katyk

Hi,
I am a midwife looking to emigrate to New Zealand with my husband and 2 year old son. Looking for advice really on best places to live, we are thinking probably somewhere on the northshore?
Are there any midwives or nurses that could recommend the best hospitals to work in?
Any advice would be great as there is so much to think about
thanks

11ThousandMilesFromHome

Sorry i know it's the wrong area but there's midwifery positions available in Christchurch...you'd be given a job on the spot at the moment

katyk

thanks, what is midwifery like over there?
Any info would be great

11ThousandMilesFromHome

I think it really depends on where you come from as to what you think of midwifery in NZ...i came from a not so good unit which was very very short staffed and never had time to give real midwifery care to the standard i wanted to give it...the support was also very substandard.

Getting used to the LMC system takes a while...still slips me up from time to time. But the unit i work for has really good support and on the whole for me is a good place to work...however i do know midwives who've come from unit where they delivered a baby sometimes 2 or 3 each shift...well that certainly doesn't happen here (some units may differ) i've been working for 5 months and i've delivered 4 or 5 babies. As a core midwife i spend a quarter to half my time in theatre, looking after women with epidurals or 'babysitting' LMC's women while they're out of the hospital.

For me at the moment though i'd much rather be here than in my old job in the uk. They couldn't pay me enough money to go there again.

We wear a pager while on duty and i often get paged by the co-ordinator telling me that the tea trolley is in the office so i don't miss out...most of the time in the uk i wasn't able to get a hot drink. Also in the uk i got a lunch break probably 1 shift in every 10, here i've probably not got a lunch break twice...oh and here if you don't get your lunch break you get paid double for the period you should of had lunch...that may not sound much but in the uk it was tough if you had to work through you lunch.

hope i've not put you off....it's a great place to work if you adapt to how things are done here

good luck and pm me if you need anymore info
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katyk

thanks thats really helpful, I don't think it can be any worse than over here. I have dropped my hours right down to try and balance my family life.
I think the lack of tea and loo breaks is the same in all UK units!!!

weejie

I'm an RMN so no help on midwife front,sorry. But have you looked in the working abroad by profession section at the bottom of the main forum page? Try in nursing and you may get some more info from there.

Phyllis