Dear Barb, We are in the Alpine Shire, notheast Victoria. We are very near the snow (which is falling heavily at present) and we have beautiful mountains, trees, and rivers. We also have great cafes, wineries and lots of tourist accomodation etc. We comprise three small rural hospitals as a single organisation. We offer low-risk maternity care with the back up of our GP's, and we share high-risk care with the base hospitals of Wangaratta and Wodonga. Thank you for your offer of support - I will keep the list posted of our progress. Mary Doyle Alpine Health.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dr Barbara Vernon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 4:54 PM Subject: RE: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models > > > Dear Mary > > > > Congratulations on your funding. Whereabouts is your service? The College > of Midwives would be happy to provide any assistance it can. > > > > Regards Barb. > > Dr Barbara Vernon > Executive Officer > Australian College of Midwives > Ph +61 2 6230 7333 > Mob 0438 855 529 > > 'Midwifery: Pathways to Healthy Nations' > 27th Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives > Brisbane Convention Centre, 24-28 July 2005 > www.midwives2005.com/index.shtml > > _____ > > Begin forwarded message: > > From: "Mary Doyle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 15 June 2005 8:49:14 PM > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Dear Andrea and others, > > > > > We too have received funding for a great continuity of care model, despite > small numbers of women. Negativity abounds however and many of our current > midwives however are loathe to change their current ' 8 hour shift' status > because 1) they have been doing it this way for 10 or 20 years, 2) they are > not prepared to give up their lives for being 'on-call' 3) many are > nearing retirement age (me included) 4) they are not confident in doing > antenatal care 5) (most importantly) They have never had the wonderful > pleasure of doing true 'continuity of care'!!! > > > > We have yet to formally approach the recruitment of midwives for the team, > and I see lots of head-bashing in the meantime. I will however continue to > try for the sake of the mother and fathers to be, and for the midwives that > will follow on in the future. They will learn that this is the only way to > go, and 8 hour shifts in caring for women are long gone! > > > > Mary Doyle > > > > Alpine Health > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Melanie Jane Dunstan > To: [email protected] > Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 4:59 PM > Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models > > HI All > > > > > Just on the topic of Midwifery Models of Care. Is there any other Hospitals > in Victoria having trouble with implementation of the models that have > received funding from DHS? > > > > > Just would be interesting to know > > > > > Regards > > > > > Mel > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Andrea Bilcliff > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 9:06 PM > Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models > > Hi Carol, > > > > > I find this very sad too. You are in the unique & wonderful position of > having both the funding & obstetric support. What a pity there's no > midwifery interest. One night and one weekend a month is not much to be on > call really. (I would love to be in a group practice where I could have one > weekend OFF call a month!!!) > > > > > I understand that not all midwives are able or willing to work in this way > but I have to say that as a single mum having worked both shiftwork and > caseload, caseload is by far more family friendly for me. I don't have the > back up of a partner/husband for childcare. Trying to work 2 weeks of night > duty in every 6 was impossible. And how could I get my children to school if > I worked earlies, who would pick them up and feed them after school if I > worked lates? A run of late/earlies would leave me exhausted & cranky. I > often got sick. Now, the bulk of my work is 9am - 3pm, M-F. If a conference > or study day is coming up that I want to attend, (or anything else for that > matter) I just don't schedule appointments for that day. Occasionally I work > on weekends or evenings as the need arises. The maximum number of times I > would be called out in any month would be 4 if I had a 'full load' for that > month. Often I don't. My children are getting that bit older now and it's > getting even easier. > > > > > I get excited when the woman or her partner calls to tell me they are in > labour! I used to drag myself into hospital for each shift before. I can't > even begin to articulate just how rewarding it is to work with women & their > families from pregnancy through to 6 weeks. And then when they come back for > baby no 2 & 3...!!! > > > > > Would Warragul consider mentoring graduated B Mid & postgrad dips in the > program? I wonder if it is the location that is a problem too? > > > > > Sending you some cyberhugs as I can imagine how frustrating this is for you > Carol, > > > > > Andrea Bilcliff > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Carol Van Lochem > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 5:39 PM > Subject: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models > > Hi all, I have posted here from time to time, but mostly I'm a lurker. > I work in a team midwifery model at Warragul, where we have lots of > midwives who believe in continuity of care, support the women as central to > the whole prossess and have a supportive obstetrician to back us up. Our > problem is in recruiting midwives to work in our model. Nobody wants to do > "all that on call".They "want to have a life". After all these years of > fighting for this type of thing it seems there are not enough of us around > to fill this role. Many support the model in principal, but don't see how > they can fit it into their own lives. > > Our team started just 12 months ago. It is a modified case load, with 1 > night per week on call, and 1 weekend a month. We are "available" for our > "own" women during the day. We provide midwife led care for up to 60 low > risk women per year, and shared care for up to a further 60 "high risk" > women who benefit most from having a known midwife with them in labour. We > are meant to be 5, but have recently lost one, who would have rather worked > as a team only, with no case load. > > To my knowledge there have been no applications for this position from with > in existing staff, nor has there been a response to newspaper ads. It > saddens me to think that this type of model will not be sustainable in the > long term. Here we are in the position of having active finacial support > from DHS after many years of lobbying for it, only to risk losing it all > through lack of willing staff. This problem must be coming up for others in > Victoria as caseload models are put forward in other regions. > > Any thoughts, suggestions, simmilar experiences? I am truely at my wits > end. Sigh :( > > Thanks for listening > Carol > -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit to subscribe or > unsubscribe. > > -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
