Re: possible gestational diabetes. Am a bit annoyed with this...

[ButterflySally]

Hello all. Thought about posting this in AIBU but it's pregnancy-related and you are a more sympathetic bunch so thought I would post here. But, please do tell me if the pregnancy hormones are kicking in and indeed making me unreasonable!

I was referred to the Consultant at 25 weeks (for an unrelated matter). As part of this visit, they checked my urine and, for the 3rd time during my pregnancy, I had sugar in my urine. The doctor referred me on to have a glucose tolerance test to investigate gestational diabetes.

Two/three weeks later, I haven't heard anything yet re: an appointment. I called the antenatal clinic where I saw the doctor who made the referral and the receptionist, for want of a better word, 'refused' to help me - she said I would need to call the diabetes team. I asked if she could, nonetheless, check the referral had been sent off (as, I was thinking that if I called the diabetes team and they had never heard of me, I would need to call back anyway to get the antenatal clinic to re-refer me) and she said something along the lines of 'but I wouldn't know if it's been sent off'.

Anyway, after she refused to check the referral was sent off, I agreed to call the diabetes team. Got through to someone, who had to put me through to someone else, who didn't answer the phone (and there was no message facility and my call didn't get re-routed back to the original person I spoke to).

So...at the end of all of this, I have no idea if my referral has been sent/received. I just feel a bit annoyed by the way this has been handled. I would imagine that, if I do have gestational diabetes, then it needs to be identified and addressed ASAP and waiting to hear 2-3 weeks seems too long a wait to me (and suggests the referral perhaps hasn't been received by the diabetes team). Does anyone have any experience of this? Am I being unreasonable? I have sent an email to the maternity helpline outlining the situation and asking them how best to proceed so hopefully tomorrow I will get more answers...

I dont think the receptionist would be able to find out if you had been referred to be honest. I think you need to phone the antenatal clinic back and ask to speak to the midwife there and she should be able to follow it up properly.

But no, you aren't being unreasonable to be annoyed in general. I would be too. if you dont get any luck the above way, i would contact PALS at the hospital.

I would contact your MW they usually do my gtt referral. Receptionists are arse pieces, fact.

It is unacceptable to have to wait so long if you have glucose in your urine. Your consultants secretary can also check if he has done the ref, they are 2nd only to god and usually much nicer than receptionists.

I didn't expect the receptionist to be able to tell me but thought she would at least be able to put me through to the right person. I think I do recall asking if there was someone I could speak to...

Thanks for the idea about PALS - will keep that in mind!

YANBU to be annoyed but get ready to encounter more of the same if you do have GD or any other slight complication that requires appointments and referrals. In my 1st pg I wasted so much time trotting around different depts, waiting in pathology, being told I had the wrong paperwork etc and the receptionists were ALL massively unhelpful about the processes involved and seemed to expect me to be able to tell them what paperwork I needed or what order to do things in. This time round I have been much more arsey / assertive and if the consultant tells me I need a test I sit in their office until I have the paperwork in my hand or specific guidance about the next step. Best of luck!

In my GP surgery you can just book a nurse appointment (two within about 2 hours of each other) and no special team referral is required, is there a possibility that yo could get it done through your local medical practice? On the matter of waiting 2-3 weeks, I dilly-dallied and put off for two weeks my GD test, so didn't get the results until after about 3 weeks, my MW went mental at me basically and made me cry for waiting so long - 2-3 week wait is NOT ok, you are def NBU.

The consultant should have his own secretary who should be able to help you. If you ring the hospital and ask to be put through to Mr. XXX's secretary they will do so and if you give her the details and your name, they will find out if a referal was sent.

Often they don't do a GTT until 28 weeks anyway and you should be able to get a GTT quite quickly if you haven't already been referred. Ideally, of course, you should be seen as quickly as possible.

Hopefully you can get this sorted out.