Went to my 16-week appointment yesterday at University College London Hospital. This is my second pregnancy, and with the first (the care was also at UCLH) the 16 week appointment was a one-to-one with a midwife. Now it was a group session with 8 women in it. Each of us got our blood pressure measured behind a little makeshift screen, and before coming into the room was instructed to do a urine sample which was then tested behind the screen as well.
Afterwards the midwife sat down with all of us and told a lot of general information about the appointments we would be having, different options for birth and pain relief and a bit of advice on diet. And then asked any questions. Not surprisingly, none had any.
She also mentioned that they had decided to turn the appointment into a group session as "it was a waste of time for the pregnant women to have to come into the hospital just to have blood pressure measured and urine tested". However, she did not say how it was less of a waste of time to have to do this in a group, and afterwards sit through 15 minutes of general information, which I think all second time mums would already be aware of, and for first time mums, starting to talk about pain relief and birth options may even be a bit too early. The diet advice was random and scattergun, e.g. she mentioned not to eat runny egg yolk and raw fish, but did not mention unpasteurised cheese, never mind alcohol.
My main criticism of this practice is, however, not that it may be "a waste of time". I think few pregnant women find their midwife appointments a waste of time, given that most are quite anxious and love a bit of reassurance. There may be a few very confident mammas to be, who find the schedule of appointments a bit much, but I think they're far and few between, and making it into a group session did not this cut down the number of appointments anyway. The main problem as I see it is that most women do not feel comfortable talking about private issues in front of complete strangers. I and another woman hung back when the others left, to ask some private questions one on one, but it was not encouraged and the midwife, although not being unfriendly, did not at all seem to encourage it and kept us standing by the door while talking to us so we were made to feel as if she was in a hurry to get us out.
It's a blatant cost cutting exercise, and it makes me so angry that it is concealed with this nonsense of it being for our sake in order to "save us time". I am worried that it will reduce the quality of care, as many women may not feel encouraged to ask private questions or voice concerns, and the midwife does not ask each woman individually how she is doing.
It is the same with all the focus on women being "most comfortable in their home" while having the first contractions, you're positively kicked out of hospital if you come in too early. I'm sure many women may feel more comfortable at home, but you can't just make a blanket statement that all do. I, for one, did not, as I was very anxious in my first pregnancy and felt much safer being in hospital. When they insisted on kicking me back home when I first came in I said I wanted to stay, much to their annoyance, and I'm glad I did, because 4 hours after I was fully dilated and ready to give birth - and the hospital is 30-40 minutes away by car. And as everyone who've given birth knows, sitting in a taxi with contractions really isn't the "most comfortable place".
I am curious if other pregnant women have also had group sessions at their hospitals or local midwives/GP's, and if other second time pregnancies have noticed any worsening of the service and care they received compared to first time around, that is, if they're in the same birth centre/hospital?
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16 week appointment as a group session!? Cost-cutting in the NHS
50 replies
Londonmamabychance · 21/06/2016 13:30
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