To object to a 'no children under 16 on the premises' rule at a clinic?

[FannyBazaar]

I had to make a booking for an ultrasound scan and was really shocked to be told that children are not allowed on the premises.

I generally take my DC with me wherever I go if I can't arrange things around school time and have done since I became a mother. Last time I had a scan this was never mentioned and was at a place I have regularly taken DC with me although last scan was during school and work hours so it didn't matter to me.

I am appalled at the blanket ban policy because I think it makes life extremely difficult for single parents or anyone who doesn't have anyone else readily available to take the DC.

I also don't get it because every day hundreds of women have ultrasound scans in other places and with their DC present in the room or even leaving them in the waiting room.

I dare say they've had their fair share of unruly children but then again, that happens everywhere.

Maybe they employ someone on the sex offender's register who is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with a child.

Maybe they have had a child damaging the very expensive equipment.

What about your baby's father? Can he not help?

My local hospital strongly discourages small children being present at ultrasounds because the sonographer needs to concentrate.

I did have to take my middle child to a dating scan when he was 9 months old - it was a nightmare. Trying to make sure he was ok whilst having an internal scan - I couldn't relax and it made it all very tricksy. I get why the staff would rather children weren't there.

it does depend on the circumstances, a scan is a diagnostic screening test and sometimes the news is not going to be good, Im not sure I would want my children present. It is hard if there are no other options

HCPs have to be CRB (or whatever it's called now) as they may have clinical need to deal with the vulnerable. And front office staff usually are too. I doubt very much that this is a safeguarding issue.

Whether there is any discrimination depends on how this service was delivered before. If a patient can still go to the previous location, then there is no disadvantage (and indeed there may be advantage if waiting times there are reduced because of additional provision). If however the previous provision no longer exists, and the next nearest alternative is at a further distance, then that argument becomes much less tenable.

I was told that no children were allowed at the ultrasound clinic so I went by myself whilst my dh looked after our son. I was pretty pee'ed off to see lots of couples there with their children while I had to go through the whole thing on my own.

Recently in a clinic in a hospital near me. Couple brought their toddler with them proceeded to get on their phones to do something toddler ran about in the waiting room Knocked over an elderly man who fractured his hip and I believe later died.Hospitals are not places for children and young people unless it is an emergency.
I believe that if your scan is pregnancy related then I suspect the rule is to protect other women from children's germs Unfortunatly the number of unvaccinated children in Britain causes significant risk to pregnant women.More so in hospital because there are so many pregnant women in an enclosed space.
Most rules and regulations are for good reasons not just to be difficult.

sashh that would be a very good logical reason! I'm guessing as I was told that children under 16 are not allowed on any of their premises and they operate in many locations, this couldn't possibly be the case, could it?

quangle IMO a gynae transvaginal scan is no more a no children on the premises matter than a smear test. Can't remember if I've taken DC with me for a smear but wouldn't think anything of it, they'd be in the waiting room if old enough to be trusted to sit still, if not, behind the curtain.

It's not just about my scan or my DC, it's the ban for everyone for whatever scans or other treatment these places offer.

I can understand them saying, 'we don't recommend children be present, in case of bad news/no one to supervise them/inappropriate for them' but not to allow them to sit and wait in the waiting room, that is too much for me to accept. I've so many times had to take DC to all sorts of appointments in the past and had fillings with a baby sitting on my lap at the dentist. This policy may well be about safety and insurance but how can a dentist manage it when others can't? Maybe my dentist's is just such a reasonable place they are happy to accommodate.

Are there so many unruly children out there that they should be banned from everywhere but places which are specifically for children? Of course, they then have to ban adults from these places unless they have been meticulously screened. Maybe we need a CRB equivalent check for children to show they have not destroyed medical equipment or caused havoc in a public place.

YANBU. That's ridiculous and discriminatory (against single parents or people with partners who work away or pretty much huge numbers of other people who don't have easy access to childcare really). Children are human beings, unless there is a protection issue (e.g. pubs, gambling shops) there is no reason to exclude them. If people get bad news they are still going to have to face seeing children as soon as they leave the building, so that's an absurd argument. As for children being distressed by seeing other people upset, well yes, it happens, that's normal life.

So how does that rule work for teenage parents then?, some people have children before they turn 16....

'Recently in a clinic in a hospital near me. Couple brought their toddler with them proceeded to get on their phones to do something toddler ran about in the waiting room Knocked over an elderly man who fractured his hip and I believe later died.'

And you know that he later died how? Did they send you his notes?

In any case, according to this logic you wouldn't allow toddlers in hospitals at all, or indeed any public place. Completely ridiculous!

"So how does that rule work for teenage parents then?, some people have children before they turn 16...."

You are assuming that this scan clinic is antenatal. OP has not said that. Indeed she says that "The no children thing apparently applies to the whole premises".

I think that it is 100% reasonable. If there is really no other option could yiu contact social services and see ifthey can help?

I think that it is child centered to ban children from ultrasounds. There is a reasonable chance of bad news, would you take a child to an appointment where you were told if yiu had cancer or not? I wouldn't.

I live in Sweden which is a very child centered country. We have a children's a+e and children's gp. The maternity care here is amazing and all children get 18 months at home with their parents ( their parent's get full pay) and then state funded childcare. Children are not allowed to go to ultrasounds here. Not because it is unfair for the child or parent but because it is inappropriate for children to be at serious medical appointments.

If it isn't a serious medical appointment and you have already had your anomaly scan and you "just want a look" I'd suggest you cancel the appointment.

Social services wouldn't be able to help with something like that. Not unless there were other issues going on. Sometimes people really don't have another option.

So the 15 year olds out there getting pregnant can't bring a friend with them for moral support?

Surely social services could help if you said that you had no money for a babysitter, no family to help and couldn't go to a vital health appointment because children were not allowed.

I dont understand the argument of not having children in the waiting room as people may have received bad news

People often receive very bad news at the gps and the waiting rooms are always filled with children

I understand why they wouldn't want to encourage children in the actual scan room as it would be much harder for the sonographer to do their work in some instances where the children were disruptive etc.

So it is always best to arrange someone to mind the dc but but if you really can't I guess you would need to take them and explain your reasons and hopefully they can make an exception or give you another appointment at a more convenient time.

fannybazaar I was trying to quote someone else's mention of a transvaginal scan as a reason not to bring DCs. But my quote failed. I was totally agreeing with you - smears and transvaginal scans are all the same and when you are a single parent there is no hope of privacy or time to process information so the DCs come too if no childcare.

As for ringing social services, things would have to get a lot worse than a toddler at a scan before I'd qualify for any help. Maybe I'll call them next time I'm putting together an Ikea wardrobe with two preschoolers to assist me .

No, I really don't think so ikea. They might signpost you to other resources in the area, if there are any, such as sure-start. But that would be dependent on the age of the child and whether there were any volunteers available, which there aren't in my area. It really isn't that simple, sadly.

I dont understand the argument of not having children in the waiting room as people may have received bad news

No I don't either. I've been on the receiving end of very bad news within the nhs, whilst the children are present. On one occasion the consultant grabbed an admin worker to entertain the kids for 5 mins so that he could talk business. Which was very kind of both of them. But ultimately you have to walk out, take the kids home, and hold it together. There is no other choice.

I live in Sweden too and there were children in the waiting rooms when I went for my scans. Although I don't know if they went in. (My daughter did, but she was 19 so it doesn't count)