To say this pissed me off about my booking appointment ?

[chattycaterpillar]

I had a pregnancy booking appointment recently, and was talking to a friend about this yesterday, and she agreed this equally pissed her off about her's too, ( she had hers 12 months ago in the same NHS trust).

The actual medical questions were almost skimmed over, ( I wasn't asked if I had any medication allergies, even though I have a serious allergy to doxycycline). But the amount of nosy, social questions asked to "judge," your suitability to parent was ridiculous.

Examples on the proforma list included:

• How long have you been with your partner ? ( Yes, it is a long-term relationship so wasn't an issue for me, but my friend's child was conceived after a short fling and she didn't want to be answering exactly how long it was).

• What is your highest level qualification/ are you educated to degree level ? ( I'm educated to degree level, but interested in the medical relevance of this. Imagine getting asked that at any other medical appointment ...)

• Are you employed ? Is it full time work, what do you do for work ? What does your partner do for work ? ( Why on earth is it medically relevant what my partner does as his job ? )

• Does your partner have any other children ? ( No, but again, not medically relevant...)

• Do you own or rent your property ? ( Why, do you want to take a look at my mortgage deeds....)

Seemed to be a lot more interested in asking a list of nosy, intrusive questions than either a) a serious physical health condition I have that could impact the birth, or b) my medication allergies.

I'm just trying to work out in what other medical scenario this would be appropriate...

GDPR legislation has come in since I have had my children so not sure how or if this is broached during the booking in session, however, these are the types of questions I had when I was booked in. Also not sure how GDPR relates to a medical or safeguarding questions.
They have obviously been collated for years.
Timing of the questions is also key. How long is your booking in appointment - 10 to 15 mins? You need to get a lot of information from the patient. Close ended questions are quicker and more easily understood than open ended question.
'Do you have a degree?' (yes/no) is a lot quicker than 'At what level did you finish your education?' (myriad of answers which are harder to track)

My booking appointment with DC was 2-3 hours and included scan, and a chat with dental woman checking every woman had access to a dentist - gawd oy knows why but we were all given a baby toothbrush and toothpaste - I came away thinking really! 6 mths for baby to be born & 6 mths for first tooth - a toothbrush that won't be used for a year.

Scan was separate with DC2 but booking was still an hour

@Pipsquiggle

GDPR legislation has come in since I have had my children so not sure how or if this is broached during the booking in session, however, these are the types of questions I had when I was booked in. Also not sure how GDPR relates to a medical or safeguarding questions. They have obviously been collated for years. Timing of the questions is also key. How long is your booking in appointment - 10 to 15 mins? You need to get a lot of information from the patient. Close ended questions are quicker and more easily understood than open ended question. 'Do you have a degree?' (yes/no) is a lot quicker than 'At what level did you finish your education?' (myriad of answers which are harder to track)

They're usually 45 minutes to an hour, I think, but include blood draws, height and weight checks and stuff.

Mine was about an hour - no scan, but blood test and height/weight. Midwife spent quite a lot of the appt trying to log the computer in! And didn't know the building so couldn't direct me to the loos for the urine test!

I asked that some of the answers not be written in the notes, so that i could choose who i was disclosing to (wasn't relevant for delivery, for example). MW was fine with that