Doctor strikes and elective c-sections

[AelinGalathynius]

So I’ve just seen the new dates for doctor’s strikes and one of them just so happens to be the date my elective c-section is booked for 😭 I fully support the strikes but I’m panicking about what this means for me and my baby. Will they still perform electives when it’s “Christmas Day level of service”? Because it sounds unlikely. My date was already later than I’d ideally like, my two previous sections were both at 39 weeks on the dot and this time I turn 39 weeks on the Saturday with the section booked for Tuesday (yes I know it’s only a few extra days, but when you had previous losses the anxiety that each extra day brings is absolute hell). I’m really worried about being cancelled and having to wait even longer to have this baby safely out. Does anyone have any experience of what happened with the previous strikes? Thank you ❤️

If it’s Xmas day levels I’d expect it to be emergencies only. Any due that day will be done another day.

It’ll depend on the local set-up and how many people are striking.

It will be at a trust by trust basis how they ameliorate this situation. At my trust, we're trying to do additional elective C-section lists at weekends (if we can get the staff) to help.

But if it's Christmas Day staffing (i.e. a day consultants + junior doctors striking, so most likely to be on 20th September, and 2nd-4th October) it will mean emergencies only those days.

If feelings are a bit mixed on the combined action then there might be a few more people in than on actual Christmas Day. If they're not striking personally they'll be at work. Also they may be enacting catch up plans - doing more either side etc.

Thank you everyone. I’d love to know my Trust’s plan but I assume at this point there isn’t even one yet! My date is the 19th so only consultant strike, I guess it could be worse. I think most sections aren’t even done by a consultant but my last one was, not sure if there was a reason or if he just fancied an early morning elective 🙈 however this time it will be my third (and last!) section so knowing there’s a higher chance of complications it makes me a bit nervous that there will be less consultants around, but what can I do 😔 I think I’ll try and speak with my consultant next week to see if we can move my date forward (even by a day) although that seems unlikely, or at least if she can reassure me somehow before I completely lose my marbles 🙈

I just had a phone call from my trust this morning saying that they are rescheduling my C-Section for 4 days later so I'm sure you will hear from yours soon, if you haven't already.

Super frustrating when you think you're so close, but nothing I can do about it so just trying to accept it 🤷‍♀️

That’s quite the delay! How many weeks will you be on the new date? Nothing from my hospital so far, I tried asking and was told to wait and see, they’ll be in touch if anything needs changing. Which is not massively helpful if I’m honest 😂 My midwife didn’t know anything about it either, so it really is just a waiting game, just hope if there’s any changes they tell me soon so I can sort out childcare!

Mine was bang on 39 weeks before, so I’ll be 39+4 which isn’t the end of the world.

Hopefully that means yours isn’t moving, it’s not great being in limbo. I was called by the c-section unit at the hospital, you could try calling and see if you can get through to them?

My friend said today that hers was rescheduled earlier in the year when they had the Easter strikes and they called the week before and moved it back to the original date. I think it’s all a bit of an unknown until closer to the time.