Midwife appointment and medical history

[Confusedwalker]

Do midwifes have access to all your GP notes / medical history?
Do they read through it all or just look for certain words?

Or do they rely on you to disclose your medical history? Especially if you don’t refer through your gp?

From my experience they just have your history from that hospital and you fill everything else in

Im a midwife and we generally get some medical history from your GP if they have referred you but they are often vague and missing huge chunks of information. If you have self referred or your GP has done a terrible referral they we rely on you to tell us. There is a long list of medical questions at your booking appointment that we ask that covers all bases.

I'm sure they have access to your medical history, but it doesn't mean they've looked at it if you see what I mean!!

The booking appointment takes nearly an hour as they go through your medical history in some depth - so if you have had previous issues or have concerns, this is the time to highlight it.

My last pregnancy was ectopic - and so I had made them aware when I registered as I needed to be seen early. They had a note of it, but no details, so I gave them the details at the booking appointment.

From then on, I think they refer to your maternity book rather than accessing your actual medical history. At scans and things, they all know my history as they will say "so this is your third pregnancy?" but I my book says "gravida 2, para 1" on most pages, which shows I have had 2 pregnancies and 1 delivery. So I guess its from there :-)

My midwife had digital access to most of my history as it's baby number 6. I did have to add 1 miscarriage which wasn't on records as I'd not got to self referral before losing it. Other than that she just wanted to know if anything had changed with medical conditions within the family since my last.

I think they have access to it all. Whether or not they read it is a different matter. My midwife asked if this was my first pregnancy, I said no, my third. You were my midwife for my first and then I had a loss too.

Then she asked if I wanted a home birth - I’m consultant led so no. Can’t.

I was really surprised she didn’t familiarise herself with my notes before I arrived.

Thanks guys! I would much rather be asked my medical history than them read my notes and blurt things out in front of my partner!

I suppose if you are at a hospital that’s out of your area (just moved to) they won’t have your medical records directly to hand.

This has been helpful, thank you!

You don’t have to take your partner to your booking in appointment.

If there’s something you’d prefer your partner didn’t know about they shouldn’t reveal it (abortion or similar?) but perhaps you could let them know beforehand or go in alone at first

For the questions on STIs the midwife pointed to the page and asked if I had ever had any of these.

My booking in appointment was over the phone but I was asked to attend alone, and I think that would stand if it was in person too.

My midwife has access to my notes from other hospitals - she looked something up for me, and I haven’t been under this hospital long - so I wouldn’t rely on her not being able to see it. If there’s things that you don’t want mentioning, I’d tell them and then get them to make it clear on your notes that you don’t want it mentioned in front of your partner - although I don’t think much would be, unless it’s potentially relevant to the pregnancy/birth.

They asked me relevant questions, but she did definitely have access. It took nearly two hours on the phone.

I wouldn’t take your partner with you if you’re anxious about him knowing things in your medical history. Midwives should pick up on that anxiety and they might do a bit of probing if so. It’s not standard for partners to attend booking in/mw appointments anyway, usually just scans.

So with previous STIs they hand you a list to tick off rather than presuming you’ve had one and looking it up?

Ours was also on the phone and only my partner (the pregnant one) attended, so if I were you I would also manage it this way and say partner not allowed to be there.

I suffer from herpes outbreaks (on my bum, delightful!) Which kind of comes under the STI category.
Mine literally skirted through saying "I'll read these out, tell me if you've suffered from any in the past" and then rattled through the long list... I actually had to stop her to tell her about my cold sores!
It will be listed in your maternity book, which you will have at home - so there is potential your partner could see it. Personally, I would disclose what's worrying you to him so it doesn't come out as a surprise at some point :-)

Where we are they don't have access you all you records as they use a different IT system. When they worked out of the surgery they did have access to the full records.

Booking appointments are long and boring, I wouldn't take your DP unless you're both keen for him to be there. Just lots of medical history and some bloods taken. I didn't even ask DH with DC2.

My midwife is based in my GP surgery so has access to my full medical history.

However partners aren’t allowed to booking appointments in my trust.

The midwife spent time asking about any abuse/domestic abuse and I think if partners are present women would often not die am openly about certain things.

It’s a fairly long and dull appointment going through your family history.

If you don’t want your partner to find things out, I probably wouldn’t take him. They may ask you some basic bits about his family medical history. But if you don’t know any of it you will get the chance to let them know later.

*speak, not die!!!

Partners aren't allowed in to the midwife booking appt here either as they ask about domestic violence etc

I’m not sure at all if this is what you’re concerned about, but I’ve had two previous terminations and the midwife was aware of them before my booking in appointment, even though I hadn’t been through the GP for either. There was no judgement at all and I asked for one of them not to be included in my maternity notes (my partner doesn’t know, it was many moons ago and I never wanted him to know) which she respected. So only one of the terminations officially exists in my maternity notes. Good luck and congrats x

Mine knew nothing about my medical history.

The GP, hospitals and midwives all use different IT systems in my area.

The consultants only have access to tests done by the GP that go through that hospital but not vice versa. The midwives have no access to any of it.

It meant that parts of my notes had to be inputted in triplicate.

The nice community midwife, not the horrible booking midwife, and my GP explained this.

Midwifes don’t usually have any of your medical history, your file is made up of basic forms and they fill them in at your booking appointment and then your file grows with it.

To be honest if you’re at all worried then don’t take your partner to your booking appointment- it’s quite a long appointment and partners are not really needed, assuming you know any major medical conditions and his basic information.

My partner only came to scans and consultant appointments, standard midwife apps were just for me, it was about me after all!

It’s your body and you don’t have to share information with anyone you’re not comfortable with. So maybe just attend the appointment on your own?

@Confusedwalker

So with previous STIs they hand you a list to tick off rather than presuming you’ve had one and looking it up?

I would be very surprised if they looked anything up at all to be honest.

Firstly your medical records don’t show everything - you could have had private treatment, gone under an alias, accessed services anonymously etc - so they need to ask you

And also, they are always bloody running late and rarely read the file in front of them for the next patient let alone log into every individual medical history on their computer.... I’d be very surprised!

Haha, ok thanks all for your advice and opinions!