Confused about midwife care

[msrlmoss]

Hello,
I'm confused; I have had my 12 week scan and 19 week scan and am now 20 weeks pregnant.
I thought when you were pregnant you got assigned a midwife, but I went to my GP today (over an unrelated matter) and when I asked her she said that because I was going to a hospital that wasn't my local (I know it's a bit sad but I want my baby to be born in Liverpool like I was but my nearerst hospital is outside of Liverpool), I wouldn't be assigned a midwife where I lived and would just get the hospital care.
Does anyone know if this is right? Or should I have any midwife appointments? I'm really confused!!
(Also I'm quite new here so if anyone could tell me what all the abbreviations like dd and dp and all that mean I'd be made up!)

As far as I know, you should be assigned regular care from your community midwife, even if you're going to a different hospital. I'm going to an out of area hospital as it's where I had DD, and I still get (albeit occasionally) to see my community midwife, as well as the appointments there. And for a simple, first baby, you should have most of your appointments with the midwife, after all, they'll be responsible for you once you're home with the baby. It might work differently in different areas though, but I'd query this.

Bramshott,
Thanks for this! Do you think I should phone the GP surgery and ask for the midwife then?
Ta!

Did you have a booking in appt with anyone?

If so your care should have been explained then

You should be assigned to a community midwife unless your pregnancy is high-risk and then you would be having regular appointments at the hospital.

I would phone the surgery and ask for the midwife's number.

I got fobbed off during my 1st pregnancy. I ended up seeing a midwife at my booking in appt at 6 weeks and then due to an admin error I didn't see her until 24 weeks. I didn't get offered any downs syndrome screening, which every woman should get. Don't be fobbed off and make sure you get an appointment soon.

it's different in different areas. i'm in leeds and here they ask you what sort of care you want. some women go for gp led care, some go for midwife led, and some go for hospital care. the ones looked after by the hospital have all their appointments there, never seeing a community midwife. the ones under midwife care see community midwife at clinic or doctors for appointments but go to hospital for scans.

so it may be that you don't get a community midwife, you may just be under a consultant at the hospital and will see midwives there.

Thanks everyone! I did have a booking in appointment but if they did say anything about the care after my second scan it clearly didn't sink in (I was slightly dazed to be honest after having various different people try to find a vein). I'll phone my GP tomorrow and get the midwife's number.

Do you have a book/folder of your preg notes?
I would expect it to contain a suggested plan of care eg who to see at how many weeks

it probably wont be the SAMe m/w (hardly ever is) but you should still have youre appts with midwife/gp as necessary.

cx

Yes, call them. It may be that in your area it's all arranged through the hospital midwives, but you should call your community midwife to check as it's equally quite possible that you've somehow slipped through the net. The community midwives are usually really helpful and will call you back if you leave a message for them at the surgery. If it turns out you are getting all your appointments from the hospital, you should contact them to find out how often you should be seen etc.

Mind you, my community midwife has just told me this morning that I don't get access to antenatal classes as I'm going to a different hospital - ho hum - thought it was all supposed to be about patient choice these days!! And she didn't mention that when she was encouraging me to choose this particular hospital!

Hi Mrsrlmoss - I'm having my baby at a hospital outside my local 'catchment area' (or whatever it's called for the NHS!)too. I've been assigned to the local midwife team, but have to go to the hospital for all bloods & scans. I'd have thought you should get local midwife care too, as who else will check you're OK after the birth as well as during pregnancy? The only thing I've had to watch out for is lack of communication/understanding between the midwife team & hospital - my local midwives have got confused in the past about how to book in for scans etc at the hospital which led to some delay(plus it meant I missed out on the nuchal scan window, not that I was particularly bothered). Likewise, the hospital may discharge me after a few hours, but the midwives think the hospital will be doing the 24hr paediatric check on the baby - maybe I'll have to go back in (!!) but as long as I keep both sides informed of what's happening, hopefully I won't be lost in the gap between them! Good luck!

Well thanks everyone I have now booked an appointment with the midwife for next Thursday!