Is it normal not to be accepted in maternity wards at 17+6 pregnancy with continous abdominal pain and bleeding due to not being in the 18th week or am I just one of the lucky ones saw the other side of the NHS?
I had this ongoing pain and my community midwives adviced me to be seen in the maternity ward urgently but when I went there I wasn't welcomed well at all. The midwife who took my case claimed that they're only seing the women from 18th week whereas in all documents it's written that from 17th week they are obliged to attend my needs. When I tried to show her the documentation on my pregnancy file she started to shout at me and mocked me that I'm making a big deal out of it, that I need to go home and take paracetamol!
I'm terrified now that I'll be giving birth there where no one cares about the mother's concerns or feelings. Is it like this everywhere or should I try to change my hospital? Maybe I'm expecting too much from NHS as I'm a foreigner and never seen this kind of a bad health system before. I can't believe there are no ultrasound machines/techincians in maternity emergency wards or even a doppler device! and screening only 2 times in whole prenancy? What year are they in! It's all absurd to me but maybe makes sense for people born in this so called developed country.
Written by
suysuy
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
That's not normal. I'd ring up and complain or go to their a n e. Iv never had bad care or rude care whilst been pregnant after giving birth yeah but not during pregnancy, I'm sorry you was treated such a, way. Please get to A n E or ring your midwife who could speak on your behalf. X
Thank you for your advice, I've been seen in the A&E today and they've provided an email address for complaints. I haven't thought my midwife would be helpful in this case but I'll let her know what happened.
I've been adviced to have a bed rest and they've arranged an ultrasound scan for next week. I'm hoping there's nothing major and I could listen to baby's heartbeat which was assuring and eased my concerns. Thank you for your good wishes
I would contact PALS and put in a formal complaint. No healthcare worker should mock you or disregard your symptoms. Whilst some places have an EPU and a maternity ward you still should have been assessed somewhere. Maternity ward at my hospital is from 20 weeks otherwise Gyne see you on the gyne ward. x
Thank you for your advice, I wasn't aware that I could contact PALS, I'll send my complaint letter there as well maybe it'll help to improve their services so no other woman would suffer such stress.
I do agree, it is disheartening that we have to become desperate and complain to get the attention we need. I feel the same, and I went for private care as much as I could afford, otherwise I would have been absolutely lost. It should not be like that as pregnancy is a vulnerable time for all of us. My midwife cancelled the first meeting in week 16, an hour before, re-scheduled to week 17. No meaningful advise, she keeps referring me to GP even for constipation medication. Consultant in the maternity ward kept us waiting for an hour, and instead of listening to me, she was typing her letter and when she finished she asked “ is this all?”.
It is absolutely scary for me too, especially with this pandemic.
I do agree it got worse with the pandemic for me as well. As a first time mum it's all new and strange plus this obscurity leaves us more stressed. And I feel like no one cares as they should! Sorry that you've experienced a similar negligence, I'm sending formal complaint letters everywhere I can, I don't know if it would help but at least I want them to be aware of the services they provide and the hardship they leave vulnarable women in.
Some things are frustrating especially with the limitations with the pandemic. But referring to GP for constipation meds is correct. Midwives have a very specific list of things they can give and prescribe and laxatives are not included. Trust me it would be nicer to just be able to do these things then and there. If you were seen on the ward the consultant may have just finished doing an emergency caesarean. I do understand that service can fall short but the rules on when we should see women and whether appts were phone calls or face to face were literally changing weekly in the first months of lockdown. It may be down to sheer incompetence but usually there’s more to it than that.
Thank you very much, your knowledge is better than mine. I am at my first pregnancy at an advanced age , after countless IVF treatments. Is just the communication is bad. I have a heart history and called the midwives to refer me sooner to Cardiology. They said to go through normal GP process. I had to go privately to get medication for palpitations safe in pregnancy. And afterwards I found out that the Maternity have their own Cardiologist.This is just an example, I really understand their pressure, but as we all, we are all doing our job in our workplace. Their mission is crucial as it affects terribly our lives. Being able to offer their attention and care is part of their job and the reason we are paying a lot monthly in taxes and NI.
Yeah I can’t say 100% for different trusts but I can’t understand why they couldn’t have fast tracked your referral seeing as you are pregnant.. and seeing as they must’ve asked about your cardiac history at booking surely it would’ve been an automatic necessary referral on their part! I’d hate to defend something that isn’t right at the same time. And my heart goes out to you going through an IVF pregnancy. Although the good news is that you have got to where you are it doesn’t take away the anxiety 😞 but I’m really happy for you. While it’s not at all going to remove the anxiety, all I’d say is (being a mum of a 7 month son now!) don’t let the shortcomings of healthcare professionals tarnish your memory of pregnancy... it can be crap with the sickness, uncertainty, bad sleep and aches everywhere but it’s also your miracle and you deserve to be able to look back on it fondly!
