Pregnancy Scans/Scams!!!!!

[ohanotherone]

For those using NHS services, if you want to know the sex of your baby do you have to pay to know???

I want to know the sex of my baby if possible but the NHS trust charges £50, not for a separate scan for just telling during the 20 week scan. I think this is tantamount to exortion. I appreciate some people are not bothered either way but I think that as a parent if a total stranger can see the sex of the baby and I want to know the sex, they sould not ask for £50 to tell me information that does not cost them anything.

It's terrible

Really can't see how they can justify charging £50 for a few extra minutes poking around (if that) to see if they can see the gender.

With DD1 it took literally 10 seconds to have a look. DD2 she thought she saw a glimpse of girlie bits and said "looks like a girl".

Sounds a bit dodgy TBH, I mean how would you pay? Slip the sonographer £50 cash there and then?!

Rip off.

I think £50 sounds too steep. But I can understand a charge might be applied if the department is finding that a lot of parents are causing scans to take longer because they don't want to leave without finding the sex of the baby.

I also think that (if you are going to charge) that you charge everyone the same. The NHS can't say that they will tell some people for free and others will be charged - who would get to decide which parents got charged? Some babies are in the perfect position, others will move round eventually and some will just not be clear enough no matter what. NHS staff get all sorts of abuse from patients and arguments with parents in the ultrasound dept. because 'my best mate got her sexing scan free' would be something they'd want to avoid.

Piprabbit,

That's how I feel, dangerously like I will vent my wrath at the sonographer if they demand a credit card payment on the spot. I feel so about it. TBH, I think they get away with it where I live because generally people are really nice and don't make a fuss whereas at Chelsea & Westminster they wouldn't dare because parents would be irate about it all!!!

Babynelly2010, that's a bit of a generalisation isn't it?! As an NHS Sonographer myself, and on behalf of my (almost all!!)courteous, lovely and professional collegues, I take offense at that!! Having formed such a low opinion of the Sonographers you have encountered I am sure that you left a less than favourable inpression of yourself- patients can be less than charming too...
There seems to be an assumption here that the Sonographer will pocket the cash- No way!! It will go straight to the trust funds, perhaps even to upgrade machines and facilities...Sonographers are paid a salary which may by some be considered generous, but when you consider that the average Sonographer has completed a 3 year Radiography degree followed by 1-3 years post grad masters level, not to mention the incredible responsibility, stress and risk of being sued...not such a cushty number Kikabo.
I do think that charging to sex in the normal 20w scan is outrageous, if they were offering this as a separate service prior to 20w or if the 20w scan does not reveal the sex then fair enough! Where I work we are happy to sex if asked, some people do however see this as the sole reason for the scan. I've had people huff and sigh and continuously poke their tummy while I've been trying to assess the fetal heart for example saying 'turn over, I want to see what you are'. Favorelles, I don't think your Sonographer was having a bad day, she was quite right.
I love the social side of my job,telling people the sex and giving them, in my opinion as good an experience as they would have privately but believe me, there are some right little treasures. We've had tears, screaming and swearing- all for 'the wrong sex' being given...
There seems to be a bit of an opinion on here that Ultrasound is a bit like a magic wand, any old nobody can just walk in and randomly wave the probe and hey-presto! Not that easy. Sometimes we can't see the sex, end off.

Well said Andyflo! The assumption that we sonographers pocket the cash is unbelieveable. Any charges made are done so by the hospital trust and perhaps deemed necessary to meet their targets.(Not that I agree with charging for sexings!)

@Andyflow:

I did not presume that the sonographer was paid the 50 pounds, nor did I mean that it is an easy job, nor do I think that a scan is only for sexing. It is outragious that there are people in this world who huff and puff because they can't see the sex of the baby. That is sad. Or even worse, that they sigh at 'the wrong sex'. I must admit if I were expecting a boy as a first, I would be, let's call it very very very mildly disappointed, because I would certainly want a girl, but I would not take it out on anyone and certainly not call it 'the wrong sex'. I realise that your responsibility lies with anomalies first and that sometimes, indeed, the sex isn't visible. That is not the issue though.

However, I also believe that there are some, sorry sh*te, sonographers who are not concerned with any one of their customers. At least one could ask for basic politeness and some info. I understand that this is depending on the trust though. So if your colleagues are fine, polite and nice, then that's great, but I have heard other stories.

Like that one sonographer, according to this mumsnet member, who literally took 5 seconds to not see a heartbeat and basically told the mother that there was no baby and then the NHS didn't even want to do a second scan to confirm. Baby was fine, it turned out. Yet, the NHS, after the mother knew that baby was fine due to a private scan, was still pushing for a termination. I find that, sorry, clueless. It can be down to rushing, to guidelines and everything, but it is not something you play with.

The point is that paying 50 pounds only for maybe five minutes extra in extremis is a bit steep.

Surely as Sonographers ethically it cannot be right to charge £50 regardless of what the trust want the money for. If the trust said, we need to raise £XXXXX pounds in order to deliver better services and therefore we ask for a donation towards knowing the sex of you baby then I would see that as valid and gladly make an affordable to me contribution. The point is that NHS services should be free at the point of delivery and the same service provided regardless of the persons ability to pay. £50 is alot of money.

Kikibo, I obviously missunderstood your post, it read as though you fully expected the Sonographer to pocket the cash...Clearly I missunderstood...As for the Shte Sonographers who are not concerned with their 'customers', their 'customer' first and foremost is the baby. Some Sonographers see a thorough Anomaly scan as more important than performing a baby bonding service, this does not mean that they are shte Sonographers.
As I have said before, where I work this is not the case, we succesfully combine the social and technical aspects of the scan. The fact that some Sonographers aren't friendly and fluffy about the scan is unfortunate but I usually find that the old adage of 'speak as you would like to be spoken to' goes a long way...perhaps the sh*te Sonographers of whom you speak got tired of trying to be pleasant. As I've said, there are some right little treasures in the public too...
On to the issues of ladies being told the baby was dead...I dispute that these scans where performed by Sonographers. Doctors are allowed to scan, often with little or no training. A Sonographer would not make this type of mistake! We have strict protocols we abide by to ensure this! Ladies are Never pushed into termination.
I feel that lots of these NHS bashing type posts are made up to see who can collect the largest amount of responses from outraged MN's...

Nono, that's of course not what I meant. I just figured that if five minutes of the snographer's time were 50 pounds, then... Of course they don't pocket the cash! That would be truly outragious!
I understand that scans must be primarily for anomalies, quite right too (so not for baby-bonding ), and I suppose the huffing and puffing doesn't do any good to the willingness to be nice every single day... But I would still provide a smile and a nice hello. Otherwise I will not get any nice patients anyhow.

I don't know by whom that scan was performed, the story is somewhere on here, but it is possible that it wasn't a sonographer. At any rate, if it was one, then questions should be asked at his/her training, which was then clearly less than adequate... Not questioning your ability though, and not questioning your close colleagues either.