No 12 week scan appointment date yet - 13 weeks

[Yasmina22]

I’m currently 13 weeks pregnant and have still not received a date for my 12 week scan and combined screening.
I have phoned the hospital several times over the past 3 weeks to be told they’re aware of me and will get in touch. Due to the phone lines being closed at the weekend and it being a bank holiday, I’m really starting to worry they won’t fit me in before the 14 week deadline.
I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar, got scanned very late or missed the screening window completely and what did you do?
I’m aware there is another screen they can do post 14 weeks but it’s not as accurate? Has anyone had this one done that could give me some more information and basically put my mind at rest if I don’t get seen this upcoming week.
Also is this something I should notify my midwife about? My midwife works part time and I really don’t want to bother her at the weekend or too much in general, especially if there’s nothing she can do.
Any advice would be much appreciated!!

You need to speak to your midwife as it's her responsibility to ensure you're receiving the appropriate care

Ok thank you!
I’ll send her a message this morning and see what she says.

You have to keep trying the hospital. The midwife can't do anything, they just need to refer you..keep trying the hospital and push them to give you an appitement ASAP. You should have a 24/7 maternity reception in your chosen hospital whefe they can book you.

@Yasmina22 I didn't get my NHS scan until 13+6, and I chose to go private for nipt to make sure my results were correct, as I heard it's less accurate this late. However it cost me £400, but the scan at the place I went to was way better than the NHS one with a proper written report of all measurements.

My hospital just said they're so busy, and TBF the care I've had to date hasn't been great. I'd keep pushing them, because you're right the nuchal measurement is supposed to be done between 11-13 weeks ideally

Hey, I am 12+4 and still havent recieved a letter so I just got intouch with my midwife and she checked for me. Turns out a scan had been booked but no letter sent so maybe the same for you!

Thanks for replying. I’ve tried phoning all the relevant numbers available to me but every line is closed this weekend. It’s just an automated message saying they’re not open. I’m under a gynaecology and maternity specific hospital so I don’t know if that’s what’s contributing to the lack of 24/7 reception for maternity patients. The only one I haven’t tried is a community midwives appointment but not sure what they can do.

Hey @A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 thanks for replying.
This is my worry that by Tuesday they will only have 5 days to scan and even then it won’t be as accurate as I’d have liked.
Like you, the hospital say they’re extremely short staffed and I understand that’s not their fault and things are stretched but for a first time pregnancy the waiting and not knowing is frustrating and I wish I’d have known this might happen so I had time to look into alternatives if necessary.
Oooooph £400 is a sting but for some peace of mind, I think I’ll look into it anyway. My partner and I are very much using these screens to give us time to mentally and physically prepare if the baby is high risk for certain conditions but without a scan date yet, I feel like we’re not getting that.

Can you call the maternity triage and see if they can fit you in?

@Mamascoven hey! Thanks for replying. This is what I’m hoping as when I phoned end of week 10, they had no record of a scan request for me and although my midwife insisted she had, she put in another that same day, so I am on the system but the letter is now going to arrive later than expected?
My worry is that when I spoke to the hospital on Tuesday they said the sonographer needed to sort slots out but would get in touch with me and I got the impression that meant phone but I would have thought I’d heard by now. I think they’re so short staffed, they’re struggling to get through people. Fingers crossed they phone soon!
Good luck with your scan!

My hospital keep slots for urgent scans so hopefully they will be able to squeeze you in if you ring early on Tuesday. It’s probably worth texting your midwife too.

This happened to me also. My 12 week scan was due back in May when things were still quite backed up due to covid. I called the maternity hospital literally hundreds of times and got nowhere. I put a formal complaint in through PALS, which prompted a phonecall from the senior sonographer. She said there is a shortage of sonographers and it takes a high level sonographer to do the combined screening.

In the end I got my scan at 15w3d, which is ridiculous and missed the combined screening. Had to have the quad test instead.

I'd suggest putting in a complaint with PALS if you want to get anywhere.

I would definitely keep trying to contact someone to make sure you have a date booked in for your scan.
My booking appointment was at 6 weeks & even then my scan wasn't booked for until I was over 13 weeks, then at the scan she was like you're actually 14 weeks which is the cut off for the screening so she was scanning for ages to make sure she got the correct measurements since it was literally the last chance.
I actually self referred to the midwife since the doctor didn't want to refer me until I was 10 weeks, but it doesn't give me much faith that they would have scanned me on time if I'd waited that long to be booked in.
I'm not sure why they leave it so last minute but it just makes everything more stressful.
I'm sorry this is happening to you & hope you can get a response & date for your scan ASAP.

@Yasmina22 I know, it was a sting, I'm glad we did it in hindsight. But still, probably wouldn't have needed to if scan had been at the right time. I can't ever reach my hospital on the phone and I don't have a dedicated midwife to call or message. The email address they gave is taking them almost three weeks to reply on. Not sure what the answer is, but this plus some bad advice they gave that they admitted was wrong, plus them then being too busy for me to attend my 16 week booked in appointment (I had a call at a random time the day before to say they'd brief me over the phone instead) isn't filling me with confidence.

