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.

Also the words on here

People with various illnesses and disabilities - mental health problems, mobility problems, physical illnesses - being described as unhinged, whingers, moaners. Honestly listen to yourselves, it's disgusting.

oopsi in those situations the women who cannot make the journey will be dead, and their children too.

What's your point.

Kungfupannda, that is an excellent idea.

That sounds like the best suggestion to me so far, because that way everyone is treated the same and those who are experiencing MH problems do not have to make an extra phonecall and just have to do the same as everyone else making an appointment. It woud also enable those who would struggle but coupld cope at a push, and option to bring their pushchair if they want to.

The only problem would be when appointments are running late, but I'm sure that could be overcome by only booking one pushchair every twenty minutes or something.

Why not suggest a system by which you "book" your buggy in at the time you make an appointment, and if the single buggy space is already taken then you have the option of making alternative arrangements or making a different appointment?

Good plan.

Why is that a good plan but the idea of calling up and talking to them a terrible plan?

I am surprised at the enormous u-turn being performed by some of the posters on here...

And the FACT is that GP surgeries with a pushchair ban are not running any systems like any of these. Which people have been saying all the way through is entirely the right thing to do.

The idea of calling up and talking to them is a good plan I my mind, but when I suggested people explain the situation so that an exception could be made, I got told that that is a further barrier for mothers with MH issues because they might find it hard ti ask for help, and that people shouldn't have to give away personal information to receptionists in order to access the GP.

What u turns are you thinking of?

Kung Fu Panda, that is a very good suggestion.

I love reading clear and articulate posts, which are straight to the point, offering good solutions, and without added drama. Bravo.

Why is that a good plan but the idea of calling up and talking to them a terrible plan?

Sardine. your plan just transferred the problem to the "Ms X" without any proposed solution, which people pointed out quite a few times.

And Sardine, you and/or your ilk also howled that any managing of limited access was an abomination, that mothers with MH wouldn't use it because they find it hard ti ask for help, etc etc

I am surprised at the enormous u-turn being performed by some of the posters on here

Eh? I think everyone who has argued that eternal unlimited access was unobtainable were always arguing for some form of managed restriction, that is the obvious solution.

It was you lot howling about your unfettered rights etc etc who couldn't/wouldn't grasp this need.

I have never said that, whatmeworry.

I have said ALL THROUGH THE THREAD is that women who feel that they cannot, or actually cannot, access their GP due to accessibility problems should be considered, and it is not right that women are going without treatment for this reason.

What I have had in return is to be called a whinger, a whiner, unhinged, that I should not have had my children, that my point is outrageous, expensive and impossible, that women manage to walk for miles in the third world, and all the rest of it.

Of course it is a massive U-turn. I suggested that women with problems talked to their GP surgery about it and YOU whatmeworry said that those women SHOULD be told to bog off.

If any of you feel that saying at this point on the thread, oh well maybe these women should be able to see the doctor, reduces in any way the appalling things that you have said earlier on in the thread then you are quite wrong.

Whatmeworry Thu 12-Apr-12 22:29:16
"If you had read the thread you will know that people have tried to talk about it with surgeries and have been told to bog off."

And if you had read this thread you would know why.

It is only a massive U turn, in your mind SQ, because you have been refusing to actually take into consideration, or even listen to, any of the views of anybody who has not outright agreed with you on this thread. Instead you have twisted what people say, and thrown it around willy nilly in a response to anything new they say.

Putting yourself, and those you profess to peak on behalf of, as martyrs, just looks odd, and make me think you are only in it for the argument, rather than actually looking for workable solutions.

I think most of this thread, for this reason, is a farce, which I have been somewhat trying to illustrate, with my ill adviced wonderpet, etc shenanigans.

