Just to give you an IM perspective... of course I tend to be bias but will try not to be!

IM's do not really stop working. I am always available on the phone 24/7 to my women and believe, I DO get called at 2am re: penny size blood clot! I have reams of paperwork to do..if you think the NHS is ridiculous, then you won't like IM paperwork! IM is my life..which suits me and I have a very understanding husband but it may not fit into other peoples situations. There have been lots of time when I have been in the cinema/restaurant/pub/concert/parents evening (!) and the phone has rang with a question/enquiry/call out! These are negative but trying to tell it how it is.

However, we do have flexibility in that we can attempt to plan our week, but a lot of women work in the day so a lot of appointments tend to be in the evening and weekend. This works very well for me with school run committments etc...

I have worked on my own for a long time now and it can be quite isolating but very rewarding. I like the one to one care that I give and although I do work alone, there are other IM's at the end of the phone. Unlike a lot of hospital situations, IM's are very supportive of each other and will help you out if you needed it. We are a dwindling race of midwives now though with the indemnity insurance thing hanging over us and we are all a bit down at the moment...reality bites and all that. We are getting closer to the day when we may be told to stop practising without insurance and it sad.

Independent midwifery is very intense but also liberating as a midwife. You can really find you own way to practice and relate to women and there is nothing better than to assist a woman through birth who has become friend.

I love what I do, but I truly believe that we all need to find our niche and what is right for me may not be right for other people. We need good hospital based and community based midwives...working in the NHS is very hard and requires dedication and ultimately focus as it is so easy to get swamped under the stress of it all and forget why you wanted to be a midwife in the first place. I personally couldn't work on a consultant led delivery suite full time or even part time as I can't face half of the stuff that goes on there...but that doesn't mean to say that it is not right or needed (ok there are loads of things that go on that are unnecessary) and we need midwives who are happy in that area of practice... not all women are normal and we require midwives who like to work in high risk/abnormal...depsite our focus on normal.

Unfortunately, the choice for a lot of you may be taken away if IM's are forced out of business but we won't go without a fight! So we need your support to keep this option of care open to women and midwives....please support the Save Independent Midwifery campaign.

Vic xx

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Vicky
Liverpool Independent Midwives