Good luck I hope you get booked in for your scan v soon

@Carbis that’s good to know! Hopefully my hospital has the same policy. I’m pretty confident of my dates and almost 100% sure it’s one of two days, so I’m hoping even if they get me in late, it won’t be too late if the dates are wrong.
I’m going to get on that phone first thing Tuesday, they’re going to be sick of me 😂. I messaged my midwife this morning, she is great but she did say because she’s part time she might not always reply, so I might be waiting until Tuesday anyway.

@myreddressmydaughtersbear Thanks for letting me know about PALS, I didn’t know that was something you could do.
That’s also interesting to know about the fact it needs to be done by a senior sonographer. I couldn’t understand the lack of appointment date because surely a hospital has a whole ultrasound team but if only a few people can do it, that makes a lot more sense.
My midwife has already booked my next appointment with me in week 15, to discuss the results of these screens, so it’s going to be pretty pointless if I don’t get them. How did you feel about the reliability of the quad test? Do you feel like it was enough peace of mind to not warrant further testing?

@jolota your right. Usually I try and wait things out and trust people will do what they say they’re going to do but this situation doesn’t involve just me and I will keep trying to phone every day until I get through.
I completely agree, 10 weeks to even get a date is too late. I understand because of the risk of miscarriage being higher in this trimester that’s probably why but if I hadn’t have got in contact with the hospital in week 10, I never would have found out I’d slipped through the net and my midwifes request wasn’t put on the system and now they only have a short amount of time to fit me in. If appointment times were sorted earlier, we’d have more time to check if we hadn’t heard anything.

@Yasmina22
Exactly, leaving bookings so late gives so little time to correct if mistakes like this happen. It just doesn't make any sense with something as important as screening tests.
I agree I do understand why they give very little attention during the first trimester but it doesn't make the stress any less!
Also, just to mention as I saw your other reply, I was entirely certain of my dates too, since we'd used ovulation testing sticks for the first time & conceived the day I ovulated (we were staying with family before & after so didn't try so that was the only date we could have conceived!) but the sonographer said immediately in the scan that we were 14 weeks exactly (5 days ahead of where I should be) & that the cut off for screening was 14+1.

@jolota no exactly! I’ve already been so surprised at how hard pregnancy has been (I knew it wouldn’t be easy but all the little extra symptoms have made me more anxious then expected) and it doesn’t help that my sickness has gone and nausea all but disappeared this last week. I know they say the placenta takes over now but without seeing our baby, it’s making my mind jump to unpleasant situations.
Oh that’s very good to know. Ours is almost the exact same scenario. With work etc, we only managed to dtd the days before, on and after a positive ovulation test and I get ovulation pain which I had the day after the positive so assumed it must have been on one of those days but I could definitely be wrong. I can only assume the hospital must know this and try and fit me in asap or maybe they’re of the mindset of, oh well if you’re over the date limit, cest la vie and you get the alternative less accurate test.

You've got til 14+2 (on paper) to do the scan for 'proper' screening. They called me too early (their admin error) and tried to fob me off coming back at the correct date by offering the quad test. When I found out it only cover Down's not the other potential issues (for me Down's was far less of a concern than the others) I contacted PALS who got them to rebook me as per the guidelines.
PALS are very good but you may have to accept you won't get much action over the weekend, I'd definitely give them one last chance on Tuesday then if not straight to PALS. That should give you enough time to still get the screening done I think?

My mistake, it is 14+1 (it's 11+2 at the earliest, officially) for the window to complete the NT bit.

@8dpwoah yes we feel the same here. If high risk for Down syndrome, we just want as much time to learn and prepare as possible but with the others, I don’t know if I’m mentally strong enough with the higher chance of stillbirth to go through that or have our baby only reach around 1 year old. Not that finding out now would make a decision any easier but it gives you time to let it sink in and have a look at your options.
I will definitely ring as soon as possible Tuesday and then straight to PALS if I don’t get a solid answer. Oh my work are going to hate me with all this time being spent on personal issues!

@Yasmina22 I was really not happy just relying on the quad test. When I spoke to the senior sonographer she did say that it was unlikely any serious chromosomal abnormalities would go unnoticed by sight alone as a lot of it is structural. As I was a low risk pregnancy and already have a healthy child she was able to reassure me at least a little bit but we started to look into further testing just in case... however at my 20 week scan some anomalies were found with my baby's heart so we were referred to fetal medicine who did 2 really in depth scans and ruled out any health conditions or concerns. Without that I probably would have paid out for a NIPT tho.

Good luck.

I know it's a bit naughty but I would be inclined to say I've had spotting??

I can't believe how badly organised they are

FWIW I am pregnant and got my scan booked and my booking appointment within 72 hours or notifying midwives

Where are you?

And they already took my blood

@myreddressmydaughtersbear I’m pretty sure I’m low risk too, although at 32 years old it’s probably right in the you’re young but not young young group so not sure how much that impacts things. Plus this being my first pregnancy, we just don’t know how any of it is going to play out.
At this rate it will be my 20 week scan before I know it, unless that gets messed up too!
I definitely think we need to look into where we can go for a NIPT anyway, if I don’t get seen this week. It’s a shame that a big chunk of money we’re saving for when the baby is born would have to be spent on this instead but there we are.
Thanks for all yours and everyone else's information, it’s helped a lot.