Women's views on supervision
July 7, 2011
Two Montrose Maternity service users took part today in a videoconferencing link with a Nursing & Midwifery Council Review Team in Inverness.
The team was looking into how well Supervision in midwifery is understood and used by women and, related to this, whether women feel their choices are explained and respected by midwives.
Tori and Sarah linked in from Forfar, and there were also women dialling in from Shetland, Orkney, Stornoway, Benbecula, Dunoon, Fort William, Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen to answer questions from the three reviewers. The technology worked reasonably well, and it was very interesting hearing views from different places, but the women may have felt more confident and more heard if it had been split into three sections.
The team was seeking answers to three main questions:
1) What do you know about Supervision?
2) Who would you have gone to if you'd had concerns about your care?
3) Did you feel involved with your care and that you had choices?
It was very clear that women who have had care from standalone midwifery units like Montrose really value the personal relationship with their midwives, their familiarity with the room where they intend to give birth and the availability of waterbirth. As one person said, "You actually have more choices in a smaller unit. They really care and are trying hard to make what you want happen."
Most people participating were not familiar with Supervision or aware of how it could help them. One person who had accessed a Supervisor to discuss concerns about her care said it was excellent, and very much about "what would you like to do?" rather than being told how things would be done.
The review team should be able to take a number of ideas from the discussion into their report, which will be published in around 3 months:
a) Midwives are key people in informing women from an early stage of pregnancy about what a supervisor is and how you can access one.
b) Clear leaflets help, but you cannot assume women will read them, especially if they already have children.
c) Women and user groups (such as MUMs - Maternity Users Montrose and Mum's the Word in Dundee) are also in an ideal position to spread the word about supervision once they know about it themselves.
You can find out more about Supervision here.
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