RE: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models

[Alan Rooney]

Hi Carol

I will be free at the end of October and would be available to take up a position with your team if there is atill a vacancy then.

If you want to talk further you can email me off list.

 

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

 

Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Carol Van Lochem
Sent: Sunday, 12 June 2005 5:39 PM
To: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au
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

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