"Appreciation for the MGP4"

I am writing to express my appreciation for the Midwifery Group Practice 4 (MGP4) programme at King Edward Memorial Hospital.

I was a patient with this service for both of my pregnancies (first baby was delivered a few years ago and second baby recently).

During both pregnancies I appreciated having continuity of care with the same midwife, Leanne. The appointments during the pregnancies were arranged on days that were suitable for me and I was always seen at the arranged time. Not having long waits for my appointments was so good when I needed to return to work or was juggling the appointment with looking after my older child.

Seeing the same midwife and getting to know her was the most valuable aspect of the MGP4 programme. I was able to develop a strong level of trust for my midwife and this enabled me to relax with her and helped me to be open and honest with her during appointments. Leanne was also so kind, warm and good at listening to me and I felt respected by her. She took the time to get to know what my hopes, concerns and desires for my pregnancies were. She tailored the care she gave me to help me based on my preferences. Leanne is extremely knowledgeable and I appreciated the fact that she could equip my husband and me with the information that helped us make decisions. We appreciated the way she provided the information about pros and cons of particular choices and then enabled us to make the decisions we wanted to make without any judgement. Leanne was very respectful of the decisions I made and went out of her way to support these decisions. This was particularly helpful when I was seeing medical staff I didn’t know and Leanne helped me to communicate my needs to them. She also helped me to understand why plans for the birth needed to change for medical reasons (such as need for progression to caesarean section during my first labour).

Through Leanne’s support I was able to achieve a successful vaginal birth after caesarean for my second pregnancy. This was such an uplifting experience for me and I am so grateful to Leanne for being with me throughout this process.

I also met some of the other MGP4 midwives through my pregnancies and all of them were lovely and supportive. I also had a positive experience with the doctor at East Wing clinic who was supportive of my decisions regarding labour. The staff in the Maternal and Foetal Assessment Unit, Labour Ward and ward 5 were all friendly, caring and supportive when I attended the hospital recently.

Having been pregnant during COVID19 had the potential to increase stress in my belief. I appreciated the information I received from the hospital in relation to this including updates from the Family Birth Centre Facebook group about COVID19 and pregnancy, text messages from the hospital regarding safety precautions in place due to COVID19 and communication from my midwife about changes in appointment arrangements. I think the staff managed very well with the changes that COVID19 made necessary. One of the changes made was the place where MGP4 appointments are held was moved to another building. The midwives seemed to adapt to this change well but I noticed that the rooms were not as well set up as the ones they were using previously. For example, there was no linen in the new rooms and there was a shortage of equipment for monitoring the baby. The midwives worked cooperatively to share the equipment (and I believe cleaning it well between patients). I believe there would be less stress on the midwives and more convenience for the pregnant patients if the new rooms were adequately equipped for antenatal appointments.