Can I change midwife practice?

[kallia]

Does anyone know if I can change midwife practice whilst not changing which GP I'm registered at? I don't want a different midwife from the same practice - I've seen 3 so far and they've all been pretty poor, and I wondered if a different practice might be better. Not sure how to go about this as I was assigned to the team automatically from my GP. Anyone had any experience of this?

Thanks for all your advice everyone. When I say "seen" midwife I do mean phone appts, and I've only had the booking appointment, one phone appointment to tell me they lost the sample, and one "appointment" to hand in a new sample, so not really 3 times.

They have been lovely although as you said @MissingCoffeeandWine not at all bothered by the HG/weight loss/severe pain.

I think it's just I felt a bit at sea/not really sure what to expect. I suppose just NHS admin problems so maybe it won't be better somewhere else. Each phone appt I've been shunted around by automated system for at least 20 mins before getting to speak to someone. I'm not hugely concerned (I know I'm low priority/low risk preg) but I've had bad experiences with NHS admin in the past (including one hospital which lost my notes right before a surgery which then had to be delayed 6 weeks until they found them, and another where they sent some rather personal medical notes to a different person with the same name as me) and I'm a bit worried about falling off radar and being forgotten about completely.

@Ginfilledcats thank you so much for the breakdown, that's super helpful. I don't think I will be seeing a midwife after my scan (they haven't said I am) but maybe someone will give me some notes or an app then. I tried to call the hospital yesterday to find out how long the appointment will be (got to take time off work) but no-one picked up so I guess I'll just see what happens!

@kallia they didn’t tell me I would be seeing a midwife after my 12 week scan, I also knew I was just collecting my notes.
But when I went to collect them, they had an appt for me! As I also needed to get bloods done at this appt - which the midwife gave me the form for!

@kallia no one told me I was seeing the midwife after the scan either, I just got scurried into another room and she was there. Maybe they'll do the same.

Glad the breakdown was useful! It's just something to base off though as I know some local authorities are different and do more less. And god knows what they're doing with covid. I gave birth in June so all my early appts were not affected, and to be honest I was fortunate that none of my appointments at all were over the phone. I know my friend in Sheffield saw no one for weeks and weeks. Can't remember if she had telephone appts though.

I didn't have an app, but my friend in Scotland does she says it's fab! I Carter around my notes everywhere! Inside was a timeline of when and who I'd see. Hopefully you'll get the same with your notes or app.

Hope all goes well!!

Oh my goodness - I COMPLETELY see what you all mean about lowering expectations! Tbh didn't think admin could get worse but...

Just had the 12 week scan. They were 30 mins late (I completely get it, things aren't always on time, but still, sitting an extra 30 mins with a full bladder wasn't comfortable!)

After the scan I was told to go to reception and book an appointment for the 20 week scan, and then go through to have my blood test done. As I get to the desk the lady is putting the shutters up: "just off to lunch! Back in an hour! Feel free to wait in the Waiting Room!"

I couldn't wait around for an hour, so I went home.

Still no notes/app (maybe I don't get any at my hospital?) and I didn't see a midwife.

Presume I won't get a 16 week appt or 20 week scan then? Not fussed if not, but they're not very clear about what's going on.

@kallia you will definitely get a 20 week scan as that is the important one! I would call up your hospital and explain what happened, I would also tell them you haven't received your maternity notes. They need to sort that out and let you know what is going on.

So far the admin side hasn't been great for me either, I actually had a scan booked the day before my booking appointment which I only found out about after when I called to double check the time of my booking appointment. The midwife was like "...why did you miss your scan?" when no one had told me, I had no letter etc!

Once you have your maternity notes you should be assigned one midwife and be given their mobile number so you can contact them whenever for any questions or worries. Until I had that I found it difficult to know what channels to go through.

Hopefully it all gets sorted for you! Did you managed to enjoy the actual scan part at least?

My husband really enjoyed it!

Tbh I was a bit miserable and crying, this pregnancy has been really hard (HG + lots of pain, and just before I went in I was pretty roundly told off by the receptionist for asking how late they were running). I'm finding the appointments generally quite stressful, really wish I could just relax and enjoy it! I wouldn't mind at all not having a 20-week scan (wouldn't terminate based on disability anyway, and they couldn't do the NIPT test today anyway because they didn't take bloods).

I suspect a lot of is it Covid-admin (so much queuing to have your temperature taken!) and staff being understandably stressed and overworked. I don't blame them, but the whole thing adds up to a pretty rough experience.