to want to take my pushchair into my doctors surgery?

[gillquil]

my g.p surgery has just banned pushchairs, I've them a letter that follows, is this the norm? or should I just change our G.P.?

Hello,

I would like to make a complaint about the forthcoming ban on pushchairs in the surgery from the first of April. I am a mother of three, my eldest child has just turned four and we have a double pushchair which we normally use for our two youngest. My youngest child has just turned one, and as is typical for his age, he wants to crawl and climb all the time, he definitely doesn?t want to sit on my lap while I wait, he will however normally wait happily in his pushchair, or sleep in it while we wait or during our appointments. My two year old daughter just wants to run around.

If I am unable to bring my pushchair into the surgery I am going to have to let my son crawl over the floor in the surgery which I can?t imagine being the most hygienic thing to do. Or when he is asleep I will have to wake him, and what if both he and his sister are sleeping? do I really want to wait for my appointment struggling with a sobbing two year old daughter and a crying one year old son, my handbag, and changing bag on the floor or on the seat next to me. All of which, toddler, and baby and baggage have to then be carried into the appointment. I would also like to know what is suggested for mothers who need for example to have their young child with them during say a smear test? Should I leave him to crawl around the floor in the surgery during this?

Parents that I know often rely on being able to entertain a young child or children in a pushchair so that they can speak to their G.P. or nurse for a few minutes uninterrupted. Or the child sleeps on through their appointment and waiting time, and the parent can have a proper conversation or treatment.
I don?t have the option of arranging childcare for the times when I need to come to the surgery, especially as we normally ring at 8 a.m to see what appointment we can get if any for that morning.

I asked about the security of the area that has been designated for pushchairs to be left. As far as the lady I spoke to knew, there is none, it seems that the surgery is relying on the area being ?out of sight.? I disagree anyone walking past will be able to see a row of unsecured pushchairs. Pushchairs cost as I am sure you know an enormous amount of money. We live close by and two of my neighbours have had pushchairs stolen from outside their own front doors in the last six months, and we had a child?s scooter taken ourselves. It was suggested also that I buy a bicycle style lock for our chair, but I can?t see what I would secure it to.

While I can see the need for some sort solution to the congestion in the waiting room, as a result of parents and children who are patients at XXX Surgery using pushchairs, I don?t feel that just telling people their only option is to leave their pushchairs outside, in an unsecured area, and carry in their child or children and changing bags, handbags and who knows even their shopping, is acceptable. In fact I think it?s discriminatory. I have spoken to several mothers today who are patients at XXX, as are their children, and they all agree, and have said they will be putting forward their comments also.

I look forward to your reply and hope that XXX can be a bit more creative in finding a solution that doesn?t leave patients feeling unwelcome.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with all you hatchet faced people barking about "over reliance" and crap like that? Why do you want people to suffer? Have you just been on a training course where you were brainwashed with powerpoint slides about how having children, especially small ones, is far too easy and people doing it need their lives to have a few assault course elements thrown in to toughen them up?

You remind me of an ex of mine who used to sit in Starbucks or Costa and mutter about "lazy fucking mums who should get jobs" because some of them were actually sitting down and smiling.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos Tue 10-Apr-12 15:37:08
it is also POSSIBLE for a wheelchair user to be carried in

Can I come to stay on your planet for a while please?

is it not? am i missing something? please let me know if i am. i mean that sincerely. i think i must be.

Yes, outraged, i like the sound of a planet where each surgery have their own assigned strongman, complete with animal skin pouch and handle bar moustache

oh i get it now, like the sound of each surgery which has people standing around doing nothing just waiting to come in and hold your kids while you get examined, or hold one kid while you are holdiong the one getting innoculations etc.

i actually know a mother who hasnt taken kids for innoculations because of difficulties at the surgery. and we wonder why so many kids arent vaccinated these days, nno one can put two and two together it seems.

Does it have to be a competition?

How has this thread come around to saying that it is OK that there are accessibility issues for some women with children, because some people (maybe some of the same people) use wheelchairs?

I don't understand that at all.

yakbutter - it's just a few short years? That is a long time to wait.

Nailak, in the vast majority of cases, it would not be possible to carry a wheelchair user into a surgery.

This is because they might be very heavy, and unless a hoist is being used, a manual handling assessment would need to be done for each an every person. It would be pointless because you would end up creating as many H&S issues as the buggies create.

Even if there were enough fit, strong and healthy people around to carry a wheelchair user, they would need to be trained, and manual handling is supposed to be kept to a minimum anyway. Can you imagine a couple of receptionists trying to carry a six foot tall wheelchair user around a surgery?

