Re: Re: Health Visitors with a Midwifery qualification

[Guest guest]

HI Lynn I have found your postings and the discussion it generated very interesting. For you as a direct entry midwife the issue of wanting to move on and into a new phase of your career so no longer wanting to retain midwifery skills is something I know exercises a number of direct entry midwives as does the issue of being seen as needing to retain some nursing skills as a Health visitor when you are there by virtue of your RGN qualification.. I trained as a general nurse in the 1960s and moved very quickly into health visiting and am certainly not competent to practice as a registered nurse but I like you have to tick a box to say that I am when I re register with the NMC. Last time I left the RGN box blank and had the form retuned to me with it ticked and I do not think that is ethical. We did challenge Dickon Weir – who sadly has left the NMC – about this and I am sure it is something they will look at in their review although as says they have already discussed this. To work as an actual nurse on a ward or anywhere I would have to be retrained and anyway I do not want to. In terms of my health visiting qualification and my practical knowledge to practice; again I have actually not worked in practice since the early 1980s as I was a lecturer in health visiting and then worked nationally and now independently in areas related to health vising and primary care. The last thing I did in practice but supervised was a baby clinic when I was doing a HV review- I think that was about 8 years ago. I was amazed how much I knew and my difficulties were with understand things like the new milk feeds and immunisations schedules but with the help of others I managed. Also when I am doing a review – I do like to go visiting with a HV or work with a school nurse as It gives me a feel and this keeps my feet on the ground. As a Hv lecturer and when working nationally I did the same so I feel very happy to tick the NMC box as an HV. My actual work means I have to be up to date with policy and professional practice and basic things like the ability to make a relationship with families and children, observe development and parenting etc. do not change. So like me I guess most managers and teachers with an HV qualification or SN qualification would say the same about maintaining their HV recorded qualification. So I do not think you should worry about attending midwifery study days as I am sure your HV work and work you do to maintain that qualification gives you enough cover – and of course if you wanted to go back to midwifery then you would have to look for some appropriate updating. At present with the real push to increase Hv numbers – many previous health visitors are coming back to practice and if they have been an hv in the last five years – they just need a local programme. I know some organisations are exercising themselves that these people have not had recent clinical practice but the SHAs are telling them that it is their responsibility to help the person fill the gaps. Hope this is helpful for you and we shall look forward to seeing what happens with the NMC work. Regards Margaret P.S I am not sure where you are working and whether your SHA area has picked up the HV and SN leadership course myself and a colleague are runing but look out for it – it is called Getting it Right for Children and families: leadership practices for the future and is a six month four module course. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of LynnSent: 21 January 2012 11:42 Subject: Re: Health Visitors with a Midwifery qualification Thank you for this response, I am the health visitor in question. I feel that I am putting the supervisor of midwives in a difficult position when meeting her to sign my registration document as she no longer works with me. I do see my PN women as many times as I can in the first 28 days and women AN to be able to provide some proof of midwifery type work. This then means that I practice differently from my team and puts further pressures on my time. I also have strong ambitions to become a family nurse, which will also cause me problems with my midwifery registration in the future as AN contact will be diminished with a caseload of 25. I also believe that I should be attending midwifery study days to maintain my registration, but I do not. I feel penalised because I have chosen a different pathway.I am interested to know how fellow health visitors maintain their current registrations when they may no longer work with clients? Lecturers, managers etcThank you in advanceLynn> > > Dear Senate Members> >> > One of my colleagues is very frustrated that in order to maintain > > her HV registration with the NMC she has to find a supervisor of > > midwives to say she is fulfilling her midwifery practice to maintain > > her registration. Will this be an area that the NMC will look at?> > My colleague sees herself as a health visitor and not a midwife and > > does not intend to return to midwifery practice.Is there another way > > around this problem?> >> > Helen> >> > > > Cowley> sarahcowley183@...