Issue with Community Midwife

[kidcrayola]

I'm 10 weeks 4 days.
I was booked in by GP at 6 weeks and have received my nhs medical card and my 12 week scan date a couple of weeks ago but hadn't had any contact from my midwife regarding my initial appt.
I phoned them at the end of last week and was told she would phone me Friday to arrange, she didn't. I phoned again yesterday and was told she works part time and that she would phone me today - she hasn't.
I'm off to Italy on Friday for 10 days and will be in my 12th week when I return. I'm happy to wait for an appt till i'm back (though would prefer one before) and don't want to be in a position where a letter is sent out whilst i'm away and I miss my appt.
I was just wondering if other people had experienced

Sorry that posted without me finishing!
I was wondering if other people had experienced similar issues?
Also if I continue to have on going issues with the midwife i have been allocated can I request a different one or seek alternative antenatal care else where?

Thanking advance

I wouldn't call it an issue yet...bear in mind that midwives are very busy and stretched with reductions in their numbers so maybe she ran out of time to call you today especially if she had more urgent calls, visits.
I'm sure she will be in touch as they have to do your initial visit but they also have to prioritise work

Hi Kid,

yes you can ask to change - I did this - I kept my current surgery but simply went for temporary mw services elsewhere it has been no problem at all.

My community midwife did not get in touch as promised, so I kept calling until eventually I got an appointment at the birthing centre to get put on the system. This was not the 'booking in', which apparently will not happen until at least 16 weeks due to a backlog

I was utterly disheartened by the birthing unit. It took 2 staff a whole hour of faffing to give me 3 booklets, and make one call to book the 12 week scan. I am not surprised they have a backlog, a receptionist could have done the same in less than 10 minutes. The majority of the time was spend rolling their eyes at consultants turning up half an hour late (they turned up half an hour late for me), complaining about the forms, complaining about other staff and generally giving me the impression that everything is a total shambles and everyone hates each other.

I am usually the first to defend the NHS, but in this case they pi55ed 2 hours staff costs up the wall and wasted my time also.

So you have done your booking in forms? I think the next appointment is at 16 wks still you will want to know what is going on with that appointment.

Is the midwife assigned to this surgery, and supposed to be seeing you at their consulting rooms because if you feel really put out you could complain to the practice manager and advise you are considering moving surgeries so you can get a better service from a different midwife/team. If they are worth their salt they will make a call for you and find out what is going on. The surgery will not like it if they are risking losing patients and their reputation because of a service being provided by an outside team.

I complained about the community MW in my last pregnancy and couldn't be assigned another so had hospital appts all the way through and this time don't have a MW as its the same one. So don't rush into getting annoyed with them!

As others have said its a stretched service and she could be rushed off her feet rather than disorganised( not promising though!).

Early pregnancy is hard as we want someone to acknowledge us and they aren't interested until 12+