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
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- [ozmidwifery] C/s Article Denise Hynd
- Re: [ozmidwifery] C/s Janet Caulfield
- Re: [ozmidwifery] C/s Jan Robinson
- [ozmidwifery] caseload Jen Semple
- Re: [ozmidwifery] caseload Lynne Staff
- Re: [ozmidwifery] case... danielle morley
- Re: [ozmidwifery] ... Lynne Staff
- [ozmidwifery] ... Wayne and Caroline McCullough
- RE: [ozmidwife... Wayne and Caroline McCullough
- Re: [ozmidwife... Lynne Staff
- Re: [ozmidwifery] caseload Janet Caulfield
- Re: [ozmidwifery] case... Jen Semple
- Re: [ozmidwifery] caseload Dierdre Bowman