written response and usually a meeting. They read for the difference between an account and a defence — and for dated, targeted remediation alongside your reflection.
Facing a misconduct charge or hearing before the Tribunal
A charge of professional misconduct has been laid, or a penalty is being decided. Remediation completed before the hearing — dated, documented — is weighed every time.
Expecting a complaint to reach the Council
A complaint to the hospital, the Health and Disability Commissioner, ACC or the Coroner can become a Midwifery Council notification. Remediation done now is documented before it does.
The concerns this course speaks to
Communication with the woman and her whānau
A woman told she is overreacting in labour, options not discussed before a procedure, a call not returned, a birth plan dismissed. The Code requires open, respectful communication and support for informed choice, and communication is among the themes the Health and Disability Commissioner most often finds in complaints about midwives.
Probity and an allegation of dishonesty
Notes written after the event and presented as contemporaneous, a partogram that does not match the timeline, a consultation recorded that did not happen, a claim to the Ministry of Health for care not given. Accountability is the Code’s first area, and the Council treats dishonesty as misconduct whatever the outcome.
Boundaries in continuity of care
Messages months after discharge, a family that became friends, gifts, a relationship with a partner, relative or colleague. Continuity of care builds a relationship no other profession has, and the Code places the responsibility for the boundary with the midwife.
Inter-professional relationships and transfer
A consultation delayed because of how the last one went, a transfer handled with the obstetric team as adversaries, a handover that left things out, a colleague criticised in front of the woman. A notification from a hospital team usually describes conduct at the interface.
Unsafe practice under pressure
A second midwife not called, an observation missed on a long labour, a home visit shortened, fatigue after three births in a week. The Code requires safe practice within the limits of your own condition, and the Council reads an account of a lapse for whether you can separate the system from yourself.
Social media, privacy and a small community
A birth discussed where it can be overheard, a photograph shared, a post a community can identify, a message sent to the wrong whānau. The Code applies online without change, and the course treats digital conduct as ordinary professional conduct.
Cultural safety and Tūranga Kaupapa
Whānau excluded from a birth plan, tikanga around whenua or the pēpi not asked about, a Māori woman treated the same as everyone else and therefore not as herself. Cultural safety is a domain of the Standards of Competence and partnership a value of the Code.
Competence, scope and any other concern
Practising outside scope, a skill not kept current, a Midwifery Standards Review not completed. Any allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct is measured against a part of the Code — the course shows you how to find it and answer it.
Facing a Midwifery Council investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200What the course covers
Ten sections and 55 lessons, with a reflective quiz closing each of the first nine and a post-course assessment at the end.
Introduction — Professionalism in Aotearoa Midwifery
Five lessons
Accountability — Notes, Claims and Telling the Truth
Six lessons
Professional Relationships — Communication Across the Continuum
Six lessons
Boundaries in Continuity of Care
Six lessons
Inter-Professional Relationships — Consultation, Transfer and Handover
Six lessons
Professional Behaviour Under Pressure
Five lessons
Digital Professionalism in a Small Community
Five lessons
Cultural Safety, Tūranga Kaupapa and Te Tiriti as Professional Conduct
Six lessons
The Concern, the Review Panel and the Professional Conduct Committee
Seven lessons
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
Three lessons
Show every lesson title
- Section 01 · Introduction — Professionalism in Aotearoa Midwifery
- What Professionalism Means for Midwives and Why the Council Treats It as Conduct; The Code of Conduct’s Four Areas and the Standards’ Four Domains; Recertification, the Midwifery Standards Review and Professionalism; Why Professionalism Matters to Women, Whānau and the Profession; Consequences of Professional Lapses.
- Section 02 · Accountability — Notes, Claims and Telling the Truth
- Accountability as the First Area of the Code; The Partogram and the Notes — Contemporaneous, Written Up and Falsified; Claims for Care and Honesty With the Funder; Honesty With the Hospital, the Review and the Coroner; Incident Reporting and Open Disclosure After a Birth; Case Study — Notes That Did Not Match the Timeline.
- Section 03 · Professional Relationships — Communication Across the Continuum
- Communication at Booking, in Labour and in the Postnatal Weeks; Respect in the Birthing Room — Pain, Fear and the Dismissive Remark; Informed Choice as a Communication Duty; Communicating With Whānau, Partners and Interpreters; Repairing a Communication Failure; Case Study — What Was Said at Eight Centimetres.
