Booking in appointment

[physicskate]

So I know things are different than 'before' but this seems crazy to me: I don't get a booking in appointment. As in, it's not an appointment. They just ring me up and hope I'm free at that time to have my 'appointment'.

Does this seem CRAZY to anyone else??? Especially given that booking in appointments are fairly lengthy (I remember with my daughter it was over an hour).

I work (granted it's from home at the minute). I have a toddler to care for when I'm not working...

This seems crazy unworkable that this is what the system is at the moment. Is this normal?? Am I being unreasonable or are my expectations way off??

Mine was still a set appointment. It’s been the only one, due to COVID, that my partner has been able to be involved in! I’m 31 weeks today.

I had similar. I phoned up and was told my appointment was 1.10 on a Wednesday.

MW phoned earlier in the day and said how about 3pm? I said no my appointment is at 1.10 I’ve got a meeting at 3.

She said it’s not a fixed appointment as they just phone you when they can.

No that doesn’t work for me! Not only do I also have a toddler to look after I’m working full time from home and my diary can be pretty full.

She eventually gave me a suitable time on the Friday.

That's wild! I don't have a toddler to care for but there's no way I'd be able to take an hour off work - what are they thinking!? Do you live in a big city?

To be honest I preferred it . But it's not my first child . It's just answering a lot of questions so it didn't really make much difference to me whether it was over the phone or in person . It was probably easier for me being over the phone because of the level of morning sickness I have and it's easier to sit on the sofa to answer a phone call than to have to go out the house

The phone call isn’t the issue. It’s the fact they don’t give you a time for the appointment!

Mine was something similar. I went to the hospital for my appointment and they took bloods, blood pressure, height, weight and did a quick scan. They said normally they would go through all the medical history at this point but because of Covid they told me to go and they’d phone me later to do all that part! They couldn’t give me a time which was irritating but it didn’t really matter as I was off that day anyway!

Where I live it's exactly the same if you want a GP appointment, they give you a day in which the GP will call you to give you a telephone consultation but they won't give you a time, which means you have to stay in all day and wait, unless you want to get the call in Tesco!

It sounds normal for an NHS service unfortunately.

It's the midwife that does the booking appointment but mine is also out visiting new Mum's and some need more help than others, some call her in a panic because there's a problem with the baby and she has to go straight away, sometimes she's at somebody's house for longer than planned - that's why mine doesn't give a time. It will be the same when your baby is born, they'll tell you what day they're coming but not the time.

As a FTM I was really worried that I would just have a telephone appointment but was surprised to receive a letter yesterday with a face to face booking appointment at a local childrens centre. I have to go on my own due to covid but just glad I can meet someone. They also posted the green pregnancy notes so that i can fill in the first few pages.

I think it's fairly standard at the moment - I know many women aren't seeing a midwife until 28 weeks.

Not in a big city. In the boonies. Near-ish big cities, but the midwives aren't 'based' in one of them. The local hospital is not 24 hours. They don't deal with covid patients needing hospital care.

So they might ring today, tomorrow, next Wednesday... who knows??

And yes, not bothered that it's on the phone. That's pretty much a non-issue (though would be great if they could confirm my bp is low and thats partly why I've been feeling faint).

Maybe I'm too much of a planner. Just feels like things could easily slip through the net like this...

That's rubbish. I had a set time (although the midwife was 20 minutes late to call), I wouldn't have fancied discussing the finer points of my previous delivery in the supermarket queue.

My doctors said the midwife would have a telephone appointment with me and she rang on the day to ask if I could come in instead... it's a good thing I am self employed and flexible! Then the second half of the booking appointment was done over telephone but didn't say when, they just kept trying until I could answer.
Such a backwards way of doing things now and being my first baby it's even more confusing as I didn't know what to expect in the first place haha!
Good luck x

A phone call is fine but should 100% be a set appointment! If they run a bit late or something then obviously fine but not just calling you on a random day and time! Mine is a set time call then I have to pop in for the bloods etc that afternoon

That’s really unreasonable, I think. Thankfully I was given a set time for the telephone appointment, it just wouldn’t have worked for me as I have appointments booked in for my own patients!

I’ve had to book in twice with this pregnancy as I’ve moved house and changed hospitals. First one (London) I had a set time for the call then an appt to see the midwife the next morning for blood and urine tests.

Second one (Northern Ireland) I had a hospital appt for blood and urine then told to go home and another midwife would call to do the rest of the booking, no specific time. The call happened during my toddler’s dinner time which wasn’t hugely helpful and I’m sure the poor midwife had loads of background noise as I just put her on speaker while I did everything else.

Oh where I live it's a 100% set appointment . You know the date and time and usually know weeks in advance .

Mine was the same, they gave me the time of between 8am and 8pm! I ended up being caught while I was out for lunch and had to stand outside for an hour! Just one of those things unfortunately! X

I think it depends on the trust. Mine was a set appointment, I got a text telling me when it would be (about a week's notice) and that I couldn't change it. (I guess a bit like a normal hospital appointment)

My booking in was a proper appointment, but some of my appointments have been by phone. Or been missed . I haven't received my matB1. I need to give it to work no later than 15 weeks before my EDD... which gives me 2 and a half weeks. I rang on Friday morning, was told my midwife would ring me back so I need to chase again on Tuesday. Argh.

@physicskate Completely agree!! I had mine a couple of weeks into lockdown. Was given an appointment day but no time. Midwife phoned 3 days before the appointment to just do the booking in then instead. Told her I was out for a walk and didn’t have a great phone signal but would be home in around an hour if she wanted to call back and she was NOT happy 🙈

Word of warning, in my area appointments haven’t got any better 🙈 30 weeks at the moment and I now get a “your appointment will be week beginning 14/9, I’ll text you on the Monday with a proper time” 🙄 appointment cannot be rearranged and she wasn’t interested that I work and that would be too short notice for work because legally work have to give me the time off 🙄