Any meds needed would be prescribed from dr even when my iron results are low the midwife has to request from Gp to give meds. That's normal for her to tell you to speak to Gp hun x
I can understand Enta 's point. I'm not used to this system of community midwives/maternity ward/GP triangle. It is hard to contact them, if you can reach the midwives they'll be referring you to GP, if you can reach the GP they'll be saying "take paracetamol or got the maternity ward" when you're in maternity ward they'll be acting like you're a 70 year old confused male and you'd end up getting the treatment you need in A&E!
I believe there should have been one point of contact for maternity where stuff there is easy to reach and can attend all your needs.
It might be normal for the rest of you but not having an ultrasound device/technician and a gynae doctor in a birth centre was odd for me until I had the major shock learning there isn't any in the emergency maternity ward either. It just shows the lack of interest and funding by the NHS to maternity units where I'm paying the taxes but receiving no services.
Also each time when I have a concern, midwives tell me to raise them, if I have a pain that concerns me or bleeding or any other issue, they seem like they're there to help until I'm trying to get real help.
It doesn't mean that I see them as robots, they are people like us, they might have finished an emergency caesarean for real, but it doesn't give them the right to ignore us for hours or "go home and come back when you're in the 18th week" attitude. I might have something important as well, at least someone needs to be there telling me that I'd be waiting due to their shortage of staff or I can't get the attention there but some other ward. What they're doing is not this, they just want to check their phones more and deal with complaining pregnant ladies less.
Funny enough my mum is a nurse, I've seen her struggles over the years, late night shifts and tiredness. She was neglecting us but not the patients! Never heard of talking back of a patient or mocking, laughing with her colleagues. What I've experienced was just purely rude and shouldn't be overlooked.
nsha , thank you for your comments. I'm trying to get used to the system here but it can be better, believe me. That's why I wanted to raise my voice, send complaints and talk about it in order to improve it. And you're totally right, this kind of an attitude puts off women to get help when they really need to. Unfortunately I can't differentiate if it's a normal pain due to pregnancy or something more important as I'm prone to pain and don't mind the aches. But since I'm pregnant I'm worried that maybe I should care about it more for the sake of the baby.
Thankfully I got the help I need at A&E but having to fight for it stressed me out terribly.
Hope you all have a beautiful, calm pregnancy/motherhood and thank you once again for your wishes and comments.
It seriously must be different all over the country, because whenever I've needed care during pregnancy I've rung the relevant team i have in my notes. Epu up until 14 weeks and Mac up until birth. Theyve called me in checked me out me on monitor cgeck bubus heartbeat, scanned if they thought it was needed, kept me in etc I've never had much to do with community midwives because hospital have always taken over my care from 13 or 16 weeks which meant i visited the antenatal department for regular checks monitoring etc. But that was because I've developed problems during pregnancy i don't know how this one will go due to covid. I hope your care isn't like what you experienced throughout your pregnancy. You've definitely done the right thing complaining. Keep well and make sure your heard 💗😘
You must have been a lucky case. For me, first contact with maternity ward was in week 12, by then I ‘ve already had 3 private scans during pregnancy. The sonographer did not even mention in his report the fibroid I have, I had it checked and monitored long before the pregnancy, by my IVF clinic abroad, or it might have been a case of operation. The NHS sonographer should have measured and mentioned in his report. All was done in haste.
It is not normal to have no contact with a midwife until week 16, it should be at least 1 appointment per month to get the advise on medication a pregnant women needs.
I am an expat too, and unfamiliar with the NHS pregnancy protocol, except the info I can find online. I was used to be seen by consultant more easily, or for pregnant women apointments with Obstreticians from week 4.
From what I see reading your stories, the level of service differ per region/trust/ individual cases and it should not be like that.
Really isn't normal not to have no contact with a midwife till 16 weeks. I've always seen my midwife before 10 weeks then 2 nd appointment 16 weeks but I've only seen my community midwife upto 2 times then hospital taken over due to issues in pregnancy. I'm sorry you've experienced such slack care, i do understand its very different for people all over the country and your right it shouldn't be like that. I don't think im a lucky case it must be my hospital trust is much better than some others when it comes to maternity care. If you have any queries or question's feel free to pm me.
