To think midwife should've taken bloods?

[TinyTino]

Had my booking appointment today. All went really well and midwife was lovely. In the letter I got from docs I was told to make sure I was hydrated and that I would have bloods taken today. Midwife however did not do my bloods and has given me a phone number to book in myself at hospital to have them done over 20 miles away. AIBU to think that she should have done them as this is what I was told would happen in the letter? I thought bloods were usually taken at the booking appointment.

The only good reason I can think of as to why she didn't take them is that she's not qualified to, in which case I guess there's not much more she can do!

Not overly annoyed just think it's a bit mad to travel 20 miles for a blood test!

I guess it varies trust to trust. I had blood taken at my booking appointment by an excellent midwife who got blood first try, not easy with my veins! Then I had more bloods taken just after my 12 week scan. They needed 'exact' dates for downs syndrome test which is why they take blood after the scan, so I was told. It won't hurt to phone and ask if you're concerned.

congratulations also!

Seems strange! Midwife took blood at my booking in appointment and at subsequent appointments when needed. I would not have been happy to be told in addition to time taken off for booking appointment, I'd then have to travel another 20 miles?? I live in Scotland if that helps to know.

I had a trainee MW who attempted to take my bloods at booking and she couldn't get a drop from me, it was really painful! Ended up going to the hospital for them and it was done in minutes 🙄

There has been a massive shift to centralise laboratory services. Lab staff at many hospitals have lost their jobs, emergency and on call laboratory services are disappearing. Patients have to travel to have bloods taken and results are taking longer.
GPs were finding that samples taken at the surgery were going astray and courier services are very expensive.
It all adds to the burden placed on patients to travel long distances.
It is only going to get worse as more and more local facilities are closed.

I’ve always had my bloods taken by the midwife at my booking appointments. Very odd they’ve sent you on such a journey.

It sounds like you’ve chosen to go somewhere much further away rather than book in at your local hospital?

I had bloods and urine at booking in and bloods at my 12 week scan. Seems less of a faff for the midwife to do it than a separate appt tbh.

I'm a fairly newly qualified midwife.

All midwives are qualified to take blood. Even first year student midwives can take blood under supervision (utterly terrifying the first few times you atempt it!). Whether they take it or not at your booking appointment depends entirely on Trust policy. At my current trust we refer to the Phlebs: there's a couple of reasons for that including time constraints on us and the cost of couriers to get the blood up to the hospital in the appropriate time frame. Most things in the NHS come down to cost, TBH.

I had bloods taken at booking and 28 weeks both times by a midwife. Once at the midwife led unit and once at the surgery.

I had my booking in appointment, but no bloods taken. Then my first midwife appointment with bloods taken at around 8 weeks and then my scan at 12ish weeks. All normal around where I live

Thanks everyone for your responses!

@welshweasel it's not that far away. 8.1 miles from my front door according to google maps (it's a midwife led centre). My 'local' hospital is 8.8 miles away so this place is a little closer in fact!

Just a bummer to have a full day off work to do a 40 mile round trip for a blood test which will cost me in fuel/parking (hospital parking is ridiculous!) when there's someone perfectly able to do it sat two minutes away in the gp surgery!

What a faff. Sure I will have forgotten about all of this however when baby is born!

Agreeing with endofthelinefinally
Our local phlebotomy services have been closed and people having to travel miles for tests. Also the labs at our hospital have been closed and samples all now sent 30miles away to the next hospital, so if the samples are taken within a certain time frame or on a day with no courier service then the samples become redundant.

If the midwife knew your blood sample being taken at the point in time wasn’t going to get to the lab then she wouldn’t have taken it.

We have issues with getting bloods done intime for the combined screening test as the couriers leave our hospital mid afternoon. It patients are late for their appointment then they miss out, we have to rebook and it’s all needing to be done on a time sensitive scale.

@Poppiesway1 sounds like a bit of a nightmare! Just a little mad in my opinion expecting someone to do a 40 mile round trip for a blood test. If that's what they do for most pregnant women I'd say it's not on and they should really be looking for a solution! Very frustrating however as I realise hands are tied.

I've been suffering with hyperemesis. It's not part of my initial concern as I know lots of women suffer from it but right now 40 miles is a long long way for me to travel. I can imagine many women must have the same concern...

I'm a student midwife and take bloods at booking appointments.

Maybe it is to do with where you have chosen to give birth. I would give your gp surgery a call and ask. If a lady comes to book and is planning to birth at a different trust we wouldn't do the bloods as they would need to be done by the trust they were intending to birth at.

Also, as a shall we say mature student you are most definitely never too old. Good luck

My midwife panicked as I nearly missed the deadline for booking bloods and so rang me and saw me the same day simply so she could take my blood!

@Monr0e thank you! I've made myself sound so much older than I am 🙈 I'm only in my 20s! I've just never had the guts to make the change...

I have to go to hospital for bloods because I've chosen a different hospital to give birth in than where my community midwife works, therefore the hospital handle all tests.

You have masses of time. Honestly. I had my dc's in my 30's and started my midwifery when I was 41. When I qualify I will still have at least another 20 years of working life ahead of me so in terms of a career change you are no age at all.

If it's something you definately might want to do you can use the next few years to research the role and make sure you have all the qualification and experience you would need to apply.

To be honest, I'd be happy with having to get it done by a phlebotomist and will probably request that in my next pregnancy. They're the experts after all! The midwives I encountered all had a knack for hitting a nerve and leaving me with numbness or pain for a couple of months. Apart from one who tried twice unsuccessfully so sent me to phlebotomy where I was in and out in like a minute. Apparently the midwives here don't have the smaller needles so I don't know if that was the cause of all the issues 🤷‍♀️ not intending for this to sound like I'm criticising midwives btw!

Thanks @Monr0e - I work in law enforcement at the moment so it would be a huge leap for me but I'm really thinking about it... going to have a google later. Baby steps! Thanks for your lovely advice

Haha @Spam88 it does sound a little like that! I'm sure there are lots of midwives who have been taking blood for many years and are very good at it. Maybe you just got unlucky?

I really don't mind who takes my blood just wish it wasn't an hour's drive away....

I know, after I'd written it I realised it sounded very scathing 🙈 honestly I think they're amazing though! I just go to work and type up a few reports and stick some numbers in a spreadsheet, they go to work and bring new little humans into the world.

I have been told before I have shit veins (perhaps not quite the word the healthcare professionals used) so although I haven't had any problems with blood tests in the past, I expect they've just always used the smallest needles which the midwives didn't have access to.

@Spam88 haha I wouldn't worry about it. My dad has been a GP for 25+ years and even he says that phlebotomists make him look like an amateur