> http://myprofile.cos.com/S124021COn>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Margaret - I identify with what you are saying. I think the 'scope of practice,' which assumes we will not take on work that we know we are not able to do, requires us to 'know what we don't know.' It is so long since I have had anything to do with nursing that I don't know what I don't know - most of what I do know comes from my service user experience! I would need at least a couple of years, just as any graduate entering nurse training would, to learn enough about nursing to be safe. So, I don't think I should be on the current register. But I am sufficiently up to date with health visiting to know what I don't know about practice -which is a lot, I would certainly need updating - so reckon it is safe to have my name there. Which brings us back to Lynn's comment - the way the revalidation works at present is just plain unsafe for nursing and the only reason it is more difficult for midwives is because the midwifery regulation is clearer and protects the public better. Either way, it is very bad news for health visiting, because all the emphasis is on being up to date with a different qualificationbest wishesOn 21 Jan 2012, at 14:22, Margaret Buttigieg wrote: HI Lynn I have found your postings and the discussion it generated very interesting. For you as a direct entry midwife the issue of wanting to move on and into a new phase of your career so no longer wanting to retain midwifery skills is something I know exercises a number of direct entry midwives as does the issue of being seen as needing to retain some nursing skills as a Health visitor when you are there by virtue of your RGN qualification.. I trained as a general nurse in the 1960s and moved very quickly into health visiting and am certainly not competent to practice as a registered nurse but I like you have to tick a box to say that I am when I re register with the NMC. Last time I left the RGN box blank and had the form retuned to me with it ticked and I do not think that is ethical. We did challenge Dickon Weir – who sadly has left the NMC – about this and I am sure it is something they will look at in their review although as says they have already discussed this. To work as an actual nurse on a ward or anywhere I would have to be retrained and anyway I do not want to. In terms of my health visiting qualification and my practical knowledge to practice; again I have actually not worked in practice since the early 1980s as I was a lecturer in health visiting and then worked nationally and now independently in areas related to health vising and primary care. The last thing I did in practice but supervised was a baby clinic when I was doing a HV review- I think that was about 8 years ago. I was amazed how much I knew and my difficulties were with understand things like the new milk feeds and immunisations schedules but with the help of others I managed. Also when I am doing a review – I do like to go visiting with a HV or work with a school nurse as It gives me a feel and this keeps my feet on the ground. As a Hv lecturer and when working nationally I did the same so I feel very happy to tick the NMC box as an HV. My actual work means I have to be up to date with policy and professional practice and basic things like the ability to make a relationship with families and children, observe development and parenting etc. do not change. So like me I guess most managers and teachers with an HV qualification or SN qualification would say the same about maintaining their HV recorded qualification. So I do not think you should worry about attending midwifery study days as I am sure your HV work and work you do to maintain that qualification gives you enough cover – and of course if you wanted to go back to midwifery then you would have to look for some appropriate updating. At present with the real push to increase Hv numbers – many previous health visitors are coming back to practice and if they have been an hv in the last five years – they just need a local programme. I know some organisations are exercising themselves that these people have not had recent clinical practice but the SHAs are telling them that it is their responsibility to help the person fill the gaps. Hope this is helpful for you and we shall look forward to seeing what happens with the NMC work. Regards Margaret P.S I am not sure where you are working and whether your SHA area has picked up the HV and SN leadership course myself and a colleague are runing but look out for it – it is called Getting it Right for Children and families: leadership practices for the future and is a six month four module course. From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of LynnSent: 21 January 2012 11:42 Subject: Re: Health Visitors with a Midwifery qualification Thank you for this response, I am the health visitor in question. I feel that I am putting the supervisor of midwives in a difficult position when meeting her to sign my registration document as she no longer works with me. I do see my PN women as many times as I can in the first 28 days and women AN to be able to provide some proof of midwifery type work. This then means that I practice differently from my team and puts further pressures on my time. I also have strong ambitions to become a family nurse, which will also cause me problems with my midwifery registration in the future as AN contact will be diminished with a caseload of 25. I also believe that I should be attending midwifery study days to maintain my registration, but I do not. I feel penalised because I have chosen a different pathway.I am interested to know how fellow health visitors maintain their current registrations when they may no longer work with clients? Lecturers, managers etcThank you in advanceLynn> > > Dear Senate Members> >> > One of my colleagues is very frustrated that in order to maintain > > her HV registration with the NMC she has to find a supervisor of > > midwives to say she is fulfilling her midwifery practice to maintain > > her registration. Will this be an area that the NMC will look at?> > My colleague sees herself as a health visitor and not a midwife and > > does not intend to return to midwifery practice.Is there another way > > around this problem?> >> > Helen> >> > > > Cowley> sarahcowley183@...> http://myprofile.cos.com/S124021COn> Cowleysarahcowley183@...http://myprofile.cos.com/S124021COn