Many wheelchair users have supports on their chairs and cannot sit unaided on regular chairs because they don't have the stability to keep themselves upright. Or they may have special pressure cushions that they need to prevent skin damage that can easily occur.

I could go on, there are so many reasons why it wouldn't work because there are so many reasons for needing a wheelchair.

Vezzie - so so so well said and hilarious too. And Nailak.

Obviously most things can be dealt with one way or another but why make it more difficult, for anyone?

This is a thread about banning pushchairs in doctors surgeries. Not about wheelchairs.

there's a reason buggies have got bigger - travel systems. When we were kids we were just plonked in the car in moses baskets and strapped in. Now that's illegal. You could just whip baby out of moses basket, plonk it into buggy and off you go. Now car seats are required and it makes sense to be able to transport a sleeping baby in and out of a car but car seats are too heavy to carry, unlike moses baskets, hence travel systems.

People don't have big buggies just to annoy you. They might have big children and do a lot of walking...

I find it weird that there's always something to criticise other people for. People are just trying to get through the day you know. People manage it in lots of different ways. Some people have small buggies and heavy babies with lots of poo (me) some people have big buggies because they walk a lot or have lots to carry or are flash gits. Whatever. It's not a crime.

But rather than try to make healthcare responsive to the users, we want to ban certain types of buggy?

sardinequeen, I totally agree with you.

Why does it always end up in a competition between a wheelchair user and a baby to see who's most vulnerable? It's weird. How about both groups of people could do with access and help?

Wheelchairs are a total different story and i cannot believe some of these comments written against the disabled is discusting and discriminating.
I for one do not think pushchairs should be banned but people with wheelchairs HAVE to use them as they are DISABLED so therefore cannot WALK or be CARRIED!!
Im very with people confusing wheelchairs with prams.
My brother used to use a wheelchair before he died, without it he would have got no-where has he had a HIP REPLACEMENT due to having cancer removed from his bones-he wouldn't have been able to be CARRIED because he was in too much PAIN -why should people like him be banned from the doctors?-be sensible and have a heart people, wait till one of your family members ends up in a wheelchair u will soon see they are people like the rest of us.
My mil is disabled she has hip displacia how ever much i dislike her i wouldnt dream of someone like her being banned either-get a grip people

Even though i agree with op YANBU , i dont agree with babies needing a pushchair is anywhere near as inportant than those in a wheelchair and im sure the op doesn't agree with these disabled vs pushchairs threads either!!

I think the point nailak is trying to make is that eg a woman with mobility issues, a c-section scar, newborn twins and a flight of stairs to negotiate has similar accessibility issues to a person in a wheelchair ie basically she can't do it.

That is how I read it anyway.

Many of the women who struggle to manage with this stuff will have disabilities of varying type and severity anyway.

This whole thing is ridiculous They are not suggesting buggies be left at home , just at the door.
Can mothers really not mange their own children for a few metres and into the waiting room? Do they insist that they must wheel pushchair into other peoples houses when they have to visit? I think not!

Indeed.

I was trying to picture a triple buggy in my front hall, and couldn't. Well, everyone else would have to use the back door to get in.

At a house you can go in, leave one child on the floor or with a friend, go back for the next child etc.

You can't leave a baby lying by itself on the floor of a doctor's surgery. The people who work there don't like it.

Do you generally need some kind of medical procedure when you go into someone elses home?

and some wheelchair users have some mobility so it's not always an all or nothing situation.

It's just there's a lot of hot air on this topic and as soon as the wheelchair issue starts up everyone suddenly gets accused of wanting to turf wheelchair users out of their chairs because we, you know, just don't care or understand.

The basic point is, lots of people need help in lots of different ways. We'll have got to the bottom of this problem when men in suits and lairey teenagers get thrown of the bus to make way for disabled people in wheelchairs rather than harrassed mums of toddlers and babies getting thrown off the bus.

sorry that was to pumpkinsweetie.

"I am in NO WAY suggesting that wheelchair users should have to get out of them to access health care. I am just saying that the same way that IT IS possible to take 3 kids under 5 post caesarean in to a gps surgery, it is also POSSIBLE for a wheel chair user to be carried in."

I hope i read this as meaning that neither could be done.
I hope I read that right.........

You don't generally pick everything up and carry it all at once.

And if you have any physical or mental difficulties at that time then your friend will likely know and help you out.

Mind you people in that position often aren't out and about much anyway - hence going to the doctor and trying to manage it all feeling and/or being rather insurmountable.

Presumably you would have your friend help carry things/baby into the house, and then you would have hands free to fold buggy etc.

Different senario to having to leave a buggy outside a doctors surgery.

margoandjerry by the way the men in suits a teenagers, won't be in buggies in teh wheelchair space.