How much say should I get about when my appointments are?

[Piggieinthemiddle]

I've been sent a text with two appointments with the midwife. One for next week and one in January. Unfortunately I have work commitments on both days: I am supposed to be interviewing next week, at a far away location, and we have a team training day (5 people in the team) on the day in January, in the same far location, with an external provider, arranged at a cost.

How reasonable is it to expect to be able to rearrange these appointments. There are literally four days in the next six months which would be unsuitable for me and they have managed to pick two of them!

I know work is supposed to give me time off, but surely the NHS can't expect me to cancel an interview which has been scheduled for weeks at such short notice. I've already booked non refundable travel at cost to my employer too. What is it reasonable to cancel/miss for midwife appointments? Work commitments? Job interviews? Funerals? Holidays? I genuinely don't know...

I have rung twice to try and ask but you just get an answerphone and they say they will call you back (but nothing yet). If I do need to cancel the interview I need to let work know ASAP.

IME (from a long time ago), there is no flexibility. You are entitled to take the time off, so therefore they expect you to follow their appointments.
How vital are they? I would ring, and leave a message saying you will be unable to make either appointment, and please can they reschedule, avoiding the 4 dates you cant do, or cancel.
I didn't get a booking appointment with DS2, as they did them as group sessions (wtf?) and the only one available was on a date I couldn't make for reasons like yours.

I have rearranged midwife appointments when I was away on holiday with no issues so worth asking

I think generally they are happy to rearrange. Just leave a message and ask them to rearrange. Especially if its a case of I can do any day and time next week just not on a Tuesday.

I was able to rearrange a couple of appointments (one due to holiday and one due to unavoidable work commitment) so it’s worth contacting them.

I've rearranged midwife appointments but usually just to a week later. My midwife only works on a Tuesday afternoon which clashes with meetings at work sometimes (I work for the NHS and my bosses know I'm entitled to time off but sometimes there just isn't cover). I just phone my GP and ask if there are any appointments available the week after. If not I've been told before I could be seen by another midwife at the maternity hospital at a different time.

I rearranged a lot with my midwife for DC2. I had an older child and didn't want to take him to appointments (I'd get sent to hospital a lot after appointments so needed childcare for a full day usually) they never had an issue with rearranging at all. Usually midwife would book my next appointment face to face but if over a text/letter I'd just call up and they'd rearrange quite happily

Midwife here 🙂 I totally understand when women need to rearrange and it's usually not a problem! Would much rather it was rearranged than someone just not turning up, which I then have to chase after clinic. Plus your slot is then free for someone else.

Don't cancel your interview, but do keep trying to get a callback from the midwives.

They won’t mind you rearranging

I found them pretty inflexible. I had work commitments and was told by midwife team 'work have to give you the time off'. Like I know they do but I needed and wanted to be at one of the work things, missing it would have been a real pain. Seems like you're supposed to drop everything because it's easier for them. They also wouldn't change the times saying that they booked their times for the day in the order people called. So one time I cancelled and called back the next day and got a later time. Ridiculous!

Thanks all! Sounds like it varies then. I think I'll warn work that I have them scheduled and I am trying to change them, but I might not be able to.

I rearranged my 20-wk scan because it was the day my daughter started kindergarten. I think there's some flexibility. Surely there has to be.

I'm self employed so I don't have the luxury of paid time off for appointments. I explained my situation to my midwife team and they are more than happy to be flexible when they can to avoid me losing income/clients. Have the conversation and I'm sure they'll do what they can to rearrange x

I had to rearrange some due to work commitments that couldn't be changed (eg training days). They had no issue doing it, I just let them know asap

If it's a case of 'I can't do Tuesday morning but I can do any other day/time that week' you'll be fine. If it's a case of 'I can only do a Friday after 4pm' you'll have issues.

I meant to add though you may have to travel elsewhere to be seen. In my first pregnancy my community midwife only did one day a week at my surgery.

I found things easy to rearrange when needed, also we’d generally arrange the next appointment face to face to it was easy to compare diary’s

Mine only did clinics on Wed and Thu mornings

I used to book my own appointments... a lot has changed in 13 years!
I'm sure they can re schedule these.

I did a year ago. It probably depends on area. Also always saw the same midwife which I've seen on MN is not the case everywhere.

There should be some flexibility but your midwife will probably have set days/times when she does clinics. Community midwives don't just sit in clinic doing routine appointments all day every day, so there will be limited flexibility

I'm a midwife and would often rearrange community appointments for my patients without an issue. We had early/late evening appointments for women who had work commitments and sometimes I used to visit women at home (but don't tell my managers that 😂) it shouldn't be an issue.

I've been consultant led so we've just had a letter from the hospital saying be here at x time on x date but any time I've had to rearrange they've been very accommodating and it's not knocked me out too much so just give them a wee bell. You maybe need to just chat to your work if you do things like that often and have someone who's on hand to step in when you do have appointments. Mine started out short but last time we were in for 3.5 hrs as they were running behind (thankfully I was on A/L anyway so it didn't matter) but they can be time consuming.

I've had to have a couple of early scans and both were intally booked on work days. The maternity unit were very flexible and were more than happy to reschedule for my days off. I just explained that I wasn't ready to inform my employer about my pregnancy yet and they seemed to be understanding of that and didn't question changing the day to a more convenient one for me.

I rang and left an answer phone message and then received a letter a few days later with a new appointment on. No stress.