General practitioners' views of working with team midwifery

This report presents the results of a survey of general practitioners (GPs) working alongside a midwifery team in south-east England. Sixty-nine per cent of the GPs thought team midwifery was a good idea in theory. However, just 37% thought it was working well locally and 56% reported that they would like to go back to working in the way they did before. Of greatest concern was the decline in interprofessional communications and the loss of continuity for patients. Therefore, team midwifery, as implemented in this locality, may not attain the goals aimed at by the organisation of care in this way.