{"id":661135,"date":"2025-12-29T22:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T22:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/661135\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T22:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T22:08:16","slug":"people-tend-to-do-a-double-take-when-i-walk-into-the-delivery-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/661135\/","title":{"rendered":"‘People tend to do a double take when I walk into the delivery suite’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Minton has shared his experience as one of the only male midwives in Manchester<\/p>\n

15:51, 29 Dec 2025Updated 18:27, 29 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

Dan Minton is just one of four male midwifes in Greater Manchester(Image: Mark Waugh)<\/p>\n

One of Greater Manchester<\/a>‘s four male midwives has said that people do a double take when he walks into the delivery suite and are surprised to find that their midwife is a man. On his one-year anniversary as a qualified midwife<\/a>, Dan Minton says he usually gets some kind of reaction when he arrives to assist with a birth.<\/p>\n

As one of less than 200 male midwives<\/a> in the UK, Dan says most reactions are inquisitive and generally positive but sometimes reluctant and resistant. He said that “sometimes people are intrigued because male midwives are rare and it\u2019s a bit of a novelty.”<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt really does depend. Sometimes people are intrigued because male midwives are rare and it\u2019s a bit of a novelty. They want to know all about me and why I chose this career. And some don\u2019t really seem to notice and are more focussed on the task in hand!<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd of course there are women who don\u2019t want a male midwife, usually for cultural reasons. When this happens, their preferences are respected and I will make sure I help on the ward in other ways. There\u2019s always something to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan, 23, recently celebrated his one-year anniversary as a qualified midwife and has already safely delivered 11 babies – in addition to the 40 births he assisted with as a student. He trained at John Moore\u2019s University in Liverpool, with placements at hospitals in Chester and the Wirral, and then joined Saint Mary\u2019s Manchester as the only male as part of a cohort of 25 newly qualified midwives.<\/p>\n

Dan qualified as a midwife a year ago(Image: Mark Waugh)<\/p>\n

He says his day to day as a midwife is just like any other. He said: \u201cIt’s a lot more procedural than dramatic, but, that said, it can be intense and it takes time to develop your skills. In the last year I have rotated through different parts of maternity including ante-natal and post-natal-care, as well as the delivery suite.<\/p>\n

“As a student midwife you\u2019re very closely supported so working more independently takes some getting used to. But I\u2019ve had some amazing support, including from a more experienced male midwife in the team, and from senior midwives and doctors. It\u2019s been a rollercoaster but in a good way!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan\u2019s first solo birth came earlier this year: \u201cMy first birth was a good one. The woman was a student midwife herself so that was pretty helpful because she was already very well-versed about what was going to happen! It was a wonderful experience and I was walking on air when I left work the next morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cPeople tend to do a double take when I walk into the delivery suite, most are surprised to find that their midwife is a man. But I work hard to find common ground and a rapport with women because we’re about to go through something really special together. I get a few people saying they’re honoured to have a male midwife because it’s so rare. It makes me feel really valued that people are excited to have me. It\u2019s a real boost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan, originally from Bromborough, Wirral, and now living in Manchester, had always wanted to work in healthcare and considered training as a doctor. However, midwifery was on his radar because his sister had previously been interested in the profession and the opportunity to support women to have a positive birth experience appealed to him.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMy favourite days are the days that I get to work closely with women and babies. I try to empower all women to help make the best decisions for them and support them to do have the most natural organic birth that they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bev O\u2019Connor, Head of Midwifery at Manchester University NHS<\/a> Foundation Trust (MFT), said: \u201cDan has brought a fresh perspective to our service and it\u2019s been great to see the impact of his contribution. His positive energy and commitment to patient care reflect the qualities we value most in our teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a workforce that includes people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences in important and makes us better placed to understand women\u2019s needs and provide well-rounded care. Colleagues like Dan help demonstrate the value that diversity brings to our organisation and to the work we do every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Minton has shared his experience as one of the only male midwives in Manchester 15:51, 29 Dec…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,179,211,149584,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-661135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-liverpool","11":"tag-nhs","12":"tag-saint-marys-hospital","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115805140331992282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}