- Section 04 · Boundaries in Continuity of Care
- Why Continuity Makes Boundaries Harder and More Important; Gifts, Gratitude and Friendship With the Family; Messaging After Discharge and Where Professional Care Ends; Relationships With Partners and Relatives; Ending Drift Kindly and Recording It; Case Study — a Family Still Messaging Two Years On.
- Section 05 · Inter-Professional Relationships — Consultation, Transfer and Handover
- The Code’s Expectations at the Interface; Consulting When the Last Consultation Went Badly; Transfer as Collaboration, Not Contest; Handover That Leaves Nothing Out; Speaking About Colleagues in Front of the Woman; Case Study — a Transfer Reported by the Obstetric Team.
- Section 06 · Professional Behaviour Under Pressure
- Caseload, Fatigue and the Limits of One Midwife; The Second Midwife, the Observation and the Shortcut; Working Within Scope; Separating the System’s Failure From Your Own in an Account; Case Study — Three Births in a Week.
- Section 07 · Digital Professionalism in a Small Community
- Confidentiality Where Everyone Knows Everyone; Photographs, Birth Announcements and the Woman’s Consent; Messaging Apps, Groups and the Patient Record; Telehealth Antenatal and Postnatal Care; Case Study — a Post a Town Could Name.
- Section 08 · Cultural Safety, Tūranga Kaupapa and Te Tiriti as Professional Conduct
- Cultural Safety as a Domain of Competence; Tūranga Kaupapa — What Māori Women and Whānau Can Expect; Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Midwifery Practice; Tikanga Around Whenua, the Pēpi and the Birth Space; Māori-Led Education as Remediation; Case Study — Whānau Excluded From a Birth Plan.
- Section 09 · The Concern, the Review Panel and the Professional Conduct Committee
- What Happens When a Concern Reaches the Midwifery Council; The Competence Review — the Panel, the Case Review and What It Reads; The Health Process and the Professional Conduct Committee; Reflection, Insight and Remediation — Defined and Evidenced; Weak vs Strong Responses — Patterns Across the Cases; Building a Remediation Portfolio; Taking Advice Before You Respond.
- Section 10 · Conclusion and Key Takeaways
- Professionalism as Identity, Not Compliance; Habits That Hold in the Longest Week; Your Personal Professionalism Plan.
How to respond to a Midwifery Council notification, complaint or allegation
The Midwifery Council, a review panel, a Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal all read the same written account. It has to do four things, and the course teaches each one.
An account that reads like a birth story is heard as advocacy; one that reads like a handover is heard as evidence.
- What happenedThe events in order, with times where the notes have them, without adjectives.Weak and strong accounts of the same events show the tone that works.
- Which expectationThe part of the Code it fell short of — accountability, professional relationships, inter-professional relationships, professional behaviour — named by you before the Council names it.The course takes the Code’s four areas as behaviour, so you can name the one that applies.
- The effectOn the woman, her pēpi, her whānau and the colleagues involved, in their terms. The sentence that says she was not harmed is the one often quoted back.Reflection and insight are defined and evidenced in a section of their own.
- What has changedDated evidence that someone other than you can check, and what will be different next time.This course is the dated item you attach — and it tells you how to build the rest.
Apologise for what upset her, not that she was upset — and do not send the first draft.
Take advice from your indemnity insurer, your union or a lawyer before you respond to anyone.
Facing a Midwifery Council investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200How this course helps with a Midwifery Council investigation
Paired responses from New Zealand midwifery
The course takes the events that bring midwives to the Council — notes completed to fit the decisions, a gift from a grateful family, a remark in labour, postnatal messaging that never stopped, a transfer handled as a contest, an online post — and shows two midwives answering each: the one whose matter closed and the one whose matter went to a Committee. What differs is whether the midwife named the standard first, accepted the effect without a qualifying clause, and could point to something dated.
What a panel or a Committee will accept as remediation, and what it will not
Accepted: this course’s dated certificate; CPD targeted to the part of the Code concerned; a mentor’s written reports; an audit of documentation or of consultation and transfer decisions against the Referral Guidelines, repeated after an interval; feedback from women and whānau gathered on purpose; Māori-led cultural safety education where it is engaged; and reflection that cites the Code and the Standards. Not accepted: hours on another subject, an apology for the complaint, and reflection that argues the birth. For the stages from the first letter to the Tribunal, see the Council investigation process, explained.
