Re: [ozmidwifery] caseload

[Janet Caulfield]

Dear Jan & Jen, I was devastated back in January when I was notified by letter that the program was no longer to continue. This letter basically said she acknowledged that the program had had the best outcomes and the most satisfaction from the GP's (that backed us) to the midwives and consumers. And so I have been reduced to tears many times since then. Sometimes with frustration and other times with the total despair.   One women made the decision to close the CMC (caseload program) and she is in charge of the maternity services at both The Angliss Hospital (where I worked) and Birralee (Boxhill Hospital). I feel since she closed one team at Birralee she felt compelled to close something at The Angliss; just a thought not confirmed by anything but my own opinion. We originally set up our caseload model (CMC) out of maternity enhancement funding and has they have changed the way they now contribute to women's confinements its harder to track the money. We use the maternity enhancement funding money to pay for our Young Women's Program, AMDAS( Chemical Dependency) Antenatal Classes, Family Birth Centre and Mental Health Nurse.Last year the hospital employed an Associate Professor and he wanted a registrar. They have now employed a Registrar (this payment comes out of the same money pool)   I have been in contact with The Maternity Coalition and they have recently met with Maggie Breckon at the Angliss. But there isn't any change to her stance in regards to this matter, but they (maternity Coalition) are still waiting for Budget breakdowns from Ms Breckon.   There are difficulties in making waves as "this could affect your future employment potential" I tried by giving out information and email addresses of parliamentarians and other politicians to give a voice to the women many of which wrote letters to Ms Breckon and those I know of, received polite but firm responses.I needed to have a militant consumer group come from within the clients that had participated in our program.Unfortunately Ms Breckon was of the opinion that midwives didn't want to work in a caseload model ( that's because asking internally for interest for long service leave etc hadn't been successful) although I argued that this wasn't the case and that if she advertised externally she would have had a very different response.   But as a midwife that has worked in caseload for 8 years, the 5 most recent years have been with CMC at the Angliss Hospital I can say that the experience is amazing and has been the most fulfilling way in which to work. I wish Jen the best of luck and pray that a caseload model of care becomes available to those midwives that are now doing their BMid courses and of course to other midwives. I wish everyone could share the types of experiences i have had, the total acceptance by clients to share their lives and their birth experiences. Any inconveniences are by far out weighed by the work satisfaction gained..   Sorry for rattling on I hope this explains more fully what has happened :) Janet     ----- Original Message ----- From: Jen Semple To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 11:02 AM Subject: [ozmidwifery] caseload I read Janet's story with tears in my eyes as well, but it's made me wonder about caseload too.   I'm a Bachelor of Midwifery student & from what we've learned at uni & from the experiences I've had on clinical placement in hospitals, if I have any choice in where & how I work when I graduate, caseload is the only model of care I would consider working in.  I know there are lots of other students who feel similarly.   Could any of you wise midwives or consumers explain why caseload models are being shut down (Janet's, the Angliss, etc) or not expanded when they're so popular (the KYM program @ Birralee)?  They sound like they've been successful & we all now that they can be economically sucessful.   Am I missing something?!  :o)   Cheers, Jen 2nd year BMid, Melbourne  Jan Robinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Janet I shed a few tears too when I read your e-mail. While smiling with happiness for the parents of this healthy little boy my tears were for YOU when I saw you signing yourself  “finished now as a caseload midwife”. Aren’t there enough women around who have experienced the benefits of one-to-one midwifery care who will get up and fight for continuing this service? Couldn’t the caseload midwives get together with the women and form a  branch of the Maternity Coalition and get this mysogynistic act into the newspapers? Access the Maternity Coalition’s website now    www.maternitycoalition.org.au  and arrange for some support from them in setting up a group to lobby your state department of health. All the best Jan Robinson Yahoo! Search - Looking for more? Try the new Yahoo! Search   --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.510 / Virus Database: 307 - Release Date: 14/08/03