To think it should take less than a month to register for ante natal care.

[ReallyTired]

On the 15th August I phoned our surgery that I was pregnant and I wanted to register with a midwife. I have been told that I need to see my GP first and he will refer me to the midwife. The problem is that my GP has been on holiday for three weeks and our surgery will only let me see my designated GP for routine appointments.

I have been given an appointment to see the GP (not midwife) on 15th September. I'm really annoyed as I want to get my certificate to allow me to get free prescriptions and dentistry.

Admitally I am not at the stage that ante natal care is vital, I would like to get antenatal tests to make sure there is nothing wrong with the baby. I am against late abortions, but if there was a major problem found early on I would like the option of termination sooner rather than later. Also with my last pregnancy I had problems with sugar in urine.

I can't understand why I need a GP referal to see a midwife. Its just wasting more time. I have done the pregnancy test from Tescos and our GP practice doesn't do pregnancy testing. Last time I lived in a different area and you were allowed to self refer to a midwife.

At this rate my GP will be doing the postnatal check before I am registered with antenatal care.

i know it varies alot from one health authority to the next. my last pregnancy i never even saw a doctor or consultant at all!!! not that i was bothered as it was baby no 5. i just saw midwife,even got sickness prescriptions etc from her.....most strange you can't just book in.

At how many weeks do you think I should start jumping up and down saying not be registered for ante natal care is unacceptable?

In Newbury I never saw the GP and its was my first. Pregnancy isn't an illness and the midwife looked after virtually all my care. I didn't see my GP once in nine months as I was 100% healthy.

in Hertfordshire there just seems so much bureaucracy and paper work. I don't care who does my ante natal care, the main thing is that I get ante natal care.

the receptionists are wrong - you do not need to see the gp first. There is loads of info out there talking about self referral, maternity matters document etc. Ring up the hospital you want to go to, ask for the community midwife manager or maternity office and ask to get put in touch with the midwife for your surgery or area - they usually all have a contact number. Some hospitals still ask for a referral letter from the gp but the mw can sort it out and give you the certificate too.The gp will only say go and see the mw!

I'm just posting to agree and sympathise. I had just moved to a new area when I got pregnant for the first time. I had to register with the surgery, have an introductory appt with the surgery nurse (nothing to do with being pregnant, just surgery policy) before I could get an appt with the GP. GP then had to send my sample off to the hospital to get the pg test done and only then could I get access to Mat Services. But the surgery was so over-subscribed that it took 3 weeks to get and appt with the nurse and then a further 2 weeks to see the GP. And the pg test at the hospital could easily have been done by the GP himself. In fact I don't really see why the GP had to be involved at all. Waste of time and resources imo.

In the end I saw the midwife for the first time at around 12 weeks and everything was fine but with a first pg it was all a bit daunting and stressful. I used the experience as the basis for an essay on services marketing for a degree I was doing at the time. I got quite a good mark too

if they do the 12 week scan in your areathen about 10 weeks so it can be booked as they get quite a baglog and not enough appts!

It definately varies place to place.

I was made to go to the GP twice (first one did it wrong) before I was allowed to check into the midwife system, so am not seeing midwife for my first appointment till friday. I am also twelve weeks today and am still unable to check into the hospital system (has to be done seperately for this particular hospital) to have my dating scan... as they've messed up my paperwork. I'm feeling quite fed up of it all already.

Ante natal care in the UK is truely cr@p.

Anyone can recommend an independent midwife in Hertfordshire?

here we can self refer to midwifery service - but I THINK that GPs get paid if they refer (as they are therefore taking part in your care - despite all they actually do is make the phonecall/write the letter etc).

Does anyone know when you can actually get your MATB1 to get entitlement to free dental care etc - I didn't think you got it til quite a bit down the line?

Last time I got the MATB1 at my first ante natal appointment. I was 8 weeks pregnant at the time.

This is why I am so pissed off with the system in Hertfordshire. I think its unfair that we can claim back for prescriptions repropectively.

Matb1 is not the same as the card for free prescriptions, matb1 is issued further along

I registered with a new doctor when I found out I was pregnant, filled in the forms and the receptionist asked if I needed to see the doc. I said well I'm pregnant so I guess so, she said I can just get the midwife to call you. Made life easier.

I got my MATB1 at 20 weeks. However, I asked for a form to reclaim my dental charges when at the dentist, but they said just dont pay us!!! And you can claim for you prescription exemption without the MATB1 if I remember rightly.

What is the card that show to your employer to allow you to have paid time off for ante natal appointments? Getting time off for me is a nightmare as I work in a school.

I am also faced with having to do approach training. (Ie. learning what to do if you are faced with having to restrain a child with SEN) I need medical input whether I should do the course.

My job also requires quite a bit of physical lifting. Our caretaker is a total git and is refusing to help me. If I had my little card then line management would have no choice but make someone help me.