Read the primary sources
Who wrote it
Dr Shehzad Iqbal
Course author and facilitator, Healthcare Ethics New Zealand
Dr Iqbal has designed and delivered ethics, probity and professionalism training for healthcare professionals since 2020, working with registrants across regulated health professions, online and face to face. He combines clinical practice with formal postgraduate training in healthcare law and ethics.
MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics, University of Dundee
Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed .
In short
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Midwives is a two-hour, self-paced remediation course for midwives registered with the Midwifery Council of New Zealand (Te Tatau o te Whare Kahu) facing a notification, investigation, complaint or allegation, written to the Council’s Code of Conduct and Standards of Competence. It sets out what the Council means by professionalism, the lapses concerns about midwives often describe — communication in labour and after, honesty in notes and claims, boundaries in continuity of care, the interface with the hospital team, unsafe practice under pressure, confidentiality in a small community, cultural safety — and what a credible response to a concern, a competence review, a Professional Conduct Committee or the Tribunal contains. Ten sections, the first nine closing with a reflective quiz, a post-course assessment, and a dated certificate from Healthcare Ethics Courses for your recertification programme. It is remediation and dated evidence of it; it decides no matter, and it is not a substitute for advice from your indemnity insurer, your professional body or a lawyer.
What the Midwifery Council means by professionalism
The Code of Conduct describes professionalism as conduct, not character — under four areas: accountability, professional relationships, inter-professional relationships and professional behaviour. The Standards of Competence add the measure a competence review uses, with professional behaviour and cultural safety alongside clinical knowledge, so a review of a midwife’s competence is also a review of how she conducts herself.
Two things are particular to midwifery. Continuity of care gives a midwife months with a woman and her whānau, in their home, at all hours — boundaries are harder to keep and easier to lose. And the interface with the hospital — consultation, transfer and handover — is where the Code’s inter-professional expectations are tested and where a notification from a colleague usually arises.
What these words mean
The three terms that decide where a matter goes, and the other words the course uses.
- Professional Conduct Committee
- Two midwives and a layperson, with a legal adviser, appointed where a concern is about conduct. It investigates independently of the Council, reads the midwife’s response, usually meets her, and recommends: no further action, counselling, a competence or health review, a change of scope, or a charge before the Tribunal.
- Professional misconduct
- The Tribunal’s ground under s 100 of the Act: malpractice or negligence in your scope of practice, or conduct that has brought or was likely to bring discredit to the profession. Dishonesty, a boundary breach and a breach of confidence are among the findings made under it.
- The three routes under the HPCA Act
- Fitness to practise is the phrase practitioners use for the whole process. Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 the Council or Board takes one of three routes: a competence review (your practice against the required standard); the health process — the Act’s fitness to practise provisions, for impairment by a mental or physical condition; or a referral of your conduct to a Professional Conduct Committee, which can lay a charge of professional misconduct before the Tribunal. Which route your letter names tells you how the matter is being treated.
The Code, the Standards, reflection, insight, remediation and the other terms the course uses
- Code of Conduct
- The Midwifery Council’s statement of the minimum expectations of every midwife, set under the Act, in four areas: accountability, professional relationships, inter-professional relationships and professional behaviour. The document a concern about a midwife is measured against, and the one a response should cite by area.
- Standards of Competence
- The Council’s statement of what a competent midwife knows and does, in four domains — Āhuru Mōwai, Mātauranga, Te Iho and Whenua. The measure a competence review panel applies, and the document that makes professional behaviour and cultural safety part of competence.
- Competence review
- The Council’s process where a concern suggests a midwife may be practising below the required standard: a panel of experienced midwives reviews the practice against the Standards, often beginning with a case review of one event, and may recommend a competence programme, conditions or nothing further.
- Professional boundary
- The line between the midwifery relationship and any other. In continuity of care the line is tested by proximity, time and gratitude, and the Code places the responsibility for keeping it with the midwife regardless of who initiated the drift.
- Reflection
- A structured written account of what happened, why, which expectation of the Code it fell short of and what has changed. Distinguished from an apology by its specificity, and from an explanation by not arguing that the conduct was reasonable in the circumstances of the birth.
