Baby Vaccines

Her wording was really shit and I can see why you were upset. I think people are often pretty patronising or insensitive to new mums.

I wouldn't escalate it any further for your own sanity and also just to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Is your partner helping you with the baby? Will baby go in a sling or do you mind baby crying for 5 mins while you do something. Remember you have to look after your basic needs so you can look after babies.

There seems to be an unusually high proportion of Mumsnet users that are treated to unnecessary comments from nurses/health visitors so I think a lot of people are wary these days that some of the posts aren't genuine

This. You are taking it personally she didn't mean it like this. You really can't be late for gp appointments these days. Just put it down to experience and move on.

I am a practice nurse who regularly does baby vaccine clinics. Yes it’s annoying when patients are late particularly if they don’t apologise, on the other hand I always apologise if I was running late and kept them waiting.
The nurse really was being silly about the red book, you will be back in 4 weeks no worry I can update it then
Sometimes I don’t know why some nurses behave like this- it’s a person centred role and you should be able to talk appropriately to people!

I think you need to chalk it up to experience, not be late and try to remember the red book. She was probably having a rough day too

I said it seems unlikely she would risk her pin and especially if there was another nurse there

I work in practice nursing and we are allowed to have cups of tea and flasks of water. This was set out via our practice manager... No patient is ever close enough to my desk to burn themselves or catch a nasty bug. Before we touch a patient we must wash our hands and always use gloves so dont know how it goes against IPC, Same thing happened when i worked on wards, we had a tea trolley come round for the staff during shift... this happpened in my trust.. so not just me, 100s of staff this happens too

You should have apologised for being late, at my practice they would've cancelled your appointment and made you rearrange. I would've also apologised for forgetting my red book. She shouldn't have said you have failed, that wasn't the right thing to say. I'd put it down to you are very tired and maybe she wasn't having a great day either. I wouldn't begrudge a hard working nurse having a cup of tea and I think you are understandably feeling vulnerable and exhausted but it's not her fault that you hadn't had a cup of tea yet. Take care and I hope baby's colic gets better soon and you get more sleep.

She shouldn’t have made that comment, but having a drink on the desk isn’t an infection control problem.

Forgetting the red book isn’t the end of the world, and being late happens but an apology would be nice. 5 minutes late into a 15 minute appointment especially with baby jabs (which are complex) is not insignificant.

Sounds like it was a bad day all around, take a breath and don’t overreact by registering elsewhere.

@OnePearlJoker anything that breaches infection control can lead to infections add to that someone who ignores infection control rules for a cup of tea us likely to ignore others especially in conjunction with her inappropriate comments

The mug on the desk is definitly not how babies get nasty infections. It wont have been near anyone and the nurse would have used gloves... dont know where you got that from

It seems very unlikely a professional would risk her pin in making those comments. Complain but i doubt the manager will do anything, your word against hers. Also not the end of the world if you missed the red book, it's all recorded via documentation

None of that excuses the nurse telling a new mum at risk of pnd that she's failed that day, it's a disgusting comment and @MrsBlob absolutely should complain about the nurses comments and I'd mention her mug on the desk as that's how babies and immunocompronised people get nasty infections.

Hi, it sounds tough. If it’s any consolation I failed to bring my red book to every single medical appointment for number 2. I think calling it a failure was harsh. That said, I’d just chalk it up to a bad day.

Sorry you are struggling, I really am. I had a difficult baby and I do know how hard it is when you’re sleep deprived, most parents with a young baby are very sleep deprived.

It’ s not the nurses fault you haven’t had a cup of tea or a wash or breakfast and, tbf, you clearly have no clue how hard it is working in primary care and constantly dealing with patients who are late. It frequently means clinicians don’t get to drink that cup of tea, or even get to go for a wee.
Having to fill the book in at a later date is also an additional task that the nurse doesn’t have time allocated for her to do, so will again be taken out of her own time. I think her first comment was likely an (ill advised) joking comment that landed badly due to you being tired and stressed tbh.

It would, however, have been polite to apologise for being late.

Not sexist, men are also pulled up for being late and forgetting dressings etc that they were supposed to bring.

Babies are hard work, we’ve all been there, but being arsey with someone who commented on your timekeeping, asking for a different nurse, and then making a complaint is just going to label you as a PITA patient. You made your feelings clear by asking for a new nurse, really no need to complain as well. You would likely get sent a formal letter reminding you of the importance of attending appointments on time in future if you do.

You don’t need to deregister, just register at a new practice and the records will be transferred over.