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supervisor of midwives

HI,

I just wondered if anyone has heard of a 'supervisor of midwives' before? I work at a university, and am pregnant, so they've asked me to be a 'user of maternity services' in an upcoming panel, to approve a course for supervisors of midwives.

Apparently, every midwife has a supervisor (each supervisor has about 10-15 midwives under her) and it's not like a management role, but someone for a midwife to go to if, for example, they felt their unit was unsafe, with too many women and not enough midwives for example. It is this supervisor which then gets to say the unit is closed to new admisisons until they are ready.

Also if someone isn't happy with their midwife, they can go to her supervisor.

Basically the role is to promote safety for the mother and child.

My role is to say on this panel, what I would want from a supervisor of midwives, from a 'users' point of view.

I wondered if anyone had ever had any interaction with one, to give me any ideas, or had any opinions on the role.

Any help appreciated!!! Thankyou!

Replies

  • Im not sure exactly what one is, but last time I went to the midwives my usual midwife wasnt there but I had a supervisor of midwives and a regular one.
    She didnt actually say what she did I just noticed because it said on her uniform.
    Id ask for more information from whoevers asked you to join the panel if I were you hun

    http://tickers.tickerfactory.com/ezt/d/1;10051;28/st/20080729/dt/5/k/9e45/preg.png

  • hi i havent heard of supervisor of midwives but at my hospital there are various "teams" of midwives (with different colours), and each team has a "team leader". when you get to full term (37wks)it is the team leader that you see and she is technically "your" midwife altho you mostly see different ones in your team throughout your pregnancy. could this be the same thing? i would imagine that if i wasnt happy with one of the midwives i had seen in her team (my team) it would be her that i would speak to about it.


    http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/1;19;29/st/20080523/dt/5/k/1ec5/preg.png




  • We have supervisors of midwives in my area, I would suggest they would need to be approachable and open so that staff would feel able go to them with issues and then confident and efficient to be able to address those issues appropriately. You don't want a power hungry person just after the status.
  • Thanks for all your help ladies - I'm quite looking forward to having some input into this today!
  • hi uk pixie!
    as you have already said, the idea of a supervisor of Midwives is that she is there to protect the public. if any midwife is under suspicion of bad practice, her supervisor will be notified and will ensure that she is fit to practice.
    the supervisor is also there to provide support and advice to Midwives in difficult circumstances.
    check out the NMC (Nursing & Midwifery Council) for more info
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