- Insight
- Acceptance of the seriousness of a lapse and its effect on the woman, her pēpi, her whānau, colleagues and public trust, without minimising it or shifting responsibility to the labour, the hospital or the woman herself. The Council treats limited insight as the strongest predictor of recurrence.
- Remediation
- Corrective action targeted to the lapse and verifiable by someone else: CPD on the standard concerned, mentoring or supervision with reports, audits repeated over time, feedback gathered on purpose. Recertification hours on an unrelated subject count for little on their own.
The provisions a professionalism concern about a midwife engages
Professionalism is conduct, and the Midwifery Council’s standards say what professional conduct is for the profession. These are the standard itself and the provisions of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 a professionalism notification about a midwife runs under.
Midwifery Council — Code of Conduct
The Council’s Code of Conduct for midwives, with its four areas, read with the Standards of Competence. Every professionalism concern about a midwife names a part of it. Read it.
For this course: The course takes the Code’s four areas as behaviour and the Standards’ four domains as the measure, so that a response names the part of the Code the conduct fell short of.
Section 71 — referral to a Professional Conduct Committee
A conduct concern — behaviour towards women or colleagues, honesty, respect — is referred to a Professional Conduct Committee of two midwives and a layperson, which investigates independently, asks for your written response and usually meets you. Read it.
For this course: A professionalism concern is a conduct concern and is referred here; the course explains what the Committee will ask for and how it meets you.
Section 100 — the grounds of discipline
The Tribunal may discipline for professional misconduct — malpractice or negligence, or conduct likely to bring discredit to the profession — among other grounds. Discredit is judged by what the public and the profession would make of the conduct. Read it.
For this course: Conduct that brings discredit to the profession is a ground of discipline, and the course explains how it has been applied to midwives.
Section 101 — the penalties
Censure, conditions, suspension for up to three years, cancellation of registration, a fine of up to NZ$30,000 and costs. Censure is the least of the penalties; insight, remediation and conduct since the events are weighed every time. Read it.
For this course: The Tribunal’s penalties in midwifery conduct cases weigh pattern and insight; the course teaches the evidence for the second.
Also engaged: Section 118 — the Council sets the Code and the Standards a concern is measured against · Section 34 — practitioners and employers must notify a risk of harm, which is why a hospital team may notify the Council · Section 80 — what a Professional Conduct Committee may recommend, from counselling to a charge · Section 36 — a competence review by a panel of midwives where professionalism and competence overlap.
What happens after a notification reaches the Midwifery Council
Who you hear from, and in what order. Every reader asks the same thing: do you understand what happened and why it mattered to the woman, have you said so in your own words, and have you done something someone else can check.
The Council, asking for your account
A woman or her whānau, a colleague, an employer, another practitioner, ACC or the Coroner has written to the Council, which makes enquiries and writes to you. Most professionalism concerns are decided here — no further action or educational guidance — on the strength of the account.
A review panel of midwives, if your practice is to be reviewed
A panel of experienced midwives — one an educator, one from your practice context — reviews your practice against the Standards of Competence, often through a case review of one event, and may recommend a competence programme, conditions or nothing further.
The health process, if your fitness is the question
Where illness, exhaustion or substance use may be affecting your practice, the matter goes to the health process under the Act’s fitness to practise provisions — usually an independent assessment, then conditions and reporting where needed. It is confidential and not disciplinary.
A Professional Conduct Committee, if your conduct is the question
Two midwives and a layperson, with a legal adviser, investigate independently. You respond in writing and usually meet them; they may recommend anything from no further action to a charge before the Tribunal — and what they recommend turns on your insight more than the event.
The Tribunal, if a charge is laid
A legally qualified chair, three midwives and a layperson decide, usually in public, whether the conduct amounts to professional misconduct and what follows. Insight, remediation and conduct since the events are weighed every time, and any order is reviewed against what has changed.
The Council again, if the risk is serious
Where women or babies are at serious risk the Council may suspend your practising certificate or impose interim conditions at any stage, and the Tribunal may once a charge is laid. An interim order is a precaution, not a finding, and is reviewed.
Facing a Midwifery Council investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200Not a midwife? New Zealand regulates 18 professions under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and the process is the same for all — courses for every registered profession →
Frequently asked questions
What does the Council want to see in my written response?
