Anyone ever changed their midwife?

[shuz1980]

Im not happy with my midwife. Im 23 weeks pregnant and have never even met her. It seems she just keeps forgetting about me. And forgetting to book me in for appointments leaving my to chase her up all the time. Has anyone ever changed their midwife?

I haven’t seen the same person twice (hospital consultant or midwife) and I’m 39 weeks pregnant. Lots of services are short staffed and impacted by Covid. I’m not sure changing midwives will help, but you could ask.

I’ve not found my care particularly good this time. Have had to chase appointments and be on the ball about vaccines etc. I think this is fairly typical sadly.

Is there a central office you can contact rather than the individual midwife? Might be easier to do that and get them to be clear on what appointments you need.

I would add that here all midwife appointments are booked by the patient, so the responsibility to do it sits with us.

I say never met her. Ive not had any other appointments apart from my booking appointment at 11 weeks, my 12 week scan and 20 week scan. I rang my midwife last week to say when am i due my next appointment with you and she said, have you not had your 16 week appointment and i said no, and she said oh, you should of, then checked my file and seen that i went and had bloods taken for suspected OC and said, oh, that would of been classed as your 16 week appointment. Surely not? I only had bloods taken. And i have tried to contact her for 2 days with no response.

My assigned midwife is horrible, she is at our local surgery on Thursdays.

Somehow it turns out I can't manage Thursdays due to work commitments so I have "had" to have all of my appointments at a different surgery . All different midwives but all nicer than mine!

My 16 week appointment was just a phone message, other than booking I've only had f2f appointments since 24 weeks.

I'm confused, it's your responsibility to book the appointments not your midwives? (Assuming your UK based anyway). All the appointments you should have are at the front of your orange book and it's your responsibility to book them

Perhaps wait until you meet?

She sounds very busy so might be worth waiting before you act until you finally meet her?

Unlikely she will be there at the birth

You Rock up and have who ever on duty and available

I changed my assigned midwife because she talked to me like I was a toddler instead of a grown woman when I asked about some health related issues during my appointment and tried to invite the receptionist in for my transvaginal echo without my permission (I told her that I wasn’t having it and told her to leave but still). No problem at all and I’m glad I stood up for myself at that time.

I had my face to face booking in appointment at about 8 weeks. My midwife booked my 12 week scan, my 16 week appointment, and my 25 week appointment there and then, so they’re all in my notes.

At my 12 week scan they booked my 20 week scan, so I’ve got all my appointments arranged up until December.

Your antenatal care sounds pretty bad

@T0rt0ise

I'm confused, it's your responsibility to book the appointments not your midwives? (Assuming your UK based anyway). All the appointments you should have are at the front of your orange book and it's your responsibility to book them

This is not my experience in the UK. I have a large white book which are my maternity notes. All my appointments are written on the back of the book, booked in advance by my midwife. It’s not my responsibility to book anything at all

@T0rt0ise there's no notes in my area anymore. It's all an app on my phone and the midwife is supposed to put the appointments on when there due then i get a notification on my phone of the dates/days she booked. But she's not been doing it.

@T0rt0ise

I'm confused, it's your responsibility to book the appointments not your midwives? (Assuming your UK based anyway). All the appointments you should have are at the front of your orange book and it's your responsibility to book them

This varies from place to place in the UK. Round here, the midwife books the next appointment at the end of each one. I had my 16 week appointment this morning, and she booked my 28 week appointment in before I left. My 20 week scan was booked in before I left the hospital after my 12 week scan.

[quote shuz1980]@T0rt0ise there's no notes in my area anymore. It's all an app on my phone and the midwife is supposed to put the appointments on when there due then i get a notification on my phone of the dates/days she booked. But she's not been doing it.[/quote]
Same here. My midwives book the next appointment at the end of your current one which really helps. At least then you can remind them if it's not been done.

It does seem to vary so much between areas so it's difficult to say if it's normal or not. Based on the experiences of people who've been pregnant before there does seem to have been a dip in the consistency of maternity care since covid hit.
My booking appointment was in person & she forwarded my details to the hospital who sent me a letter for my 12 week scan, at which they told me to book my appointment with the GP surgery for my next midwife appointment at 16 weeks. The hospital automatically signed me up for my 20 week scan & again I got a letter in the post. At my 16 week appointment my midwife booked me in for my 24 week appointment. So it's a little of both in terms of responsibility in my area.
It does seem that most services are understaffed right now so I think everything requires a bit more of a push from yourself as the patient, it's an important time to learn how to advocate for yourself because this kind of pressure on the NHS could really allow things to slip through the cracks.
If you haven't met her in person yet it's probably a little premature to try and change midwives, she might be really great when you actually meet her. It's probably worth seeing if you can schedule your appointments with her via your GP receptionist (I can call them directly to schedule or change my midwife appointment even when originally booked directly with her). In your appointment with her, mention that there seems to be a bit of confusion over how the appointments get booked & how can you both ensure that they aren't missed in future. If she's helpful & nice in person you could give her a chance before you try to move midwives.

Yes. I complained about her after the booking appointment and a comment she made about mothers with mental health issues. They gave me another one, but I’m not sure how much it matters who they gave me as I had to book the appointments so could always just book on a day where the midwife I wanted was working.

I have but it was down to pure luck. My named midwife had called in sick for my booking appointment so I saw someone else, then for my 16 week appointment was on parental leave so again it was with someone else. My 16 week appointment turned out to be with my midwife from 5 years ago when I was expecting DD. She offered there and then to change me to her client list which I was over the moon with as I was disappointed not to have her this time anyway.

@T0rt0ise

I'm confused, it's your responsibility to book the appointments not your midwives? (Assuming your UK based anyway). All the appointments you should have are at the front of your orange book and it's your responsibility to book them

Not in my area. This is my third child and midwives have always made my next appointment while sitting with them or let me know when they are via text. They decide when they are.

Like a pp, my apps have been a mix of me booking and the midwives booking. I self referred to the hospital. They sent me my booking-in app (which was by phone) and later received by 12-week scan app. But I had to arrange my first contact with the community midwife. I was told to ring my GP surgery to make my 16 week app a couple of weeks before it was due. Since that app, the midwife books me in for my next app at the end of the current one. So it might be worth ringing your GP surgery in case the midwife works out of there (as they do in my area).

I’d probably wait to meet her before trying to change.

How odd! In which case is apologise! Having said that I'd still be ringing the GP to chase appointments and meet her before changing, from the sound of it you've missed one appointment and you're next should be at 25 weeks?

*your

You have the same.midwife ?
I saw a different one every time

I have the same one every time