Should I have been given the results over the phone?

[VeryWorriedMam]

I'm feeling all sorts of emotions and so I'm not sure I can trust my judgement. Please be gentle, I just need to know if I what I was asking for was unreasonable. I'm going to try to be vague because this situation is quite specific.

I've a baby who has had abnormal results come through on some tests. She's had these abnormal results for a while and only recently they've discovered she's got a virus that may be causing this. The issue though is that if she was born with this virus, it could cause severe problems for her in the future. Of course I'm beside myself.

After the doctor told me this, I remembered she had been tested for this virus as a newborn when she was admitted to hospital. If those results show she didn't have the virus at that time, then I can finally breathe and know she wasn't born with it. So I called the hospital and asked if they could please pull up the results from XX date and let me know if it was positive or negative. The nurse refused. She said I'd need the doctor to tell me.

Now the doctor takes days to get back to me. Trying to get a doctor to call me with results has always been difficult in the past. The nurse said to me she couldn't know I was who I said I was. I told her to hang up and call me back on the number on my baby's file. Was told no she would not do it.

I explained I'd already had these results given to me by a doctor months ago I just couldn't remember what they were. I explained exactly why I wanted to know. She still refused. Told me she just wouldn't do it.

I've had blood results given to me for my daughter over the phone with the same hospital before. She still wouldn't do it. She even said she couldn't understand why I had to know right now and why was it so urgent.

I'm close to tears. I'm very upset by everything going on. Was I unreasonable to expect her to just tell me what they were?

I understand your reasons but I think the nurse was right not to give out the results.

It sounds like a very stressful time for you. Anything to do with bureaucracy is going to amplify that.

However - I'd imagine the nurse was following protocol. And to be honest, they have a lot to do.

I'm confused why the test is now so important if you already had the result and it was presumably not a cause for concern? Does it make a difference to the outcome for your daughter?

Sometimes with these things we feel we have so little control that when there's something we could potentially control, like asking a nurse for something, it takes on a disproportionate importance.

So yes, gently, yabu.

I understand your frustration but the nurse you spoke to will be following hospital policies.

Can't your GP access the results from when baby was in the hospital?

Unfortunately OP the Nurse has followed the correct procedure.

I'm sure she would have liked to help you but her job would be at risk.

How all goes well with you baby OP

Thanks for those who replied already. I've done some frantic searching and just found her discharge summary from her hospital stay. The results are on there. Like I said in my initial post, I'd already been given these results so wasn't sure why they couldn't be relayed to me once more over the phone. Ah well. Happy to say they're NEGATIVE 🎉🎉🎉 nothing else matters now.

Part of the trouble with these things is that you don't talk to the same people each time you ring. So you have to do the long ramble every time and sometimes the person on the other end gets it and explains properly and sometimes they don't, and just repeats no, sorry.

One day a person will tell you 'Yes! Or course! Ring and ask on a Wednesday - that's the day there'll be someone here who can do anything you like!''.

And then you ring on Wednesday and no bugger has a clue what you're on about or any knowledge of who it might have been who told you to ring on Wednesday.

YANBU to try OP. I think the fact that you are thinking for yourself and asking for historical medical results for your daughter might muddy the waters here.

I wish you all the best.
I second the advice to contact your GP

Ah - great news OP 😃

Computer says no jobsworth I’m afraid.

That's really not fair. Non-clinical staff can't give out test results. What if they didn't understand what they were reading and gave the wrong details? What if the patient has lots of questions on the back of the result?

There are good reasons it's left to clinicians.

Another person that thinks the rules shouldn't apply to them alert!

Anyone that refers to someone as a jobsworth is clearly someone that's never had a job that could get them fired if they don't follow the rules

Anyone that refers to someone as a jobsworth is clearly someone that's never had a job that could get them fired if they don't follow the rules

Absolutely this. I am not a nurse, but I work in a role where I do have access to personal data and if I did not follow the proper procedure on sharing that data, I'd be out of a job before the end of the day. Even if I shared the data wiith someone who had already received it in a different setting.

Very glad to hear the OP found the results a different way and that they show negative for this virus.

Great news OP. Love a happy ending.

This.

Completely unfair. Especially as OP already HAD the results, she just had to rummage for them