Not offered a 12 week scan?

[nina79]

Hi - can anyone shed any light? 6weeks pregnant and normal symptoms and I am very happy.

Went to my doctor today, first time, and he said he was contacting the midwide and would write to me with an appointment.

I asked about the first scan and he said it would be 18-20 weeks. I asked him about the 12 week scan and he said they don't do them anymore.

Is this true? He said its because they only use this scan to do dating and have not found it particularly useful or helpful. I have searched on the interent and I can't see anything about the NHS changing its procedures. Should I demand to have my 12 week scan? I am disappointed at not being able to have one.

I am quite surprised at some of the responses. I am in France and my gyneacologist insisted I rush for a dating scan as soon as she confirmed my pregnancy because she wanted to know for certain when I would be 12wks. According to her (and French national policy) you need to do the nuchal scan at exactly 12wks to get the most accurate results, and, of course the results are important because you can then decide whether you want to risk an amnio or not. If you miss the 12th week I believe you can have another test at weeks 13-14 but the French all do the 12wk scan and blood tests as standard. Then you get another scan at 20-23 weeks which gives you the sex (if you want to know) and checks for various developmental abnormalities, and finally a scan at 32 weeks again checking growth and development of various organs.

Let's all move to France!!!
Yep that ties in with how majority of London hospitals care for pregnant women.

Im in huddersfield west yorkshire (not that far from manchester)

Im 22 weeks now, and had my 12 week scan....

a friend (8 weeks behind me) also had 12 week scan, and no mention ever of it not being the norm

I am in Manchester, and I had a 12 week scan - it's partly to date the pregnancy, I think they base your EDD on it (not 100% certain on this). I've recently had a 20 week scan as well, these are the only 2 scans you are routinely offered here.

The nuchal fold had to be done between 11 and 13 weeks. So it's done at the same time as the 12 week one if you want it done (midwives should talk you through options at your booking in appointment)

I would assume most of Manchester operate the same system because my experience is that you can come under different geographical areas for different aspects - hospital/community midwives for example.

Thank you so much for all your help and messages. This is so useful especially since as I am still early on, I haven't told many people yet so can't ask for advice so thank you!

I'm in Bristol; we get a 12 week dating scan (although that was only introduced over the last couple of years) but no nuchal on the nhs, just the blood tests at 16 weeks. I'm paying for a nuchal scan at 12 weeks because we lost our last dc at 16 weeks and a consultant told me that may have been a chromosomal problem, so I want to be forewarned this time if anything's wrong!!

It does make me feel and that ante natal care can vary so widely across the uk depending on where you live.

It's the stupid postcode lottery. DW had a 12 week dating scan that included a combined test (nuchal fold measurement and blood test combined with other risk factors such as age to give a likelihood (e.g. 1 in 2000) of the baby having Downs Syndrome). This should be standard across the NHS.

It's really interesting to see all the different approaches, makes me really doubtfull whether the advice I am getting is the best medical advice for my situation or the most economical for the public health care system!

The literature in France suggests that the age of the mother is not as significant a factor as was previously thought. They state that 70% of chromosomal abnormalities occur in pregnancies with mums less than 25 years old, so they give you three numbers: the first is the percentage of risk based purely on the mum's age, then another one adjusted for the nuchal scan and a third one adjusted for the bloods.

These were my numbers for Trisomie 21

based on age (38) 1:204
plus nuchal scan 1: 311
plus bloods 1: 1600

Hi nina79

I'm in Manchester too - at the moment down to deliver at St Marys - and I have a dating scan booked. I was told by the midwife today that you can't complete your free prescriptions form until you have had your dating scan so it seems a bit odd if you are not offered one. Having said that, my friend who lives in Bristol did not get a dating scan when she had her daughter 4 years ago and went private instead as she didn't want to wait until 20 weeks.

I am not having the nuchal test but I was told today that you have to have that before 14 weeks, otherwise you have blood tests only. I gather some areas don't offer the nuchal test yet (my boss went private to get it last year as her area only offered the blood tests).