Appointment with consultant

[1Wanda1]

I am 22 weeks pregnant and have consultant led care as am over 40, it's an IVF pregnancy, and will be a c-section (3rd child after 2 precious sections). In previous pregnancies I did not have consultant led care, so just curious to know if the experience I had last week at my first appointment with the "consultant" is normal.

My appointment with the consultant (let's call him Mr Jones) was at 1.55. I arrived at 1.50. About 2.20 Mr Jones ambled (from outside the clinic) into the waiting area (recognised him from photo) and went into a room. A while later a patient was called for him. About 2.45 a different man called me. He simply introduced himself as "I'm Peter, Mr Jones has asked me to see you." Did not say whether he was a doctor, nurse, or whatever. I assume he was a registrar but who knows?

Peter did not have the best command of English and seemed quite unsure of what he was doing. He measured fundal height and tried to find baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. He couldn't find it. I could feel her moving so wasn't worried, but it took him about 10 minutes eventually to find it. At midwife appts since 16 weeks, she's done it in less than 1 minute each time. He got quite confused about fundal height because despite me taking my notes with me, and my notes having EDD in them, someone had put a piece of paper on front of notes saying I was 24 weeks (I was 21).

Then Peter went "to speak to my senior". Came back and told me to book for a growth scan at 28 weeks. That was the end of the appointment. Nothing happened that the midwife could not have done in a 5 minute appointment. I did not see the consultant my appointment was supposed to be with, with no explanation of why not and no explanation of who the person I did see was. My notes were wrongly labelled. The whole experience felt completely disorganised from start to finish.

Is this normal? AIBU to think that if I have an appointment to see "Mr Jones", I should see Mr Jones? Will I ever see a consultant during my "consultant-led care" or can I expect the same thing at my next appointment?

I had a vbac last pregnancy so had to see the consultant- I also felt it was a complete waste of time.. only saw him once and then continued with my midwife and the labour department on delivery.. I'm still to this day unsure what his purpose was ...

Iv been flagged to see consultant again as I'm pregnant again - for vbac reasons.. but iv had one successful vbac so again, why?

I want to go midwife led unit this time so I guess I need him to sign that off? Who knows...

Also my last consultant was lacking in the English spoken word too..

Xx

Congratulations!

The only time I actually saw my consultant was when there was a problem identified. Otherwise it was 'a member of her team'
Quite normal in my experience.

And yes, basically they looked at the scan results (twins so had a scan every 2 weeks) and the urine results if I'd seen the midwife that morning and then waved me off.
They were VERY helpful and thorough when our problem was discovered though which I guess is why you're under them in the first place. Just in case.

I was midwife led but was also monitored by the consultant regularly due to BMI (basically they said I was fine to be under midwife care but I had extra appts at key points). Every single time I saw the consultant I saw the actual consultant. There might have been a bit of a wait, I'd have the basics done by the consultants nurse whilst we waited. Then she would double check, have a quick chat but never felt rushed or dismissed, she was lovely and helped a lot.

Really sorry you got messed about!

I didn't meet my actual consultant until I was 34 weeks, despite having to go to the hospital to be reviewed every 2 weeks from the beginning of pregnancy. Instead I have seen a different junior doctor each time. This wouldn't bother me particularly but except they all told me different things and gave conflicting advice. No one seems to want to make a decision.

God it all sounds a bit chaotic then! I am grateful obviously to have no "need" to see a consultant so far.

Seems pretty normal to me. Rarely see the actual consultant, font really know why you are there. I've never had a Doppler or fundal height done at a consultant appointment (which means thus pregnancy I probably won't ever have it done). And you come out with no real plan if knowing where you are!

My consultant used to do this, he'd send a student in and they'd ask all the questions, do all checks etc and then they would go and report to him. My consultant was was a bit untrusting of them and would always march in and repeat most things that they did, but I was high risk due to my cervix starting to shorten early on. I think if they're happy with the students checks then they can send you on your way?

I was consultant led due to BMI, never once saw consultant throughout pregnancy, genuinely could not have picked her out a lineup, and never say anyone from her team either, always midwife, just had extra appointments and scans (which was actually nice to have) - met registrar on the day I gave birth as baby was breech and needed c-section.

Is this normal? AIBU to think that if I have an appointment to see "Mr Jones", I should see Mr Jones? Will I ever see a consultant during my "consultant-led care" or can I expect the same thing at my next appointment?

