Was I U with dr receptionist

[Namechangemum100]

Genuinely interested to see if my response was unreasonable...

Called Dr to make appointment for Ds to have his 12 week immunisations. He had his 8 week set last week but was crying too much in the surgery for me to book the second appointment as there was a wait.

Called today to be told there was absolutely no appointments, and he would have to wait until he was 14 weeks for the next appointment.

I pointed out to the receptionist that as the schedule is set for 8-12-16 weeks, they should find a space for him as I know they offer appointments on the day if you call up, therefore find it very hard to believe there is absolutely nothing for him. She told me that it was fine for him to wait until 14 weeks as sometimes vaccinations are delayed when a child is I'll.

Aibu in thinking that

A) everyone and his mother tells us how important vaccinations are, and therefore delaying his by 2 weeks is not acceptable unless for health reasons

B) if the government set out a schedule of 8-12-16 week vaccinations, then appointments should be given as a priority to small babies

C) delaying for a non medical reason and leaving a baby exposed is not acceptable

D) surely there is a reason why they stagger them in 4 week intervals and therefore leaving it 6 weeks may affect effectiveness.

She did eventually manage to find me an appointment (as I knew she would, it's always the way with our surgery) but it has left me feeling very frustrated when we have the fear of God put into us about vaccinations and how important they are, yet I'm being flippantly told that my son can have his delayed without a medical reason.

You were being utterly U. They don’t have to have them dot-on that schedule, for crying out loud. It’ll just shift the time for the last one, so it’ll be at around 18 weeks. Grow up.

Why do people keep saying the timing makes no difference? Until you’re vaccinated, you don’t gave immunity against the diseases you’re being vaccinated against do you? So you’re vulnerable to being infected. Surely that’s the point? Otherwise just get them done whenever you fancy, wait until they’re 3 or 5 or even older

Funnys - my almost 8yo had the 3 baby ones, MMR at 13 months and the preschool boosters - but fewer at each point, only one or two jabs each time whereas my younger ones had 3, plus rota virus drops and flu spray.

I'm sure posters can give constructive answers without resorting to sounding like total arseholes.

@sprinklesinmyelbow...thank you! I feel like I'm missing the point with these vaccinations...it's drummed into you how vulnerable our babies are to all these hideous diseases, yet it also seems that we can just have them whenever and doesn't really matter.

@anon12345abc...it's ironic that these responses are far ruder than how they percieve I was on the phone to the receptionist

yet it also seems that we can just have them whenever and doesn't really matter.

OP Having the vaccination a couple of weeks later due to lack of appointments is not the same thing as a) having it whenever you want and/or b) not having it at all. Don’t be silly.

YWBU . Same day appointments are for emergencies. Childhood vaccinations are done in set clinics ( for safety) and by especially trained staff . If these clinics are full where were you expecting the appointment to come from ?

YABU

Yabu

Precious first baby by any chance?

The reason they are scheduled so close isn’t clinical. A GP told me years ago (my children in their 20s now) it was changed to get better uptake as they used to be scheduled much further apart and mothers were finishing mat leave, forgetting, etcetera. Another point is that if your child has had the first set, then they have some protection.Obvs the subsequent ones are important but the timing isn’t vital. Clearly you are doing fine as you knew to follow it up.

Op says she has 2 children

My granddaughter was very poorly with reflux (and early signs of coeliac disease) - she was around 14 weeks when she had her 1st set, nearly 20 weeks with the 2nd and around 6 months with the 3rd. They weren't remotely bothered as long as they were done at some point. The schedule is a guide, nothing more.

I disagree with the posters telling you the timing does not matter.

They spend millions on clinical trials to establish the best timings for optimising the immune response. It was foolhardy of the receptionist to suggest misusing the two week window of a child being sick and the booster being delayed.
What if during those two weeks your child was ill and the window became four weeks?

Ridiculous that in a first world country they cannot follow specifications for routine vaccinations.

Appalling so many mums would accept such shoddiness.

YABU. Practice nurse here, vaccinating slightly late won't matter at all. It would be physically impossible to book all babies in exactly to the immunisation schedule, too many patients and not enough appointments or staff. Vaccinating well babies takes no precedence over treating the acutely unwell, an appointment for whom you most likely ended up with. Really, you should have waited in surgery and rebooked at the time - baby crying or not.
In future, don't be so keen to kick off about something you are misguided about. The professionals 'flippantly' advising you, have been proved to be absolutely correct.

DS1 didn’t get his until he was 2.5 because he got sepsis at 15 weeks, and wasn’t fit enough until then.

I spent today fighting with the receptionist to get seen, despite having blood poisoning and not improving in a week. Now they think it’s glandular fever. And she spoke to me like I was shit on her shoe, probably because she gets spoken to like that by people like you and it gets taken out on the people who actually have a point.

Yes YWBU OP.

That said my practice allow the imms nurse to book the appointments directly. So at the 8w appt she booked our 12w appt etc.

YABU for the reasons everyone else has already stated. Yes appointments should be given as a priority to small babies - those who are ill, not just having their routine vaccinations.

So what if the delay became 4 weeks? @counterpoint

Not ideal but won't effect the overall protection of the child.

Again...can I just reiterate that I WAS NOT RUDE TO HER, it does not say that in my op, it says "I pointed out to her". I was being assertive as I was under the impression from what I have been told about vaccinations (that they are very important), that it needed to be 4 weeks after the first.

Now granted, I have learnt from this thread that I have obviously taken that advice very literally, and that I have been wrong to do that (although imo only trying to act in the best interests of my child), but can we stop exaggerating my perceived rudeness to the receptionist. There is a big difference between being assertive, and being rude and unkind.

She also didn't give me an appointment that was scheduled for someone else, I can't imagine why anyone would think that or how that would be in anyway ethical, she gave me an appointment that was available, how it was suddenly available I do not know, but I very much doubt they would have just given me someone else's appointment without notice (and if that is what surgeries do then that's even more alarming).

OP... You are getting a tough time here...Hopefully you are reassured the 2 week wait is no problem..

You just sounds like a worried mum trying to get it right.

@starlight345 thank you

OP unless you were rude in the phone YWNBU.

YOU don't know the affect of delaying them if you've never had them delayed before. In hindsight you know they need to be roughly on time but a few weeks is fine, and your baby will be fine in the gap.

You were upset because you were worried about your child's health. That's understandable.

And I very much doubt she's cancelled someone else, she's just squeezed you in somewhere.

And I agree, no way I'd have waited 20 minutes with a sore, screaming baby when baby just needs to be cuddled and comforted

It's not up to a receptionist to make clinical decisions.