What is a community midwife?
A community midwife is a midwife who is based in a GP surgery or clinic and sees pregnant women and women and baby’s up to six weeks after the birth.
Once you have found out you are pregnant, telephone your local GP surgery who will make you a booking appointment with a community midwife. During this booking appointment the pattern of antenatal appointments will be explained to you and you will book the next appointment with the community midwife. They will also refer you for a dating scan and talk to you about any screening you may wish to have done.
In an antenatal appointment, depending on how many weeks you are your midwife may feel your tummy, listen to your baby, test your urine sample, test your blood pressure and offer blood tests. For more information about what to expect from your antenatal appointments see here.
The day after you return from hospital after having your baby, a community midwife will attend your home address. This includes weekends and bank holidays.
Make sure when you leave the hospital or birth centre you provide an up-to-date home address, if this is different from the address you lived in during your pregnancy.
During the initial visit the community midwife will check over mum and baby performing ‘postnatal (after delivery) checks’ and may offer support with breastfeeding, mental health, safe sleeping and address other concerns the family may have.
During this visit the community midwife will also book your further midwifery appointments including baby weights and the Newborn blood spot test.
If you need to amend or have queries about your community midwife appointments, the community midwifery team can be contacted by either telephoning the hospital you were under for your pregnancy (and asking for the community midwives office); or the clinic in which you received your antenatal community care; or telephoning the GP surgery).
