Difficulty getting midwife appointments

[cameronny]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this, but I couldn't find another suitable place on the board.

My wife and I are in a bit of a state. At 4 weeks when we knew she was pregnant we attempted to book our initial appointments at the doctor's, but were told we'd moved out of the catchment area and had to re-register at a different GP.

They wouldn't accept the midwife forms until we were registered. Two weeks after registering we were told they must have lost her form.

Another two weeks after submitting that form we've still not had any confirmation of registration. My wife has contacted the community midwife directly and been told we can't have any contact until registered, our old doctor says there's no way they can see us even if the new one won't register us, and there's still no sign our GP knows how to fill out paperwork.

We just wanted advice on how long after registration you had to wait to see a midwife (I know appointments often start from 10 weeks?), but we're now coming up to 9 weeks pregnant and no closer to seeing a doctor than we were at week 4.

Is this an especially bad situation? We know the appointments are important, and with the stress of nausea, work, and no doctor it's really an awful time for my wife.

Appreciate any advice you can give

[Pilot12]

Go to the new GP and chase up the registration. I doubt they will write to you to let you know. I was told to wait one week then I would be registered. You need to be proactive and ask not sit and wait.

[Pilot12]

In answer to your question, I had my booking appointment at 11 weeks and my scan at 12 weeks because my hospital is very busy so don't panic yet, as soon as you are registered they will fit you in.

[Gruffalosandbuffalos]

You need your first scan before 13 weeks or some of the testing can’t be carried out so I would push for it to be sorted.

[cameronny]

Thankyou Pilot12. We've actually been into the GP twice and on the phone following up on these in person. That's when they told us they'd lost the forms, which isn't promising.

I don't know what the process is, they said they couldn't register her themselves, but that 'a man' comes in and does it, and also couldn't tell us what dates he comes in. I'd rather go sit in the GP's a full day to make sure this gets done.

My wife will be visiting again today after work. I don't want to get into a situation where I'm shouting at receptionists, but we're just very angry and stressed and have no idea how to get control of this.

We'll try not to panic, but if we can't get a confirmation of registration today then I just have no idea what to do.

[Pilot12]

That all sounds very strange, at my surgery an Administrator just needs to add the patient details to the database then request the patient records from the old surgery, they allow a week for this to happen. I don't understand why the need "a man to come in and do it!

Are there no other surgeries? What would happen if you were really sick and needed to see a Doctor?

Maybe you could call NHS24 for advice.

[QuillBill]

This is madness. I've moved house countless times and I've always just walked in the door with the required ID and registered.

I'd go to a different one.

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp

[user1493413286]

I would call your local midwives and see if you can self refer as that’s what I’ve done with both my pregnancies

[cameronny]

Thanks for the comments everyone, honestly much appreciated.
We'll be going there again tonight and see what we can get done.

I know this GP's is horrifically over-registered compared to our last one, but I've never had any of these issues before. It's right outside our door though, so most of the nearby ones don't accept us as in-catchment.

We'll see what we can do I suppose

[katmarie]

I think you need to write to the GP practice manager and ask them to get this resolved for you.

[Sussexmidwife]

@cameronny. Whereabouts are you? Happy to help if I can