To think the GP surgery should follow NHS guidelines and offer a 6 week check?

[Disgruntledpelicanlady]

Lucky enough to have just had a baby. She is 6 weeks on Sunday.
I had severe pre eclampsia and she was delivered by emergency c section at 35 weeks. She was in SCBU and has been admitted back to hospital twice since she was sent home to treat jaundice and an infection. When I was discharged, hospital recommended additional checks and bloods for me after 6 weeks to correspond with 6 week check.
I rang my GP today to book our 6 week check and was told they don't offer 6-8 week checks (as is NHS policy) and they want to offer it between 8-12 weeks as that's their practice policy.
I've been told that I can't drive or exercise until after 6 weeks and when my GP OKs this. I feel frustrated that I have to wait longer to get back to normal when I feel fine.
This will apparently also push baby's 8 week jabs back until after the appointment.
AIBU to think the GP should follow the NHS policy and offer the appointments when is recommended?

Thank you for your detailed reply.
I've been discharged by the midwives and postnatal care because they said they could only see me for so long after the birth, they said it would be my GPs responsibility to take over ongoing care and suggested the GP monitor kidney function and BP on an ongoing basis. Understand its massively cheeky on their part if they're shirking their duties and passing it on to the GP.

Completely appreciate how busy the GP surgery is and that there's a lot of factors at play here, but as a patient it's extremely frustrating when the answer to several things is 'discuss with your gp after 6 weeks' only to be told you can't have an appointment.

Consultant told me the 6 weeks thing on discharge and the health visitor also mentioned it.
I'd be happy if it's a myth though!

Reply fail!
Posts above for @passport123 and @lanthanum

I do agree that it's frustrating. If it's longer term care e.g. you need your kidney function checked every 6 months that's perfectly appropriate to be delegated, if it's you need it done twice a week then that's hospital level care. Can you ring and try to get a phone appt with a GP to discuss the situation?

@BlackbirdsSinging @Greenqueen40
But there are appointments available? They've told me that. Their reasoning is that it's their policy to offer postnatal appointments at 8-12 weeks rather than 6

I gave birth last July and had a 6 week mother and baby check together. Then DD's first jabs were a couple of weeks later.
Definitely call them and request the appointment, surely they shouldn't be able to refuse to give you one

I've been told that I can't drive or exercise until after 6 weeks and when my GP OKs this.

I see this all the time on here but even after a section literally no one said anything like this. The GP certainly didn’t “sign me off” for driving, exercising or sex.

Thanks for the replies everyone.
Spoke to a different receptionist and explained the situation and now have appointments for me and baby next week as I was originally trying to sort.

Unfortunately I have no named consultant to contact? I was a low risk pregnancy initially so midwife led. I was admitted to hospital via the maternity assessment unit after ringing them for advice on swollen feet and visual disturbances - that was the first time anything was picked up as wrong. Then spent time on labour ward, HDU and postnatal ward before being discharged. No named consultant given - just whichever doctor was doing rounds that day.

But it’s not urgent is it and she is going to be seen so it’s reasonable for it to be a couple of weeks later.

@dammit88 to be fair I also felt fine when I was admitted to the HDU with a ridiculously high BP and impaired kidney function, being told I was at high risk of seizures and needed an immediate c section and further treatment...
I only got checked out to reassure family who were nagging that I should be seen.
I'm not medically trained.

The mother health check is not at the same time as the baby's in my experience. The appointment is for you . The baby's appointment is typically at 8 weeks

We do our mother and baby checks at 8 weeks and combine it with the vaccines. We have to do that tbh, as too many separate appointments needed otherwise and not enough GP's or nurses to keep up. Our clinics are rammed. Hardly stuck in COVID rituals.
And this won't be popular, but you will get more accurate BP readings at home which you can relay to the surgery. You don't need to interpret them, just pass on the readings. Machines are about £25. Prevents unnecessary over medicating which can also impair kidney function.

Some pharmacies will also do blood pressure checks.