The events in order and plainly; the part of the Code you fell short of, named by you first; the effect on the woman, her pēpi and her whānau in their terms; what you have done since, with dates; and what would be different next time.
Should I take advice before I respond to the Council?
Yes — before anything is written to the Council, a review panel, a Professional Conduct Committee, the Tribunal or your employer. Your indemnity insurer, your professional body or a lawyer should read an account before it is sent. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and no course determines the outcome of a matter.
Does completing this course count as remediation?
It is one dated item. Remediation the Council recognises is targeted to the lapse and checkable by someone else — CPD on the standard, a mentor’s reports, an audit repeated after an interval, feedback from women gathered on purpose, and reflection that cites the Code. No provider is accredited by the Council and no course decides a matter; check the wording of any direction with your indemnity insurer, professional body or lawyer.
The complaint is about what I said to a woman in labour. Will the Council take that seriously?
Yes. The Code’s expectations of respect and informed choice apply in the second stage as much as at a booking visit. A single remark usually ends with your account and perhaps educational guidance; a pattern, or a remark she experienced as humiliating at the most vulnerable moment of her life, can go to a Professional Conduct Committee. The response decides which.
I wrote my notes up after the birth. Is that dishonesty?
Writing up after a birth is ordinary practice if the notes say when they were written. Notes written to look contemporaneous, or a timeline adjusted to match a decision, turn a documentation concern into one about accountability, which the Council treats as misconduct whatever the outcome.
A family I cared for still message me. Is that a boundary problem?
It can be, and the Code places the responsibility with you. The Council does not expect midwives to be cold; it expects them to notice when contact has outlasted the professional relationship and to manage it. The course covers recognising drift, ending it kindly and recording it.
The notification came from the hospital, not from a woman. Does that change anything?
It changes what the concern is usually about. A notification from an obstetric team or a charge midwife often describes conduct at the interface — a consultation delayed, a transfer handled adversarially, a handover that left things out — and the course gives the interface its own section.
Is cultural safety really a conduct matter for midwives?
Yes. Cultural safety is a domain of the Standards of Competence, Tūranga Kaupapa sets out what Māori women and whānau can expect, and the Code requires partnership. A concern about whānau excluded or tikanga dismissed is a professionalism concern, with its own section and remediation pathway in the course.
How is this course different from the Ethics course for midwives?
The Ethics course is about the reasoning behind a decision — informed choice and refusal, consultation, confidentiality, the woman’s wishes against the whānau’s. This course is about conduct — the behaviours the Code requires and the lapses that produce concerns.
I am a nurse as well as a midwife. Which page should I take?
The one for the authority that has written to you. Nurses have their own page written to the Nursing Council’s Code of Conduct; this page is written to the Midwifery Council’s.
How long does it take, and how long do I have access?
The course is 2 CPD hours, self-paced, with twelve months’ access from purchase. The certificate is issued on completion, dated, with the course title and the CPD hours, for your recertification programme, a competence programme or a response.
Courses that work alongside this one
Notifications rarely raise one issue. These are the courses that pair with this one.
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Midwives
Ethics course for NZ midwives facing a Midwifery Council notification or competence review. Written to the Code of Conduct and Standards of Competence.
Documentation for Healthcare Professionals
Clinical documentation and health records course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification about records, late entries or amendments. 2 CPD hours.
Ensuring Teamwork and Collaboration
Teamwork and collaboration course for NZ health practitioners facing a handover, escalation or team-conflict concern raised with a Council or Board. 2 hrs.
Professional Boundaries Course
A boundary notification in NZ: where the risk comes from, dual relationships, another person in the room, colleagues and online conduct. 2 CPD hours.
Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation Professionally
Responding to a complaint, notification, competence review or conduct committee in NZ: the first letter, the meeting, what to write. 2 CPD hours.
Insight for Fitness to Practise
Asked to show insight after a notification? The staged model, the four components a Council or Tribunal assesses, and what undermines it. 2 CPD hours.
Remediation for Fitness to Practise
Remediation after a Council or Board notification: root cause not symptom, SMART goals, the seven parts of a written plan, evidence of change. 2 CPD hours.
See all CPD courses for nurses and midwives in New Zealand →
Start today, finish at your own pace
Immediate access on purchase. Twelve months' access, a dated certificate on completion, and 2 CPD hours issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses.