(This is my first post so please hang with me)
So I’m 28 weeks pregnant with my first baby. I’m considering putting a complaint in about the care I’ve received so far, however I don’t know if IBU or not.
Basically, I’m down as “high risk” due to a high BMI (which is down to PCOS and potentially cushons syndrome which hasn’t been diagnosed yet but will be tested once baby is born). Due to the high BMI I have to go for growth scans and see a consultant - I was given this information at my initial booking appointment.
After my 20 week scan, I was under the assumption (as I was told) that I’d be seeing the consultant straight after, long story short there was no such appointment and I was then told this would only be after growth scans - fair enough.
Last week I went to the hospital with reduced movement, due to this my first growth scan (which should’ve been Wednesday coming) was brought forward so I had it last week. I asked if the consultant appointment that I was supposed to have afterwards on Wednesday would go ahead as normal, which I was told yes - no reason why it shouldn’t.. but we wouldn’t know about that (??) so best to call up and check - again, fair enough.
Today I called up the antenatal clinic to check and was told no such appointment had been made but there was one still available so I was able to book that. My gripe is, that if I hadn’t have had to have the scan earlier, I would have went along assuming everything was in order to be told nothing had been booked. Which raises concerns that something could have potentially been missed. Am I supposed to book these appointments myself? If so why hasn’t anybody told me?
This isn’t the first time I’ve had issue with appointments but the other issues are quite minor so let’s skip that for now.
Aside from the rigmarole of appointments, I went for a private scan at 16 weeks to find out baby’s sex. On my notes they logged that my placenta was posterior. When I went for my 20 week scan with the NHS, it was noted it was an anterior placenta. I picked this up myself in my notes, no one mentioned it to me, so I queried it at my 25 week appointment. The midwife told me the private scan had to be wrong as there was no way the placenta could move from the back to the front and that I should call the private clinic and query this. Which I did. (also listened in with the doppler on a few appointments and said it was at the front) They called me back for another scan, and of course it was clear as day the placenta was posterior. Meaning the nhs had messed up the scan, showed nhs the scan picture of the posterior placenta which they’ve now agreed they got wrong. Now the issue with this is, I was advised I may not feel much movement with having my placenta at the front, which is alarming because I’ve been thinking not feeling much going on is normal, and would have continued to think this meaning I could have missed if something was wrong. Thankfully I’m feeling a lot of movement now, but as it’s my first baby I wouldn’t have had anything to compare to what was normal or not.
I wasn’t given my Matb1 form at my 25 week appointment (wasn’t aware you had to ask for one or when) so I called up to get this, I handed it into my place of work today and my manager just burst out laughing and handed it back to me. When I read it, the midwife has written baby’s due date as “18/9/2016” 20 bloody 16!! I turned it over and somebody else’s NI number was also on it, not even remotely similar to my own.
My asthma is really bad and has gotten worse since I’ve been pregnant, I can only assume I will struggle for breath more as the baby grows, I was told I’d be referred to a consultant about this too, of course I’ve not heard a thing since this was mentioned at 25 weeks.
Lastly, this may be petty but it’s just adding to my annoyance, in my notes the midwife has put my ethnic background as Caucasian, when I clearly told her (and visibly) from a mixed Caribbean background. I know this may not matter, but surely if it didn’t matter they wouldn’t ask for the information to be logged?
I just can’t comprehend the level of incompetency and if I’m the one picking up on these silly errors then god knows what else they’re making mistakes on. Its making me quite anxious and I’m really losing faith in the hospital.
I’m worried putting a complaint in may worsen the care, or I may piss them off basically. I just don’t know what to do (apologies for the length of this) x