Six nurses are now able to add "midwife" to their job titles after completing a year of training on the ward and earning their Graduate Diplomas in Midwifery.

Each of the six women - Lekshmi Thilakon, Sarah Campbell, Felicity Williams, Emily O'Brien, Natasha Fretwell and Sharna Davies - have spent a year in on-the-job training to make the transition from nurse to midwife.

They each cared for 10 women, following their progress through their pregnancies, deliveries and post-partum period.

Now that the six new midwives have finished their year of training, it's time for the maternity ward to welcome three new trainees: Ella French, Kristy Williams and Kate Neason, who like their predecessors are studying to make the transition from nurse to midwife.

They will be kept busy on the ward, which has six birthing suites, 13 antenatal beds and a two-bed assessment room.

The hospital's special care nursery can cater for up to nine babies at any one time.

The latest figures from the Bureau of Health Information show that in the three months from January to March this year, 23 more babies were born at Wagga Base than for the same period last year.

This represented an 8.3 per cent increase from 278 babies to 301.

The ward's birth rate has been consistent for the past year, with about 110 babies delivered each month.

Only in April did that figure dip below 100 and into the low 90s.