How can universities ‘ASSIST’ student midwives with additional needs to achieve?

Previous articles have discussed how pre-registration midwifery education should prepare student midwives ‘to cope with the complex emotional and physical demands of their chosen profession’ (Power, 2016a:66); acknowledged the importance of a partnership approach to education through the ‘Clinicians in the Classroom’ series (Power, 2016b; Power and Rea, 2016; Power and Rooth, 2016; Power and Gupta, 2016; Power and Briody, 2016) and considered how best to support student midwives with appropriate learning and teaching strategies (Power and Farmer, 2017). What is yet to be considered is what extra support is available to students who have additional needs, disabilities or medical conditions that might impact on their studies. This article will take the University of Northampton as a case study and review the support services it has in place to support such students to meet their full potential. This service is called The Additional Student Support and Inclusion Services Team (ASSIST).