Important! Please raise awareness!

[bwSB]

I just wanted to let everyone know that pregnant workers in the first & second trimester of pregnancy that work for the NHS are now expected to go in & work despite pregnancy now being classed as a vulnerable group! If you are over 28 weeks pregnant you are told to stay off but anything less you have to work. How can they justify this?

It's because it's more dangerous when you are in your last trimester than in any other and is actually ok for people in there 1st and 2nd trimester as long as you have no underlying health conditions so as long as your healthy your just like any other normal person but people in 3rx trimester was to catch covid 19 it's more dangerous to mother and baby x

How can they know it’s more dangerous? It’s not been around long enough to know the effects it could have on a baby if the mother contracts it in the first or second trimester

@KHall84 that’s a really disappointing over simplification. Do you have a science background to make those assumptions? There is no evidence whatsoever that catching covid in 1st or 2nd trimester is safe for mother or baby. Absence of evidence is not the same as proof of it being safe. The new RCOG guidelines have done that recommendation based purely on maintaining staffing levels for the nhs and not because it’s ‘ok for people to catch it’ in earlier stages of pregnancy

There’s been perfectly healthy people ventilated in ICU, I can’t imagine that would be healthy for an unborn baby

@Lolxx exactly - these recommendations have been made on zero evidence of safety and go against government and primary care England advice. It’s an appalling breach of safety and protection for HCPs and awareness does need to be raised. We deserve the same rights as the general public, and the current advice for pregnant lay people is strict social distancing. That does not comply with seeing patients face to face in close contact.

@vinoelle I have had so much stress & anxiety over this it cannot be safe for my baby! We were told last week we weren’t even to go to the supermarket but not we’re expected to go into work in high risk environments? Where is the duty of care to staff?

@vinoelle I didnt make it up there was a article released yesterday stating this and why it had changed so ant issues take it up with them am only saying what I read am in 3rd trimester so at risk more I didnt say it made any sense but am assuming the people who did release it have something to back it up a bit more than you or me for that matter x

I’m in the same boat, I’m 20 weeks and working as a HV. Although they are allowing me to do my home visits as telephone consultations, I still have to go into the office with colleagues which defeats the purpose of isolation! They are also likely to suspend our service and send us back to the wards, my background is children’s HDU nursing so that’s definitely not safe for me/baby and there’s lots of suspected cases of corona in my local hospital. Sadly it’s all about staffing levels and not about safety precautions

@khall - no - if you’ve read the actual RCOG document and checked their references - the studies they have extrapolated it from DO NOT support a lower risk. As I said - there is actually NO evidence - as pp said as no births from 2nd & 1st trimester yet. And I am taking it up with them, my name is on a letter of objection to RCOG & government

@vinoelle I didnt say I read it on there website any ways am not going back and forth i have said what i read which again i will repeat i didn't say i agree with it you will also find the is no evidence that were not ok in any trimester either so it works both ways mothers have to do what they think is best for them and baby no matter what guidance we are told as it's just that guidance x

What are you all doing in the meantime? I am definitely not content with putting myself & my baby at risk but unsure how to proceed with this?

I'm not pregnant or an HCP but I would be calling in sick with CV symptoms and failing that I'd quit. There's no way I'd risk my baby's well being.

It's something to do with lung capacity in the third trimester because the baby is much bigger. I don't understand how newborns aren't high risk.....

chng.it/sqjhq25mRM

Sorry, that's a legitimate link to a change petition asking for protection for pregnant healthcare workers in the UK from Covid-19 xx

@givemeacall this is my point exactly! I feel we are being used as guinea pigs. I think the nhs are very stupid taking these risks because they will have many lawsuits if god forbid people did have losses or problems with their baby down the line!

I may be wrong but I think the issue is that pregnant women in the third trimester are much more difficult to intubate if they require ventilation.

@Ocies that’s insane they would even want it to get to that stage with any pregnant woman! I can’t believe that it would be safe for a baby at any stage for their mother to be on a ventilator