4 weeks for a midwife appointment?!

[FernGullysWoollyPully]

I'm 16 weeks next week and went to the surgery to book an appointment for then to have my first antenatal appointment and hear the baby. I'm not being precious here, it's my 5th baby and I know it could wait but it's one of the 'milestones' in pregnancy and is obviously lovely however many babies you've had. Am I wrong in thinking that 4 weeks for an appointment with the midwife is crazy?! She only does 1 clinic a week and only takes 3 appointments per clinic which are fully booked.

When did this become the norm? I can't remember struggling for appointments with any of my others.

Pretty similar situation here. I wasn't booked in until 16+6 and even then it was done out of area as my clinic was full for another month after that. I will be 28wks before I see my named MW (I'm 23wks and already have the appt booked!)
I would try giving your MW a call anyway, mine ended up doing most of my ante-natal care at home last time because I just couldn't get an appointment at the weekly clinic.

madre have you paid no attention to what I said? I was advised by the midwife to get an appointment at 16 weeks, I'm not demanding anything, trying to waste time or get an appointment I'm not entitled to. You are wrong on this. As others have corrected you, the majority will see a midwife at 16 weeks as per the recommendations.

You said in your OP you want an appt because its "lovely" and a "milestone" and to hear the heartbeat. None of that is a medical necessity.
The nhs is at breaking point and all people want is more more more.

It's normal practice to be seen at 16 weeks not the OP demanding extra!

When I had my 12 week scan and saw the midwife at the hospital I was told to make an appointment with the community midwife at my GP surgery at 16 weeks. When I asked what if I couldn't get an appointment (remembering this was sometimes difficult in my first pregnancy) the hospital midwife said I should see a GP instead as they were paid for either providing a midwife or doing the appointments themselves. I don't know if that's totally true but might be worth asking.

In any case I am now registered with the diabetes midwives at the hospital and will be seeing them every 1-2 weeks so it does suggest there is some truth that if you need more frequent appointments you will get them. Having said that, if you can't make even the standard appointments how would they ever know if there was something wrong and you needed more?!

madre splitting hairs? Ok It's obviously not just for those reasons, it's also a normal antenatal appointment that the vast majority are entitled to. I will also have my BP and urine checked.

Not really sure why you're arguing this with me. I'm well aware that the NHS is stretched, I'm not being demanding or ridiculous to expect a routine appointment.

At 16 weeks with a normal scan and normal previous pregnancy history it's very unlikely that a midwife would pick up anything you don't know about. So you don't need this appointment then, 18,19, 20 weeks will still do the same job. The clinic may already be full of people who DO need to be seen - people needing booking in or seeing at 30 weeks with history high BP etc. So tbh I think you can relax about this and take the next appointment they have without stressing.

I can't believe anyone has a named midwife, I am 28 weeks into my second pregnancy and have never seen the same midwife twice!

I can't believe I have a named mw either-having got this far having not met her!! I'm assured she exists though and the other two I've seen were very clear that they weren't "my" mw.

I was also told that if I couldn't get a midwife appointment at the allotted time I should book in with the gp. Ignore the posters on here who are being difficult. Most of us understand where you are coming from!