Has anyone been caseloaded before?

[Pea2019]

I had a letter from a student midwife who was at my first ever apt (along with a trained midwife) asking if she could caseload me. The letter says she would arrange my care and be at all apts and will be under the guidance of a trained midwife.

Has anyone had experience of this before? Good or bad. Not sure what i should do. My sister in law is a midwife and said that they try to please and you get really good 121 care.

Don't know what that means, other than a trainee has approached you to ask if she can be your mw under supervision? If you liked her and have assurances she will be closely supervised, I'd say yes. Every one needs to learn and she clearly thought you were approachable, which suggests the start of a good working relationship. If you don't want to, refuse, or at any point, refuse, but great experience for her. I know you aren't a guinea pig, but if she is closely supervised, it will be excellent training for her to become a great practitioner.

I'm with my trust's caseloading team (although nothing to do with student midwives here). As far as I know, they deal with higher risk pregnancies here (mine is because of pre-existing MH stuff). I think it's supposed to mean you get more sessions with your dedicate midwife and they manage everything for you so mine has arranged (and attended) a number of different appointments. She will also be at the birth unless something unforeseen happens. I also have a dedicated caseloading number to ring rather than the general maternity triage. This is my first pregnancy so I've nothing really to compare it to but it definitely seems like there's much more continuity (and frequency) of care compared to other people I've spoken to. I'm not sure how much that helps, I have a feeling that my trust want to move to a fully 'caseloading' approach in future rather than just for the higher risk cases.

Caseloading means you get your own midwife who you see for all your appointments so you build rapport and get continuity of care. I had it in my second pregnancy and felt much better looked after than my first when I didn't have it.

Yes, and it was a fantastic experience. It meant that when I went into labour at 2 in the morning I called her and she was with us at the hospital for the whole 20-hour epic. She was able to advocate for me because she knew me and my preferences. I'd totally recommend doing it if you feel you have a decent chemistry with her.

She coordinated our aftercare too and even visited us in hospital when we were readmitted. If my baby had been a girl I'd gladly have named it after her.