No first scan until 16 weeks?!?!

[Elja1127]

I'm 12 weeks pregnant and had my first appointment with the midwife today at my gp surgery, I thought I would be seen sooner but that's the first available appointment they had.. Anyway, my midwife tried to book me my dating scan but couldn't get through to any of the 4 local hospitals that the scans are done at so sent me off with the phone numbers to book one myself. I've rang all the 4 hospitals and the first available scan date i could get was 10th January, I will be around 16 weeks by then, surely this isn't right? When I pointed this out to the receptionist she just said "well that's what you're gonna have to take" and practically slammed the phone down on me!!! I'm sure I need to be seen before this

I think you need a dating scan about 12 weeks and do your NHS do nuchal screens? Cos if they do you need it well before 12 weeks.

Whereabouts are you? You need to call up the head of midwifery at each of the hospitals and complain. The nuchal and dating scan at 12 weeks is very important. If you can afford it, then you could go privately??

Hi thats just terrible . If you are having the Nuchal fold test you need to have your scan done by 14 weeks . We had nuchal fold scan at 13 wks and 3 days and I thought that was late enough . If you have Nuchal Fold they will have to see you sooner . Good luck sorting it out . x

Yes definitely complain if you want the nuchal screening doing. I don't believe they can't get you in at all as there are sometimes cancellations and they also will need space to fit in emergencies.

I think I'm about to face a similar situation. I had my booking apt at 8 weeks and was told to go and ring the hospital once they had sent my paperwork off. All looking good. However they haven't received my paperwork despite me getting the midwife to resent it. I'm 10 weeks but I doubt they will manage to fit me in before Christmas but I want all the testing so it needs to be before 14 weeks! my midwife is going to chase again tomorrow but the booking people are very unhelpful so I feel your pain. its stress you don't need. In the end I've resulted in a private scan in the meantime to stop myself going mental.

16 weeks is too late if you want all your tests, so I would call your midwife and let her know what you have been offered and see if she can get involved? I can't imagine she will be happy about it!

hope you get I sorted xx

Swifey I live in london

I definitely want all the testing done so will call my midwife tomorrow to see if she can help and get me an earlier scan if not i will have to go private as will go out of my mind with worry that everything is ok with the baby

I am sure I'm about to be in this situation. My booking in appt is on Wednesday when I'll be 11 +1. I can't see how they'll be able to fit me in before I'm 14 + 1 for the nuchal testing. I'm an anxious person and have fixed my mind on getting to 12 weeks and knowing everything is ok with my baby. We've decided we'll pay for a private scan before Christmas if it's going to be ages to put my mind at rest. Elja- I'm also in London.

The appointment my hospital (Kingston) originally gave to me was the first day of a pre-conception booked holiday. It was a lot of hassel changing it, I was prepared to leave it to 14 weeks as we couldn't cancel the holiday without losing out financially (& instead book a private scan which would have worked out cheaper) but Kingston was adamant that I could not have the scan that late. They ended it up moving it forward by 2 days so my scan will be exactly 12 weeks (by my calculations).

I would chase them up.

Before my midwife saw me she had already booked a scan in as they are busy. I had my booking in appt at 11 weeks and scan at 14+1. This is in East London.

Do they not have a cancellation list ect? I would call the midwifes at the hospital maybe they could fast track?

Slightly different from when I had my first baby 1 1/2 ago.

I hope you are able to get the scan sooner. x

Have you been able to chase the midwife Elja? Mine has finally sorted mine out and I'm booked in on the 17th Dec..had to go to a different hospital (within the same trust) though but worth it x

Hi, this happened to me the second time around and I ended up paying for a private Nuchal scan at 13 weeks and 3 days because I wanted the peace of mind that would bring.

I haven't even had any midewife attention yet. My first midwife appointment will be when I am 15 weeks so I imagine my first NHS scan will be when my baby is somewhere between 18 - 20 weeks!!

I would have been quite freaked out by this if it was my first baby.

My advice is that if you can afford the private scan, for your own peace of mind, go and have it done. The 'quad test' they offer to you later in pregnancy has a raised 'false postiive' outcome and could lead you into thinking you need to have invasive procedures like Amnios and CVS screenings.

Best of luck, you can't fight the system... computer says no...

Luckily my midwife managed to pull some strings and got me a scan for next thursday
Wow purple can't believe you haven't got your first midwife appointment till 15 weeks! I thought mine at 12 weeks was late enough