Re: [ozmidwifery] Problems With new Models

[Andrea Bilcliff]

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: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au 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.