Please help! I'm so upset, I've got to put a complaint in regarding the 111 service and my hospital. I started spotting at 3pm on 10th Jan, called 111 they told me to go walk in centre so I drove, to be told when I got there it's nurse led and pregnant women and children shouldn't go, nurse saw me and told me to go straight to a&e, I had a temp of 38.6 and bleeding heavier, the gp at a&e then made me walk from a&e to ward 209 the other side of the hospital, no scans done now after 4.30pm!!!! Still bleeding and now cramping, take into account I arrived at hospital at 17.17pm! Lots of waiting around and no one knows what happening! At 21.31pm I lost my baby in my pants on my pad and saw everything! I didn't even get checked by a registrar till 10pm!! To late....Had to stay in hospital and have a scan the next morning to confirm.
My question is should I complain?
Should I try for another baby?
I'm so upset/ mad, I also feel so down...
Written by
MichelleGC1978
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I’m so very sorry to hear what you have gone through. I have no advice but just wanted to say that. What an awful thing to go through in such a public place. I hope you have all the support you need and are able to spend some time to grieve. Be kind to yourself x
I am so sorry to read you have been going and are going through all this. Having a miscarriage is hard enough without everything else you had to endure. I don't think unfortunately that the outcome would have been any different if you had been seem straight away, however your experience could have been that they scanned you and put you on bed rest or even just sent you home for bed rest.
It is awful that you were passed from pillar to post. I think once you have recovered it may be an idea to complain just in order to make sure that nobody has to go through what you experienced again.
Big hugs to you lovely xx
Firstly sorry for your loss it an awful experience. I’ve had 3 mc I alway ring the EPU first they would see you that day and scan u especially at 9w with bleeding or cramps really a&e are there if EPU are closed but really nothing can be done with a mc all they’d tell you if you had a scan is your going to mc. But the run around at the hospital was unnecessary Id but upset too by the lack of care did they anyone discuss after care? You can ttc after bleeding stops and supposed to wait for one cycle for dating but it’s up to you. It takes times, your hormones and emotions are all over the place it’s a sad time, I had a mva last week and have felt much stronger this time but yesterday just started crying while our at lunch and had a meltdown when I got home. If you need to talk or have any questions I might be able to answer I’m here. X
I’m so sorry to hear this. Miscarriage care on the nhs is often virtually non-existent. Unfortunately they seem to have the attitude that once a miscarriage has started there’s nothing they can do anyway so there’s no urgency. Which is harsh but true. If you’re going to miscarry at this early stage then it will happen anyway. But it feels so uncaring when you just want the medical staff to look after you.
I think you have a valid complaint about the advice from 111 as it was incorrect, however I think the service from the hospital was sadly pretty much what you would expect. All they could have done was comfort you and offer pain relief even if they saw you sooner.
As for trying again, many doctors suggest waiting for one normal period before trying again so they can date your next pregnancy accurately.
Once again, I’m so sorry for your loss - I’ve been there too and it’s awful x
I’m sorry to hear about your experience. For you personally it is horrific.
However, from a hospital’s point of view - if they have established that your own life isn’t at risk and that it is ‘just’ a bleed (which can happen) or a miscarriage, then there is little they can do. That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t care but that sadly with the overstretched NHS services you drop down their list of priorities.
I’ve been at both ends in such a situation. In. January 2018 I was the one who was a priority as I had an ectopic pregnancy and required emergency surgery to stop me bleeding to death. If they had ‘prioritised’ (as mean as this sounds) someone with a miscarriage, I would have died.
If a miscarriage is happening there is sadly nothing they can do.
With my daughter I fell down the stairs at 8 weeks in 2015. I went to A&E, terrified I’d lose her. It was 10pm and I was told there is no one who could scan to check whether all was well that night, and it was too early to hear the heart beat through a Doppler. I was sent home to call the EPU the next day for a scan and it was the most horrific 20 hours until that scan!
Similarly, after my ectopic pregnancy I was pregnant again in July 2018. At 7 weeks I started bleeding and was terrified. It was 9pm and I called 111 who arranged an out of hours GP appointment in a hospital a bit further away, the only appointment they could give me.
Considering everything I’d been through almost losing my life (and losing my baby AND right Fallopian tube)... I couldn’t believe when the GP just said “it’s probably a miscarriage”. I was offered a scan for SIX days later at my local EPU! So I went home thinking I’d lost yet another baby.
I called the EPU the next day who confirmed they really can’t see me as they are understaffed (summer holidays) and have to keep appointments free for emergencies (again pointing out that sadly a miscarriage isn’t an emergency as sadly it cannot be stopped). However they informed me of yet another hospital a bit further away who does walk in EPU. I sat there for 4 hours waiting for my turn to be scanned... thankfully, despite all the bleeding there was a baby with a heartbeat (currently 27 weeks pregnant).
I’m just listing this all so you don’t think I’m heartless... but from these three experiences I’ve learnt that they need to prioritise those where they can save life’s/have an impact on the outcome, in a rather emotionless way. Simply because they cannot cater for everyone who comes in with bleeding. I have spent a lot of time in the EPU this time round due to hyperemesis, further bleeding, pain (from scar tissue) etc etc. I couldn’t quite believe just HOW many women come through their doors every day and for every one of them their situation is urgent, super emotional and the most important. I don’t think it’s easy for them. But they have to make sure they offer the help to those that need it most first.
The only thing you could complain about is if they had absolutely no clue why you were in pain (and also depends how severe that pain was) or bleeding, and you were actually in horrendous pain and bleeding a lot, and no one checked anything.... which means that unless you had already had a scan to confirm a pregnancy in uterus you may have had an ectopic pregnancy and could’ve been sat there bleeding from a burst Fallopian tube. Having been there though, I think they would be able to tell from your pain level? As in, when I went in and my Fallopian tube had burst I was in Majors in seconds and high on morphine in minutes.
It’s such a painful journey and my heart hurts for you, and it’s natural to want to find someone to blame someone for it all. And in an ideal world someone would have been with you right from the start, supported and reassured you. And having met so many of them, I’m sure yours as well would’ve loved to have cared more but they simply haven’t got enough staff to do so. It might be worth making a Gp appointment and talk it through with him/her. It’s been traumatising for you and you need to be given the time to understand it and digest it.
Firstly I’m so sorry for your loss, it must be an awful thing to go through. I hope you are being looked after. I had bleeding early on, around 6 weeks and went straight to a&e, I waited around 6 hours to be seen! It was a Sunday and when I was seen the guy clearly knew nothing about pregnancy, turns out no one available on sundays to deal with early pregnancy. I did wonder what would’ve happened if it didn’t turn out ok in the end... I had to see epu the next day. But I guess it probably couldn’t have been stopped but you deserved better compassionate care.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately this seems to be the norm. I had lots of bleeding, clots and cramps at 6 weeks and was convinced it was a miscarriage as I had one previous. I was told to go to a&e and I waited hours. I was told I would see a gynaecologist but that never happened. In the end all they did was check my stomach and take bloods and sent me home and told me I would hear from EPU on the Monday morning (this was all Friday evening).
It was an awful wait but I understood they don’t always have the right staff on/available to be able to do a scan etc and if it was a miscarriage at this early stage they can’t do anything about it. Luckily my baby was ok when we had our scan on the Monday.
Look after yourselves and try again when you feel ready too xx
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