Trust me that anxiety of whether a pain is normal or not even worried me as a midwife and my friend who is now pregnant and also a midwife! We knew it wasn’t severe but still checking with someone else for reassurance. It’s your baby and your pregnancy and you are protective of it with your life and sometimes an outside perspective is needed but definitely a caring one, not a dismissive rude one. The thing I really hate the most about my job is the fact I feel I sometimes physically can’t give people the time they need or see them as soon as id like. I seem to always be running 20 minutes late with my appointments! But I’d rather do that and listen than rush people and be on time, and I feel like I’m almost always apologizing for keeping people waiting but I’ve found an apology and an explanation goes a very long way and it sounds like you got neither. Despite all the tax we all pay, not enough of it goes to the NHS. While we always try and give evidence based care, they make sure we don’t have as much as one too many members of staff, and when it’s busy it becomes too few. Really bizarre to hear there’s no obstetrician (or ultrasound scanner?!) in emergency assessment but usually there is a registrar and SHO between multiple wards.
Anyway none of that really matters. If you’re not happy then there’s a failing, doesn’t matter what the reasons may be. I just hate feeling that other members of staff (even at a completely different trust) are giving midwives a bad rep I hope things are all ok now with the initial reason you went to be seen?
If that’s the case then it’s not right. I don’t know about the cut off (where I work it’s 16 weeks but different places are different) and abdominal pain if not severe is usually ok but it takes a full assessment over the phone to know this not from the info in your post. Bleeding if more than just spotting is not normal. If the reason they weren’t seeing you was simply your gestation then they should NOT have told you to go home, they should have advised to go to A&E where you would have been assessed by a gynae doctor. And they should never ever be rude or make you feel you’ve done the wrong thing. That’s how you put off women going to get checked when they really need to get checked. If the bleeding is still going I’d go to a&e. If not and you are worried, contact your community midwifery team and explain your concerns. Xx
You will find in the U.K. before 12 weeks you won't get any support I'm on my 4th baby and had some bad care in the past giving birth my area seems to have got better with this baby which I'm glad about but sometimes it depends on the midwife. in emergency department on duty in the current climate they want you to ring before turning up as everything is in the computing system if they have no record your coming it can get a bit hectic for them .I do know they are understaffed it seems at the minute but if you want scans and things it's very hard to get unless your waters break .bleeding no you usually expect to monitor it if it's just pink I was let down last year had a misscarrige at home in the end so make that my 5th pregnancy .I think sometimes it's the area my 1st birth lovely experience but when I moved house had 2 more didn't enjoy it.my area is only just getting better now but they leave you a lot longer now
Thank you for your advice and comments. I'm trying to get used to the system here but sometimes it's just so frustrating that I feel like no one cares. I hope it'll change over time. And sorry to hear that you've been treated like that before and had a miscariage, I don't want to even imagine it.
Hope everything will go well from now on. Best wishes!
unfortunately there will always be one I've done nothing but chase up my midwife this pregnancy for advise sometimes I just ring triage which are helpful it's sometimes best to ring first as they will tell you if you need to come in but support for pregnancy has really gone down hill I only get regular scans because I've always had small babies but you don't get seen before 12 week then you see midwife around 16.20 week scan then not much more in between .when I lost my baby all I was given was a leaflet on how to expose of her like I didn't have a life growing inside me .and mediation very patronising like do you want a hot drink no I just want to go home thanks and mourn not sit in a private room and be asked how to get rid x
My maternity ward was brilliant, fully equipped and the staff were fantastic. I was seen as an emergency twice towards the end of my pregnancy as my little boys kicks had slowed down and was hooked up to a monitor as soon as I arrived. I have never heard of a maternity ward behaving like this, it certainly isn’t the norm. The service in general is vastly over stretched but I can only say good things about how I was treated. All the best with your pregnancy and hope you get some answers.
I wrote to PALS & my MP about my GP surgery who didn’t pass on any of the information that they wanted from me to my midwife. Until I complained my first appointment with the midwife was at 12 weeks.
I know what you mean about feeling like no one cares. I messaged my midwife to let them know that we sadly lost one of the embryos & didn’t even get a message back!
In my first meeting with the consultant he started off telling me that their policy with me was going to be hands off as I was low risk & then listed all the tests I should get & the more testing I got done the higher chance of it showing something was wrong & tried to encourage me to get an amino! I told him so far I was told we were low risk & until I had something in my hand that said otherwise the answer was no. A week on I still don’t know if I’m supposed to be high or low risk.
In better news, I had some bleeding and passed a clot and another midwife (having heard this full story & heard how distraught I was) got me a scan in 48 hours. There is hope in the sea of people that are trying to get rid of you!
Sorry that you had to struggle like that as none of us should! And you're right sometimes there's one coming like an angel and helping out but it should be a standard practise.
I think you did right complaining, I haven't heard any reasults of my complaints but fingers crossed!
Hope you won't have any issues the rest of your pregnancy and everything will be just fine
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
I hope things are all ok now with the initial reason you went to be seen?
Not feeling any movement at 19 weeks
Can midwives be wrong??
Wee update
I am 10weeks pregnant and covering a Maternity cover my boss states i won't be paid?
Confused about Foods to Avoid Whilst Pregnant.. 
