No antenatal booking apts available in south / central London?? - help!

[Bonbon6060]

Hey,
All new to mumsnet (hello!) and new to pregnancy but am now 8 weeks :) I have been waiting 3 weeks for a booking apt. Wanted C&W after a great experience in their early preg unit, but heard nothing. Got a call today from doc saying nothing available anywhere central or south / south west except Croydon in mid Nov. I’m high risk as over 40 and high bp so was told I’d get seen earlier. Plus getting to Croydon will take over an hour even by car so really not ideal. Been relaxed til now but now freaked out! Is this common? Any advice? Thx!

There will be booking appointments available.

I didn't have a booking appointment until 11 weeks and scan was 12 weeks using LMP dates. The appointments were sent to me in one letter at towards the end of 9 weeks.

Where do you live? And what hospitals are you close to? Remember for loads of maternity hospitals you self refer, and if you choose one that doesn't cover your postcode area they can refuse you.

Where are you? Every maternity unit has a geographical catchment area where they accept everyone who asks. Do you know which yours is?
Ring the Antenatal clinic there and ask to speak to a midwife or senior clerk. Explain that you are a high risk pregnancy (age and BP) and want to book asap. In my unit they would fit you in to a cancellation slot if necessary.
You could also ring the other hospitals you are interested in even if you are outside their catchment. They might make an exception for a high risk client.

Thank you mayhew and BlueBug45. I’m Putney and so that’s Chelsea & Westminter, St George’s and Queen Charlotte’s, but today was told none can fit me in (then asked them to check UCL and Kings too, with same answer). I did challenge it, but got a firm “I’ve been checking every day for three weeks, no space”. My reaction was similar to what you say mayhew, that they should accept me. I think I’ll follow up directly with C&W.

I'm under St George's i did a self referral online. Maybe you could try that?

Very strange! I self referred to St Mary’s yesterday and they rang me up to book an appointment today (i’m 8 weeks too)

@Bonbon, that does seem very strange. Last Thursday, my daughter, who lives in central London, had her booking appointment. She was then 7w+5d. The booking appointment, I think, is usually with your regular GP practice (that is how it was when I had babies, and that is how it was for my daughter last week). At her booking appointment they asked her which hospital she wanted -- whether she preferred St Thomas or Chelsea & Westminster (the two nearest), and she chose C&W for the same reason you prefer it.

They booked her in and advised she would be sent a letter with her 1st scan appointment, which would be scheduled for around 12 weeks. They did not report any issues or advise the hospital couldn't accommodate her. I guess we'll find out when (if!) she gets a letter with the scan appointment.

We are with UCLH and they've been pretty good so far. Very quick to book us, too.

Have you filled out this form for c&w? If I remember correctly from last year they’ll send you a letter with scan and booking appointment dates from this form.

www.chelwest.nhs.uk/services/maternity-obstetrics/antenatal-self-referral-form

I don’t think this can be right. The doctor may be trying to book you in using the newish Electronic referral system (used to be called choose and book) where they can directly book you into an appointment, and they probably don’t open up slots on that for midwifery as women are supposed to self refer. Just a guess as I work in NHS and but not in maternity services.
I would also drop C&W PALS (details will be on their website) an email and let them know what you’ve been told and ask them to look into in.

This doesn't sound right to me either. You can self refer to St George's online, I got an appointment within two weeks of referral. As far as I know the GP just fills out the same form, they don't actually book the appointments, as the first time mine asked which hospital I'd like the referral to go to.

At St George's now the community midwives go and do the bookings so if you're in a local area you'll have the same midwife all the way through. May be worth considering if you're not set on C&W. But either way you should be able to book in with your chosen hospital.

Thank you all for the comments - and you are right - it wasn’t right! In fact C&W confirmed they had the GP referral and has me booked in for early Nov. So all good, but who knows what the doctor was on about!

Good for you for progressing this. I think you should feed back to the practice manager.
Less confident women might let their referral drift and miss important early care.

It's quite common in our area that women have late bookings due to inefficiencies at GP practice level. Many are new to the country or not English speakers and don't know what is possible.
For this reason, we have a walk in self referral system in our antenatal clinic where women can actually speak to a person.

I self referred to UCLH and was seen the following weeks (was at 16 weeks as we transferred from another hospital) and our original hospital in london were very quick too. Both got back within 2 days. That sounds very odd. Can the GP help?