Was your ELCS done by consultant or registrar?

[PixieCake]

Hi all,

For those of you who had an ELCS on the NHS, can you tell me if it was done by a consultant or a registrar?

I was hoping for the consultant but have just read on another post that NHS patients can only get a registrar at Kingston (where I am going).

Booking appointment in the morning so if anyone can answer tonight that would be v helpful.

Thanks!

Mine was done by two registrars (twins) and I am really glad because my consultant was one of those up his own arse dudes, whereas the reg's were really friendly, explaining everything that was going on etc.

I was booked to have it done by my Consultant, however went into labour early on a bank holiday weekend & he was away playing golf!
So it ended up being one of his Registrars, even though he uses staples and epidural by his choice (as I was told afterwards by a midwife and theatre tech) he went with everything that was in my notes by my Consultant, so stitch, spinal block etc etc (they were impressed as he apparantly hates stitches!)

And he had the deepest voice in the world - Think Barry White, very soothing whilst I was high as a kite! He bet me £50,000 I couldn't move my legs before he started - needless to say he won!

Any particular reason you would prefer a consultant? To be honest registrars do c-sections all the time, especially emergency ones. I had a locum reg do mine and you can't even see the scar anymore!

My first three were done by registrars, this next one (the last!!!) will be done by a consultant - it'll still be fairly routine, I'm told, but there may be more scarring, so would need a more experienced surgeon.

technically there aren't any registrars any more (or junior/senior house officers for that matter), as the whole structure has been changed. What used to be a registrar is now an ST, which stands for specialist trainee. If they are an ST1 they are in their first year of that job. If they are an ST4 they are in the fourth year of that job, and so on. In lots of hospitals it is common to still call the ST doctors "the reg". The point of this post (I appreciate it may seem like there isn't one!), is that there is a huge difference in experience between different ST doctors (formerly registrars). If you have someone who is an ST 5 or 6, then they are not far off consultant seniority/experience anyway. An ST1 or ST2 on the other hand may have no prior experience other than one year as a JHO and one year as an SHO (now foundation year 1 and 2 doctors), which would have included a maximum of 4 months in obstetrics. Therefore, an ST1 at this time of the year (bearing in mind they change jobs in August), could have had 4 months of junior doctor training in obstetrics, and then been at "registrar" grade since August in obstetrics, which doesn't amount to very much experience in my view!
I would have no difficulty with an ST doctor doing a section in principle, but I might want to know how far through their ST training they were!

Actually most people would refer to ST 1/2/3 as an SHO equivilent not a registrar, that is certainly how the docs see it.

I;ve had 2 c-secs at Kingston, both performed by registrars. I was quite lucky in that my first one was performed by a reg who was made a consultant later that year. My second one was performed by, I imagine, a relatively junior registrar (not sure how junior they have to be but I remember being quite shocked when she came in and told me she was about to perform the op. But maybe I am just getting old). That said, I couldn't fault the job she did (scar didn't heal quite so well as the first but apparently the first one was quite remarkable - so the second one was normal I think !).

My first was done by a Registrar with a Consultant overseeing things.

My second I think was a Consultant. The Anesthetist was definitely a Consultant and he was the person I dealt with beforehand and throughout the operation.

I didn't meet any of these people prior to the days of my ELCSs.

Libra- in my experience the fy2's call themselves sho's and the st1's etc never call themselves that.

FY2, ST1, ST2 = SHO
ST3 - 7 = reg

It is unlikley that ST1-3 would be left to do C-section on their own.
If it is an elective section there should be a consultant on labour ward who may or may not be in theatre and may or may not be scrubbed depending on the level of experience of the trainees.
If it is an emergency section it will be the on call registrar. There will be a consultant on call too but they are likely to be at home. The trainee will call them in if they are not sure.
There are quite strict competency criteria these days before trainees are left to do any procedures on their own.
You are also unlikely to get a consultant for your spinal/epidural first off, they tend to come along to save the day if the trainee (SHO or reg) can't get it.

"Libra- in my experience the fy2's call themselves sho's and the st1's etc never call themselves that."

If any ST1 referred to themselves as a reg equivilent my doc DH would piss himself laughing, they might not call themselves SHOs but that is what they are. Even tho I do agree with Splatt there can be some cross-over in ST3 between SHO and Reg.

Mine were done by registrars (the first by a guy with bottle bottoms as glasses ). This was despite placenta praevia, so VERY high risk of bleed/transfusion being needed. The consultant i think had to go over to the sister hospital, but i know he would have stayed if he thought it necessary (due to my prior care by him throughout pregnancy)

Also re stiching & healing - this was done by someone else. My lady had a touck of OCD about stitching (fantastic) and recognised her own stitching when i went in for my second . It healed brilliantly

Oh, and i had 3 anaesthaetists

Hi Pixie. The majority of ELCS are performed by 'registrars' at Kingston, unless there is a particular requirement for a consultant to be present, eg high risk, placenta praevia, or a private patient and so on. There is always a consultant on labour ward if theatres run into any difficulty. Hope that helps x

Thanks all
So what is the lowest grade of ST who could do a c section on their own? ST4?

Yup.

I didn't even think to ask what the jobtitle of the guy who performed my c-section was.

Our main consultant is too busy to do c-sections anymore!