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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be absolutely fuming at my GPs?

234 replies

metsa · 26/03/2019 17:16

My baby will turn 6 weeks old on 3rd April. The GP surgery called me when I was first home to give me details on how to register her and told me that someone will be in touch to arrange her 6 week check. So I waited until today, with no contact from them, and finally decided I can't wait any longer so I decided to arrange this appointment myself.

Well apparently the soonest appointment they have is 16th April! I am fuming. I had a cesarean and I cannot drive. I live in a village. My partner works long hours 50 miles from where we live and is a contractor so doesn't get paid for days he doesn't go into work. I am totally stranded. I have missed one blood test for me and one for the baby already simply because there is no way for me to get to them. I will have missed the due date on another 2 blood tests by the time of this appointment.

And to make it worse my in laws are coming for the week of 8th April. I will no have no choice but to sit at home with them all week since I can't drive them anywhere. We can walk around the village but nowhere else.

I am fuming because this is not a surprise need for an appointment or a whim I have. This is essential and has been known about for weeks. If I hadn't contacted the GP today I have no idea when or if they would have contacted me. I feel utterly isolated and let down. AIBU?

OP posts:
Hollowvictory · 26/03/2019 17:28

Get a taxi to the gp, get signed off to drive.
Cancel the in laws visit

GladAllOver · 26/03/2019 17:29

She can drive. It's the recent CS.

SileneOliveira · 26/03/2019 17:30

Oh and on the driving thing, I had an abdominal hysterectomy which is a bigger op than a c-section and was driving again after 3 weeks perfectly safely.

Aozora13 · 26/03/2019 17:30

If it helps, I think it’s technically a 6-8 weeks check for the baby - my DD had hers at 7 weeks (she’s now 5mo) and I had to arrange everything myself. If you have any specific concerns you can call the HV in the meantime? And can you get a taxi if you can’t drive or is it prohibitively expensive?

Moondancer73 · 26/03/2019 17:31

You thought the GP would contact you? Really? Firstly you are aware how overstretches the nhs is right and secondly do you not have the ability to pick up a phone now that you have a child?
It's not life or death that it's done bang on six weeks and if you have concerns then you should be calling the surgery before then anyway. Yabvu

Original poster
metsa · 26/03/2019 17:31

I have spoken to my insurance provider and I cannot drive without a GP saying I can. So no, I can't dive because I feel fine. My In laws are travelling 500 miles by train and will not have a car.

OP posts:
ApolloandDaphne · 26/03/2019 17:31

If they had given you an appointment sooner how would you have got there? It isn't the responsibility of your GP to help you attend appointments. You have to figure this out yourself.

BendydickCuminsnatch · 26/03/2019 17:31

Yep, you can drive whenever after a c section if you feel up to it. Check with insurers.
Cancel in law visit. I wouldn’t have my own parents for that long at the best of times never mind in laws with a newborn.

YouLikeTheBadOnesToo · 26/03/2019 17:32

Try to calm down a little bit. Yeh ‘6 week’ check is just a guide. It doesn’t have to be exactly then. My little boy was nearly 7 1/2 weeks when we had ours. Are you concerned about your little girl? If you are then explain to the surgery, they might be able to get you in sooner.

As other people have said, I think you’re a little confused about not being able to drive. Check with your insurer, but I don’t know any one who needed their gp’s permission to drive again.

Congratulations on your new baby. Try not too worry Flowers

NicoAndTheNiners · 26/03/2019 17:32

Your insurance just requires that you feel you can perform an emergency stop. You don't need signing off by the GP for driving if that's what's stopping you?

Aquamarine1029 · 26/03/2019 17:32

Call your gp and have them email/fax an approval letter to your insurance company.

DC3dilemma · 26/03/2019 17:33

I think you might be over-invested in the importance of the 6 week check! You know some people can’t be assed with this stuff at all and only go to the GPs if something is actually wrong, and life still ticks along just fine...

Dermymc · 26/03/2019 17:33

Just drive ffs, get a GP call back to confirm you can drive.

NicoAndTheNiners · 26/03/2019 17:33

I'd honestly ask your insurance company again because that doesn't sound right. I'm a midwife and never known anyone need to be signed off by the GP. Most people are driving way before the six week check.

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 26/03/2019 17:33

YABU. You have nothing to be “fuming” about. The GP isn’t your secretary, so take some responsibility. If you have been missed, which happens, they are human after all, then you chase them, and much sooner than at the time you actually want the appointment.

ivykaty44 · 26/03/2019 17:34

Pop your in-laws on your insurance so they can drive your car

Hire a car

Get a telephone appointment to sign you of to drive - then it’s on your medical records and insurance company can check if ever needed

crispysausagerolls · 26/03/2019 17:34

And you could not be bothered to call the GP again to check when you hadn’t heard because...?

and a little bell called entitlement sounded somewhere in the distance

icannotremember · 26/03/2019 17:34

Maybe your inlaws can rearrange their visit if their coming when you aren't able to drive is a big issue?

But out of interest, how would you have got to the appointment if one was available tomorrow?

Aquamarine1029 · 26/03/2019 17:35

Personally, I think you are creating a problem for yourself without bothering to find a solution, and then blaming someone else for it. Call your insurance company for clarification and then work out what needs to be done.

MoveOnTheCards · 26/03/2019 17:35

I had to drive to my 6-wk post c-section check and baby’s 6wk check, which actually happened closer to 8 weeks so please don’t worry!

Call your insurers and check you’re ok to drive (there’s little the doc does other than check your scar is healing ok).

Also, I remember getting really worried when we missed any of the ‘milestone’ checks or appointments by a day! As a PP said, there’s no magical ‘tick’ that happens on the stroke of midnight at 6 weeks (or any of them), so treat them as a guide. Good luck!

YouLikeTheBadOnesToo · 26/03/2019 17:35

Contact the gp and ask if they can have the approval to drive waiting for you to collect before your appointment, or even better just email it to the insurer. That will give you a lot more freedom.

dworky · 26/03/2019 17:35

Why can't you drive still?

Not everyone can afford to.
Not everyone wants to.
Not everyone is able or should.

It is not compulsory!

Littlebelina · 26/03/2019 17:36

Wonder if we have the same insurers op. Phone your surgery again and explain to receptionist. They might be able to get your (probably puzzled) GP to ring you as they will just take your word for it that you are fine (mine did even though I had had an infection)

MindatWork · 26/03/2019 17:36

Congrats on your baby OP - our GP does an 8 week check for mother and baby here, so don’t worry!

If you have any specific concerns about your baby (or yourself) then let the go know and they may be able to squeeze you in, or perhaps call your health visitor? X

Noloudnoises · 26/03/2019 17:36

You can drive whenever you feel up to it. Your insurers are completely incorrect, if that's what they really said. I've had two sections so I know it feels awful now but by the 16th April you I will feel back to normal.

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