Came on to say to passport123 thank you for everything that you are and have been doing. You are very very much appreciated.
The suicide rates of your colleagues is just heartbreaking and utterly shocking.

Wherever and whenever I can, I defend & support GP”s and how hard that they work over and above.

Please be assured that people do know what long hours you put in, how you do fight for your patients to receive excellent quality timely care.

People do listen & see what shit storms you have to face daily.

So take it from me, the public would be fucked if you weren’t there each day doing what you do against all that you face.

So thank you, sincerely, THANK YOU. 💐

Thank you so much! I (and I'm sure the other GP on this thread) really appreciate you taking the time to say that.

@passport123 don't dare try guilt trip me with that or twist my words and being suicide in with this

I will admit many surgeries are very different in how they approach so my opinion is based on MY surgery alone. Where MY GP has informed me of their situation and has had to push through the system himself to get people seen in person

GPs shouldn't be dealing with emergencies

@Disgruntledpelicanlady congrats on the birth of your little one! Glad you've now got your appt. I had to take labetalol for quite a long time after the birth of my DD and the GP recommended buying an at home BP monitor (i got mine for around £20 from Lloyds) and then i just reported my results weekly on the GP surgery website. Then the GP would ring if i needed to change the dose of the meds. Might also be an option after you and baby have had your checks.

I'm sorry but OP had pre-eclampsia FFS. It can be fatal and women can be very unwell for quite a long time afterwards. Why the hell should she not be seen at 6 weeks, why the hell shouldn't her GP be reviewing her regularly and most of all - I can't believe people are suggesting she purchases her own BP machine! There is a reason women get free prescriptions for a year AFTER the child is born - because it is recognised that women are more likely to need medical treatment during this period because of pregnancy and childbirth. My mind is absolutely blown that people think this is OK.

Post-partum care is shocking. I had a DD in April and was given a combined 8 week appointment with the baby. Of course my health was completely secondary to hers and barely touched upon as the GP briefly asked how I was feeling while I was trying to dress a screaming baby in a boiling hot consulting room in the middle of summer. Is it any wonder women struggle to ask for help for PND?!

Firstly congrats!

I work in a local authority in policy in public health we've moved to 8 week checks because of low uptake for babies vaccines.

it was trialled due to Covid and vaccination rates have increased since we've moved to this system

It’s really shoddy but in some parts of the country GPs are not actually commissioned to carry out any type of maternal postnatal check, only for babies. So in those places it is technically at the discretion of the practice as they receive zero funding for it. Sorry doesn’t help your situation, but maybe explains the discrepancy in service.

@lawandgin If your comment about the BP machine was aimed at me, then you dont need to tell me about the dangers of PE. I had pregnancy induced hypertension and nearly had a stroke!! As you will see from my comment, the BP machine was suggested BY THE GP after i had had my 6 week check as a way of regular reporting. There's no need to be so aggressive in your response.

Sorry if you felt like you had crap post natal care - but unless you can magic up thousands of additional GPs then perhaps others sharing solutions they have been offered is more helpful for the OP than just venting on the internet 🤨

I should add i was having to take my BP 2x per day. I was hardly going to go to the GP for that every day.

In Scotland GPs stopped doing 6 week checks on women when the money for antenatal and postnatal care got removed from them and the hospital and midwives took over all perinatal care. If a midwife wants a woman to have a check at 6 weeks she should arrange it but usually doesn't. Baby checks are funded under QAF ( the GP funding system) so still happen

Not helping the op, just supporting GPs - my cardiologists and my immunologists regularly come up with splendid ideas for GPs to follow - with no route map or jurisdiction.

I had pre eclampsia and my BP pissed around for at least 6 months. And then went wild 10 years later, crowned with a heart attack in 2019.

I was really shocked that my 6 week check was done over the phone rather than in person given I had suffered a prolapse and had some other complications - and even if everything had been plain sailing I just can't believe a woman wouldn't be seen in person after giving birth. Is this standard across the country due to pressure on primary care or is it just in some locations?