Twin consultant says I’m responsible for transferring my care?

[isthismummy]

Just looking for some advice...I’m really confused.

I’ve just come out of my first appointment with the twin consultant at Lewisham Hospital. I’m 22+4 with twins.

DH and I are moving back to the North of England next month. I informed consultant of this, assuming that at this point the hospital would transfer my care over to my new chosen hospital (in fact I was told this when I asked at 20 week scan)

Instead consultant told me that I have to do it all myself! Either by registering with a new GP as soon as I’m home and seeing them, or getting in touch with midwives at my new chosen hospital. I tried to discuss my concerns regarding gaps in my care etc if I have to do it that way, but she was frankly quite dismissive and sarcastic in her response. Almost scoffing at the idea it might be her hospitals job! She told me I just need to give my maternity notes to the new hospital!

Does this sound right to anyone? It just seems mad that she would spend ten minutes waxing lyrical about my high risk pregnancy and then tell me I’m on my own transferring my care. I’m really worried and stressed now.

It’s not too complicated. You can self refer without a GP initially. If you know your new address you can self refer now and arrange an appointment when you arrive. If they don’t have appointments early you can walk in and be seen in most places.

It seems very stressful but it should be fine. Bring your notes and scan reports etc. (I left Ireland and 35 weeks and booked a few days after arriving in the UK).

Can you speak to your midwife and ask what usually happens in her experience?

If you do need to transfer yourself, I guess it would be sensible to get any copies of letters that consultant might have sent to your current gp.

Slightly different, but I transferred care myself from the Irish system when I moved back to NI at 36 weeks.

It wasn’t stressful at all- I just made a gp appointment at my old surgery and the doctor took it from there. I then had a booking appointment at the hospital the next day and handed over my Irish notes, and the midwife went through them in a lot of detail with me. It wasn’t a hassle, and in my case I was really impressed with the care.

Well the consultant is correct.
You'd register with a GP surgery in your new area and find out how to access the midwifery service. Then as soon as you can, you'd book in with a midwife who would make your referral to consultant care.

If you're unsure, contact the antenatal clinic for the local hospital where you're moving to, however what the consultant has said is right, when you move, you transfer your care to your chosen hospital. It's actually quite simple.

Sounds right to me.
They'd need you registered with your new GP to transfer, should be able to sort it when you pop in to register, if you know which surgery you'll be with try calling and asking about self refer ing to the community midwives.

I'd much rather handle my own transfer than trust it to the bureauctatic machinery of two large hospitals.

@dinosaurkisses I was impressed too. Except for them listing my 36 week BMI as my booking BMI!

Yes, you just need to refer to the midwives, who do a booking and then refer you to the consultant. Your current hospital would only refer you if they were transferring you into a unit for immediate care, say if you were needed to be an inpatient and where you were couldn't accommodate you.

Yes that's correct in my experience.

It won't be a big deal though you just have to register with a new GP ASAP (which I assume you would anyway since you are pregnant) so you can access the local midwifery services and have a new booking appointment with them. They will then refer to the new local hospital and that hospital will request your information from your old hospital.

That's just the way the NHS works, they don't just send your notes randomly off into the ether to a hospital in another area who have no idea at that point you exist, they have to wait until you have registered yourself as a patient in the new area.

Thank you for the responses everyone.

It’s made me very anxious as my pregnancy is considered high risk (twins and donor egg) I’m just really worried Im going to end up missing some of my four weekly scans if I have to register with GP, get referred to midwives etc.

My midwife definitely told me at my last appointment that they would transfer my care. As did the sonographer at my 20 week scan. I feel like I’m just getting told different things and there’s a serious lack of communication going on.

I’m going to ring midwife tomorrow and double check with her.

Unless your midwives specifically said 'you don't need to do anything the hospital will handle it all' then they haven't actually told you wrong/misleading information they just haven't been very clear about what they meant when they said the hospital would transfer the care.

They will have just meant that once you are registered with your new GP/midwives etc then your current hospital will transfer their care/notes across to your new area.

In a similar situation but with probably smaller distances involved than your situation, I made all of my future appointments as normal with my old midwives/hospital as if I wasn't moving and then rang to cancel them as soon as I was set up with replacement appointments in my new area to ensure that I didn't miss any if the process was very slow. As it happened I easily registered with the GP the day I moved and was booked in with the midwives within the week. I think I was about 30 weeks at the time.

They just meant that care would transfer, not that they would sort it out for you.

The Consultant is correct you will need to contact the hospital in your new area and arrange to be booked in there I'm afraid. The hospital won't do this. I would make it your first priority when you move and I am sure they will see you pretty quickly.

No-one can register you with a GP but you.

The consultant is correct. I switched hospitals due to relocation at 23 weeks. I had to register with the GP, get referred to midwives and go through booking in all over again.

It's your pregnancy, not theirs. Different trusts have different ways of doing things, so they can't just transfer you across.

I'm high risk too btw

Research the best hospital in your new location. Ring the antenatal clinic there and ask to speak to the midwife in charge. Tell her about the twins etc. Explain you are moving to their area and ask her what is the quickest and simplest way to transfer care.
In many units you can self refer before you have got new GP.

Yes they’re correct. I moved at 24 weeks in my first pregnancy and 27 weeks in my second, and both times was responsible for transferring my care.

It might not take as long as you think. Some hospitals let you self refer without seeing the GP. I just registered on their webite. Take a look and see what their policy is.
And yes you need to do it yourself the same way as you would if you change GP

I understand your worry OP, but please take some reassurance from people who have been through this themselves and confirmed it’s very straightforward.

In my case, I was sorted in a day- I made a doctor’s appointment, called in with my notes and he called the hospital midwives and they saw me the next morning. It was very smoothly handled, and I was coming from a different country, not another nhs trust!

Can you maybe look to arrange a GP appointment now for as soon as possible after you move and tell them in advance what you need? This is what I did, so I expect that’s partly why things moved so fast.

Mayhew’s advice is spound. The hospital you transfer to will likely have an out of area team based in the antenatal clinic who can see you. Phone and speak to the midwife in charge there and see if there is any information they need imminently.

Sound, not spound!

You need to find out how referrals work at our new hospital. Do you self refer (fill out a form on their website, increasingly common) or need a GP referral?

If self referral v easy.
If GP referral I can understand being a bit nervous as you will need to register with GP first, but you will need to ask for emergency/ same day appt.

Make scan appts at your old hospital as a back up and cancel when sorted at New hospital.

When you register at New hospital tell them clearly when you next scan or appointment is due.

We moved away from London in 2003 when I was about half way through my first pregnancy. They copied my maternity notes for me & I made going to the GP to register one of my first to dos. It sounds/feels stressful, but it was okay.

I can’t see anything on the new hospital web site regarding self referral. Also, making a GP appointment in advance is great advice. Unfortunately the surgery near my new address requires you to go in with ID to register. As it’s nearly 300 miles away from where I’m currently living then that’s not really practical.

I’m going to ring my mid wife today and see what she suggests I do for the best.

I’ll try not to be too anxious. I’m incredibly anxious already about the fact it’s twins, I want a c section (nobody has even spoken to me about my birth options yet) and I just feel really worried about everything. Hopefully my new hospital will be less useless than current one, who frankly haven’t listened to a word I’ve said since rye first day I went there.

Thank you for your help everyone😊

The consultant is right, but just be relieved you are getting out of lewisham hospital. I paid thousands to go private in order to do the same when it was my local hospital. Some staff are great, some are bloody awful.