It is likely you saw a junior doctor and Mr Jones the consultant is the person he disappears out of the room to ask questions to. The incompetency and fumbling indicates he isn't experienced, though the students and junior doctors I had were all reasonably competent when they examined or scanned me. (It may be due to the fact they were all female but that's me being sexist.)

The lateness could be due to the fact they were actually on the wards/surgery in the morning and this could have be at a different hospital.

I was consultant led and had 4 appointments. 2 out of my 4 appointments were with the consultant, another one was with a registrar with a student and the last one was with a junior doctor but we like you saw the consultant with the clinic.

The registrar, probably due to having the student, was the only one who read my notes before I entered the room and had an idea of the risks in my pregnancy.

The junior doctor was the only person I saw throughout my pregnancy who didn't introduce herself properly and she was clearly new to the rotation - it was August - so had to keep going out of the room to ask people questions. Luckily for her the questions we asked her were procedural rather than medical. I should add I had a look at her badge to confirm mine and my OH's suspicions that she was junior doctor.

One of the receptionist indicated that our consultant didn't work in the morning for the NHS, which is probably why I was always seen within 5 minutes of the scheduled appointment.

Sounds like you probably saw the SHO or registrar. This is not unusual as the consultant cannot personally see everyone that comes to clinic as there is not enough time. The SHO or registrar will usually discuss your case with the consultant if there are any concerns whilst the consultant sees the most high risk and complex patients.

They may have been late because a morning clinic or theatre list ran late, it’s frustrating but unfortunately very common for outpatient clinics to run late.

It is bad that the doctor you saw did not properly introduce himself and say who he was, perhaps you could mention that to someone next time you go so that they could have a word with him.

I feel your pain OP, Im "consultant led" due to high bmi, ive seen actual consultant once, had to wait 1hr 30 min past app time for the privelage.
2nd time saw one of his colleques and again waited 40 mins for that.

He wants to see me after each scan to check growth(im having extra scans) but they couldnt complete my 20week scan because of baby so 2nd app was a total waste of time!

I understand the benefits etc but when im out of work for over an hour when the app is only supposed to be 10 mins...?
Cant help but feel like im taking the mick even tho im entitled to the appointment.

I was consultant led for DC2 as DC1 was a tricky messy EMCS after a fairly awful 2 day labour. I saw registrars up until 35/36 weeks, when I had a bad issue with reduced movements. The consultant was brilliant and did the very thorough checks (including detailed additional scans) herself before making the decision to move my planned section forward and get baby out earlier. The registrars I saw were absolutely fine, no complaints from me, but it was very reassuring to have the consultant swoop in when it all got a bit scary.

I was consultant lead and saw a mixture of registrars (who unfortunately all gave out conflicting information) however saw the consultant towards the business end. I know for a fact my consultant was pulled out of clinic when my baby was delivered at 34 weeks and an emergency csection had to happen due to the induction process causing fetal distress.

I guess in hindsight I now no longer mind that I rarely saw the consultant because when it really mattered he was there

I don't really mind not seeing the consultant - more than happy for him to attend to the patients who really need his level of expertise. I think it was the general lack of explanation and lack of confidence displayed by the chap I did see that annoyed me.

Normal in my experience, I really haven’t had the best experience with consultants. The kindest and best consultants I have seen were actually following my missed miscarriages last year. The maternity ones have been awful. I saw one yesterday which is thankfully my final consultant appointment before my c-sec and she wrongly told me I WILL bleed more and they WILL perform a hysterectomy if that is the case. She was trying to scare me as much as possible, it was pretty shit.

They’re always, always late too.

My experience was similar on the first appointment. But I have been explained that every consultant runs a clinic on a specific day of the week. It means when you are booked to see consultant X, what they really mean is you will see someone of the 'consultant X clinic', normally a doctor who reports to consultant X.

Unfortunately, I had major severe issues and all the following appointments were all with the leading consultant.

I had to wait until 28 weeks to see a consultant even though I am high risk due to being 42 and having a cervical stitch due to losing a baby at nearly 21 weeks. I have had a successful pregnancy since but I had to push to see a consultant this time and it was pointless. The first one I saw tried to push me to have a natural birth even though he knew I had ptsd from losing a baby through such a birth plus my cervix would probably not hold up. The last one was nearly an hour late even though I could see him sitting in his room. No reading of my notes prior either!

Why didn't you ask who he was or what was happening? It sounds like it was a registrar, it would be unusual for an SHO to run a clinic in obstetrics without someone senior there. Even if you are consultant led, you can still have appts with midwife if you wanted