Can you choose to go to a different midwife?

voodoozoe

I am 14 weeks pregnant and am none too happy with the services received at my local doctors surgery. They (no one is admitting responsibility so unsure who exactly) have lost my maternity notes and I have been told they were posted to me over a week ago. Obviously they now could be floating around anywhere containing personal information:mad:. I have never seen the actual midwife I am meant to as she is always "off" or "unavailable". I am normally quite laid back but am getting really wound up with this now. I cannot afford to go private but am I allowed to choose to go somewhere else?

stationaryace

it might depend on where you are (local authority). my friend managed to change mid-wife easily enough as the first one made several nasty comments about her being a single mother and her judgements had my friend in tears (she's not a crier normally). my friend just raised her concerns with the doctor and it was changed no problem.

however her second mid-wife was also unavailable a lot, mostly due to the large number of patients she had to see. pot luck i think.

Gingham_Ribbon

Yes, you are definitely entitled to another midwife.

RoxieW

The notes is unfortuate but if you change midwife you may not see the same one throughout. During my first two pregnancies I rarely saw the same midwife twice. It's a shambles actually, the midwifery service in this country. really really dire.

mumof4our

I saw loads of different midwives with no1, then usually saw the same one for 2&3, and when I had my booking in appointment for no4, I didn't see her, but she stuck her head around the door to see if it was really me doing it all over again.

LondonDiva

Your midwife is from the hospital not the GP - the practice are only renting the space to the hospital. If there are problems, speak to the team leader about the notes and the fact that you are not happy with the midwife you've been assigned etc. There are hundreds of records moving round at anyone time and they do unfortunately get lost. Ask again for another copy of your records.

Re the lack of a named midwife, it may be that there are not enough to see the same one twice or that an emmergency / annual leave etc has come up when you were due for an appointment.

If you're in England, you can choose to go to another hospital and that would entitle you to a new midwifery team, but it may be that in your area / for your GP that is the team that deals with the hospital you chose.

Best bet is to speak to the team leader or contact the hospital's PALS team with your concerns.

NBirdy

I saw a midwife 'team' (rarely the same one twice) and with both my babies I had never met the midwife who delivered me. I was given the choice of 2 local hospitals to deliver at, but was told the midwife team I would see was the same either way, so I opted to deliver at the hospital they were from. I couldn't see the midwives from the other hospital as they're not 'attached' to my GP's surgery.

beckseven

With my DS I had really negligent aftercare from my midwife. After you have given birth in my area they come round every day for a week to check the baby. I kept saying that i was having trouble breastfeeding, he wasn't having wet or dirty nappies and she could see for herself that he had blood in his nappy. However she just said that i wasn't feeding him properly and I had to try harder and whaever I did i wasn't to give him a bottle. anyway, to cut a long story short my ds eventually ended up in the special baby unit near death from dehydration-i couldn't get anyone to listen to me that he wasn't well until i turned up at a and e. Anyway the hospital raised a critical incident against my midwife. When i was pregnant again recently the same midwife is at my GPs and there was no way I could face seeing the same midwife-she hides and runs away if she sees me in the supermarket! I rang the hospital where the local midwives are based and explained the situation and they with no question at all allocated me another midwife at a nearby practice with no problem at all. I hope you get it sorted out.

inkie

With regards to the concerns that the OP is raising - the notes have nothing to do with staff incompetance - if things get lost in the post, then that is unfortunate, but is not the 'fault' of anyone. Also, the fat that your midwife is not 'available', is hardly a reason for requesting another - another midwife will not be availbale all the time either. They have days off/holidays/maternity leave/are ill - just like anyone else - add to this there will be times when they are working that they will be fulfilling other duties which may take them away from their usual commitments i.e. community emergencies/home deliveries/covering the labour ward/study leave...etc, etc..
I am a midwife, and was always on the rota to cover my own antenatal clinic, but if I had been on call the night before and been up all night at a home birth, then I would be in bed sleeping, and a colleague would do the clinic.

pickle

I agree with the OP the notes should not have gone astray. Notes of that confidential nature should be left somewhere where the OP could collect them personally and show their identification before collection. Did they at least send it by security mail? It is totally unacceptable. To me it shows a complete lack of professionalism. I would check what their official policy is regarding the security of personal information as this could constitute a breach. To answer your question, you are entitled to see another midwife.

Agutka

I was under the impression you were lucky, or living in a small community to see the same midwife. Or have anyone you have met attend the birth. My midwife team were based in a different hospital to the one I gave birth in, so I was meeting with strangers all the time. During my epidural 'labour' I didn't even bother to ask their names as they changed shifts. Even during my two week hospital stay I was lucky to meet the same midwives as they changed roles all the time.

As for your notes, what were they doing in the post? I was told to keep them with me at all times...
I hope you sort it out, but if your experience is anything like mine, you're on your own! This is what the pregnancy club here is for - they're the ones that kept me sane.