To think that waiting is antenatal dept for two hours is too bloody much?!

[CheekyChoppers]

DH and I have been sat in antenatal at St marys hosp, Manc for two bloody hours waiting to see a midwife after a scan this am!

Their queing system is sh*t... Some people have come and gone before us, and some have waited the same length of time as us. It's driving me bloody bonkers.....

They dare send me to que at the blood room after this and I'll go insane :-/

It is hard but I always try and be thankful that I am not the person who needed to take up so much of the doctors time that they are running so late .

I doubt they are all sitting drinking coffee and ignoring people .

Radian = radio....

It's because they book too many patients in to see the doctor. This morning the doctor i was with had 30 patients to see. He should have only had 16, if he had not agreed to see 'extra' patients they may have had to wait weeks for an appointment (obviously not an ante-natal clinic). So he had 3 patients booked in for 12.15, but only one of him. Madness.

I didn't know that, agedknees - poor guy!

Are you OK Choppers? Just wondering why you've been sent to see a midwife after your scan. Hope it didn't show anything too untoward.

That wait sounds horrible! So glad that is not the system here, I went to my appointments for DD2 with a 2 and 3 year in tow, that would have been a nightmare.

I wonder if there are women with toddlers missing appointments because of this :(

I too have had very long waits at St Marys. Worst was waiting for second GTT with a very delayed antiD shot in between, all the while ravenous with hunger because I couldn't eat beforehand. The annoying "baby tv" sales channel made me very stab stabbity stabbity.

I found that if you politely collared a midwife as they came out to get the next person, they will double check & let you know when you are likely to be seen. Or will try to bump you up if you have a genuine reason for needing to leave (childcare, late for work etc) if you have been waiting for a while.

I once waited 2hours for a scan and when I asked was told that they usually give 3 people the same appointment times otherwise they couldn't see everyone within the correct gestational window. So it's not that some poor person needs longer, it's simply that they need to cram them in.

Other than scans though, I've never heard of going to the hospital for antenatal appointments. Is that common? Ive had 4 babies in 3 different areas and always saw the midwife at my Drs surgery and only went to the hospital for my scan. I'm assuming it's for women needing consultant led care?

They double/triple book where I go as well, but leave the last hour or so free for running over. So many people don't bother to show up for their appointments that it is the only way to maximise the use of the Dr's time. If they only had one person per slot, the Dr might be sat twiddling their thumbs at random intervals, as there is no way of knowing who the no-shows might be. This way at least the most people get seen as soon as possible, but waiting is inevitable. As a seasoned hospital goer, I don't think two hours is that bad.

My record was 4 hours between a scan and a consultant appointment when the original appointments were 45 minutes apart. Not in Manchester though.

I was on the other side of this last week though, first into a hospital clinic where the waiting room was already half-full of people waiting for appointments 10, 20, 30 minutes after me. I emerged after 45 minutes to an entire roomful of people looking daggers but I really needed those 45 minutes :(