You try to make yourself into an advocate of people with mental health and mobility issues, but your attitude to the other posters, and how you react to the posts of people who dont agree, is more harmful than beneficial to "the cause", in my opinion. You dont actually realize that a lot of people here actually agree with you in most parts, and instead of trying to build on what you agree on, you once again go in all guns blazing tearing everything apart, going back to very old posts.

It is absurd to say, like you seem to do, that just because somebody does not think that all buggies should be welcome in a doctors surgery, they sneer at mental health problems, mothers of babies, mobility issues, and dont think they have the right to health care, nor having kids. Your conclusions are insane.

Your arguments have a certain Holberg "Jeppe of the Hill " quality:

Stones cannot fly. Nille cannot fly. Therefore Nille is a stone.

Now you are telling me that it is all in my mind?

I have read the entire thread (which you did not trouble yourself with before diving in) and the comments on here are terrible.

I don't think that after your comments about how women who cannot manage to get to the doctors shouldn't have children, you are in much of a position to try and appropriate some kind of neutral voice of reason. Doesn't add up, quite frankly.

Oh and look at the end there you have called me insane again.

What is the matter with some of you? Baffling.

I have taken the position throughout that women who have difficulty accessing the GP should be given consideration and assistance.

In return I have been called all sorts of names.

People on here have been saying buggy bans are right and proper and that if women can't cope with that then they should put up and shut up, not have had their children, etc. You should know, you wrote one of them.

Comments like this

"
Whatmeworry Thu 12-Apr-12 22:29:16
"If you had read the thread you will know that people have tried to talk about it with surgeries and have been told to bog off."

And if you had read this thread you would know why."

Or this

"QuintessentialShadows Wed 11-Apr-12 17:16:46
Mmmm, I am sure I am going to get flamed....

If you have too many children to be able to care for them while going to the GP, or unable to leave them with somebody, maybe you simply have too many children?

Why on Gods green earth should it be necessary to take 3 kids to the gp if you are unwell, or if one of the kids are unwell?

Double buggies, and any buggy littering the floors of waiting rooms are a nuisance."

Oh look here

"QS please elaborate.

There are women on this thread who feel unable to attend the GP with a toddler and a baby because of various issues including post-natal mental health issues. You have just said that these women should not have had children if they were not going to be able to manage. Is that what you mean.

Add message | Report | Message poster QuintessentialShadows Wed 11-Apr-12 17:26:29
SQ, not if you are unable to cope doing everyday things such as visiting your GP, either with your children with you, or placed elsewhere.

But, saying that is like locking the door after the horse has escaped, right? "

"Nancy66 Tue 10-Apr-12 09:50:27
God, please don't send that terrible letter.

It reads like a two-page whinge-a-thon. What am i meant to do about this? what am I meant to do about that? Count the questions in your letter - they're endless.

the surgery is there to treat sick people not worry about patients' childcare issues.

Just sort it out yourself - it's not the surgery's problem."

There are plenty more I will keep at it

"oopsi Tue 10-Apr-12 19:08:24
bigjoeent-but people are not saying they can't use the buggy, just that they have to leave it in the park.You could have pushed your DC across the rioad and then unstrapped them.
You don't have to hold your dc whilst they have their injections-a member of staff can do this. And why is your child magically silent in the pushchair so youi can hear the doctor, but not sitting on the floor or on your knee.
i am sorry but I refuse to accept that women are so bad at m,anaging their own children."

Oh here look another post calling into question the credibilty / sanity of someone on the thread

"oopsi Thu 12-Apr-12 10:48:24
'5 mad things was suffering from depression and psychosis'

originally she said she had eczema, she has now remembered it was actually psychosis"

claireall (at end of a long post)

"Most parents don't have mobility issues, don't have twins, don't have depression. But many parents are thoughtless as to the needs of others, and some are even quite selfish. Space is limited in waiting rooms, and the priority has to be to provide it for patients, not members of their family."

"If my lame father trips over your ridiculously large prams he's in hospital for weeks.
Or dead through a heart attack. Your kids will not die from being held."