-Automatic translation

The conditions for issuing a specialist licence for midwives are outlined in Article 6 of Regulation No. 1089/2012 on the education, rights, and obligations of midwives and on the criteria for granting licences and specialist licences. According to this regulation, an applicant's specialist training must be specific to the particular field for which they are applying for a specialist licence. The applicant must have completed a master's or doctoral degree in midwifery from a recognised university or possess equivalent qualifications.

According to the aforementioned regulation, the requirement for obtaining a licence to practise as a midwife is that the applicant has completed a Candidatus degree in midwifery at the Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland. In 2019, the structure of midwifery studies was changed, resulting in the discontinuation of the Candidatus degree in favour of a master's degree in midwifery, which now grants the right to practise as a midwife. Regulation No. 1089/2012 has not yet been updated to reflect this new study structure, but revisions are currently underway.

Midwives who completed a Candidatus degree before the aforementioned change to midwifery studies, and who have supplemented their studies with the necessary credits to obtain a master's degree in midwifery, have until now been regarded as fulfilling the conditions outlined in Article 6 of Regulation No. 1089/2012 for the issuance of a specialist licence in midwifery regarding education.

Following a thorough review of the conditions for specialist licences, partly in connection with the work on the revision of the aforementioned regulation, and with reference to recent rulings by the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Health has concluded that a master's degree in midwifery, which is now the programme that grants the right to a licence to practise as a midwife, cannot be considered to meet the condition of the first paragraph of Article 6 of the regulation of being defined as specialist training within the specific field of midwifery, even if a midwife has supplemented their Candidatus degree with the required credits to complete the master's degree.

With reference to the above, the Directorate of Health announces that going forward, applicants must have completed a full master's or doctoral degree, or equivalent studies, in a specialised field of midwifery. Additionally, the studies on which the applicant bases their application for a specialist licence must have begun after completing the studies that granted the individual the right to a practising licence. As before, other conditions outlined in Article 6 for granting a specialist licence must also be fulfilled.

According to the aforementioned regulation, a midwife must have worked full-time in the relevant field for two years after completing their specialist training before applying for a specialist licence. To accommodate midwives who have already started a master's degree in midwifery, as a supplement to a Candidatus degree in midwifery, and to enable them to obtain a specialist licence based on their studies, their applications for a specialist licence will be processed in accordance with the previous practice until 31 December 2029.

Operating Licence Team