To be nervous that the doctors' strike is on my due date?

[MrsCrimshaw]

Firstly, I know it's unlikely that my (first) baby will be born on the due date. However I do have some worries, however irrational they may be, that the hospital in general will be under a great deal of pressure on the strike dates, and this might affect the availability of consultants and anaesthetists, should I need their intervention.

I tried to discuss this with my OH last night (he is a medic himself), and he was totally dismissive, becoming really frustrated and "off" with me the more I tried to discuss it with him. It turned into an argument, and I still don't feel any better about it.

In Kings or Guys a few years back they experimented with triage and swooped everyone into a consultant straight away. They had cleared the department by teatime and everyone was sitting around twiddling their thumbs. That had apparently never happened before, ever. For me it said a lot about the amount of sheer faffing that goes on in complex organisations and how smart-bombing it with the right technical expertise can transform user experiences.

But no learning experiences for junior doctors in this scenario, which is obviously going to be a problem for patients down the line if it were to be the norm. It's not just today's user whose user experience matters. But yes, no need for the OP to worry.

You'll be fine. With any luck you will miss the SHO lurking in the background, scissors in hand waiting to pounce to perform an episiotomy for failure to wait failure to progress.

Your OH sounds like a knob. Sorry that I have nothing more constructive to add!!!

wonkylegs he is a paramedic practitioner so only ever sees the worst case scenario for everything, so I guess he can't get his head around why I might be worried about "normal" procedure!

emwantsbiscuits glad to hear I'm not the only one in this position. I am reassured about the consultants too.

Toads omg are you trying to make me panic? The "e" word totally freaks me out! Eek!

Hacker he isn't really he was a bit last night I think he can't always see things from the non-medical pov.

Thanks all!

My DH is an acute specialty consultant and generally is unsympathetic to anybody not dying so I completely understand. It can be rather frustrating to live with especially when going through life changing moments.