13 weeks and haven't been contacted by a midwife!?

[AllyZ]

So I'm feeling a bit upset. Went to my Gp at 9 weeks (had to wait a week and a half for my appointment) and they sent the referral forms to Chelsea Westminster hospital and said a midwife would contact me. Last week I felt its been too long and called the hospital, yes they received my papers and had passed me on to one of their midwife teams. I got their number and tried calling for a whole day- no answer and no voicemail to leave a message. I cant even contact them! Feels really hopeless, what should I do? this is not normal right? haven't even had a booking appointment and if I want to do the test for Downs syndrome its almost too late now!

Can i call the hospital and ask to change midwife team (to one I can contact)? or just wait? Its my first pregnancy so they should be more keen to see me...:(

definitely ring the hospital and ask what's going on. Communications can be awful - my 12wk scan nearly wouldn't have happened without my lovely midwife calling the hospital herself, despite them having the paperwork for weeks!

My midwives only answer phone between 8.30 and 9.30am, but take voicemails all day and call back the following day.

But def start kicking up a fuss!

Hi Ally
Congratulations. But what poor service from your local health service.
Yes call the hospital antenatal clinic on Tuesday and ask why you havent had a booking appointment. Also ask if their midwives do any drop-in clinics you can attend.
If you don't get a satisfactory answer, then back to your GP and change hospitals.
Hope you get an appointment soon. All the best.

You could also ask your GP surgery if they have definitely forwarded all the paperwork on - they could call the hospital for you too.

Thank you. Yea Tuesday when bank holiday is over I will call all the numbers I have and ask what is going on, I will be 14 weeks then so this is a bit ridiculous. If the midwife team had a special time to call the hospital really could have told me that.

They found me in the system when I spoke to antenatal reception so think all my paperwork is there. If I don't get an appointment very soon I will change to another hospital, just scared that if I change it will take even longer as I need to be referred again...

I actually think you should go to the hospital. Tbh you don't have much time to get the nuchal scan done now and can't afford for them to muck you about. Very best of luck and I hope your care improves from hereon and you can enjoy your pregnancy x

I went to C and H and I would say, if you're nearby, just drop into the antenatal reception. The staff on reception are usually great. Make a bit of a fuss and insist they see you the same day. Then switch teams!

Good luck.

C and W, even

Just kick up a massive fuss - leave a message with your GP as well so they can get on the case as well. Chase, chase and chase and demand an urgent appointment. They will have to fit you in as you should have definitely recieved an appointment by now. Do not accept being fobbed off.

If you are running out of time and really want to have the nuchal scan and can afford it, do it privately. I phoned around after a similar story to yours and there are plenty of places that do it, however lots of them only do it one day a week so if you are interested, phone first thing on Tue. You can always cancel the appointment if the NHS comes through for you after all.

Thanks girls. I had a private scan at 9 weeks, so I know everything looks good at least. Have thought about the nuchal and to be honest I dont mind if I dont get it done. Wouldnt consider more tests or abortion if something was wrong as Ive tried for and wanted this pregnancy a long time...but really want to have a scan soon to see that the baby is still alive and well plus blood tests and everything else so will call them first thing tomorrow and if they seem slow will pop over.

Have been out of town since Wednesday last week so guess I could actually have received a letter one of those day, back tonight. Do they normallly call or send letter?

Ally, you can normally refer yourself to a hospital, St Georges in Tooting have a form on the website which you can just fill in and send them directly (might be worth knowing if you need to change).
I got all my scan appointments by post directly from the hospital, but after the booking appointment at 10 weeks, except for the nuchal scan, I didn't see a midwife until 16 weeks, and won't see one again until 28 weeks and don't even know if it will be the same one!!

yummy it's normal not to see a MW between booking and 16 weeks, and then not for a few more weeks. Once you get into the last few weeks they'll become much more frequent.

I received my letter on Friday so guess I was stressing for nothing all weekend. have my booking appointment next week Monday. Scan appointment still hasn't arrived so will call that department to try and book or at least know when my appointment is before letter comes.

I don't think you were stressing for nothing. 14 weeks for booking appointment is late IMO. I had my booking appointment at 10 weeks then the scan at 12 weeks and next mw appointment at 16 weeks. Absolutely check up about the scan asap.

I called hospital and they said they sent me an appointment for scan which i missed (?). No letter in my mail, only the one for booking appointment which arrived Friday. The woman I spoke to said its now too late for the Nuchal but booked me in for a scan Monday, same day as my midwife appointment.

At least Im sorted now..lets hope it goes well from now on..

That's good you're on track now Ally. Best of luck with the scan. :)