Consultant week 28 twin antenatal appointment didn’t happen

[EL8888]

I was meant to have a consultant appointment this morning at 9am by telephone. I hung around until 10am, as did my husband but then we had to go to work. Late morning l rang up, spoke to receptionist who was irritable with me and told me the appointment was face to face that’s why no one rang me. I read out the appointment letter they sent me which in 2 separate places said it was a telephone appointment and NOT to go to the hospital. Receptionist looked it up on the system, then conceded l was sent the wrong letter so it wasn’t my fault. Said someone would ring me at the end of clinic either the doctor or her. No one rang me. I rang back twice during the afternoon and got voicemail both times. Left voicemails but nothing

To be honest lm hacked off with the hospital overall as lots of things have been delayed or not happened. Communication has been poor -we said it was twins at booking in but no one bothered to tell the week 12 scan people this. Getting the prescription / dental exemption was like get blood out of a stone. Didn’t see the consultant until 22 weeks -it’s meant to be before 16 weeks. Community midwife has dropped off the face of the earth -haven’t seen her since week 16 and no appointment booked. Always nearly running out of blood thinners as the prescriptions are never ready and pharmacy often takes more than a day to dispense etc

Consultant was odd at the week 22 appointment acting as if l would go into Labour naturally. It’s twins, lm 43, they are IVF and l have never been pregnant / given birth before. So clearly not a week 40 natural birth! Plus l know my NICE guidelines and l wish to have a c-section -due to the risks to twin 2, odds of having to give birth plus a c-section and weirdly enough don’t have confidence they will monitor an induction sufficiently!!!

No advice but jeeze op i feel for you that's stressful! I would definitely phone again first thing on Monday and not get off the phone until they give you a proper appointment.

Under no circumstance agree to VD. CS or nothing. I'm just reading through a case report on twin births, and it didn't end well because they shoehorned the mother into VD.

oh my goodness!! I have twins and at week 22 I was having scans every other week! I was also IVF and 39 at that time so very similar.

how many weeks gone are you now?

my advice is to go to Pals at the hospital, get this escalated! Call your midwife and take no for an answer! It’s so so important that you see your consultant face to face. I told my consultant when I was 10 weeks that I was having a C section, there was no alternative in my mind. In the end it taken out of my hands as they arrived at 33 weeks. Latest I think they’ll let you go is 36/37 weeks.

if you get no response from your consultant/hospital speak to your GP about getting referred to a different hospital.

wishing you all the best and please update and let us know how you get on xx

@AutumnScream it has been stressful! To be blunt lm bored of chasing them and how involved l need to get. E.g. they told me l need to email them to remind them to do the blood thinning injection prescriptions 🙄. They might say they want to do it then by phone meaning my husband won’t be present. Plus Monday is a busy day at work for me (as is Friday today l needed to go in late then chase them
x3 by phone). I think it’s only fair we are given some notice after they fucked up the last appointment. They probably won’t see it that way

I’m tempted to leave it until our next scan which is 2 weeks today, express our concerns, see if they do anything immediately. They probably won’t, then bundle all of our issues together and make a complaint via PALS for them to buck their ideas up. Then giving them 9 weeks to switch their brain and actually plan

Don’t worry. Zero fucking chance of me agreeing! I have heard some horror stories myself

Please keep pushing. The hospital messed up my appointments when I was pregnant with twins. I was meant to be on fortnightly consultant appointments and they send me one for two months in the future. I developed preeclampsia and I dread to think what might’ve happened without regular monitoring.

I’m 26 weeks pregnant. I was thinking PALS. Problem is lm an all guns blazing this is bullshit type person, husband is mr non confrontational wants everyone to get on (yeah we will get on, when they do what they’re meant to do and don’t mess me around!)

I do have buyers remorse already to be honest, 2nd nearest hospital is worse and 3rd can take well over an hour in bad traffic

@purpledalmation PS they can try to pressure and placate me but it’s a no. I told them ELCS even at booking in and at 1st consultant appointment

No no no you need to be all guns blazing!! I’d be wiping the floor with them on Monday and I wouldn’t take any prisoners.

Contact PALS and the head of midwifery and raise your concerns @EL8888

This sounds so stressful! If you have any concerns you could call your midwife, GP or maternity unit in the meantime.

APOLOGIES ALL -TITLE OF THE THREAD IS WRONG! IM 26 +2 SO IT WAS WEEK 26 APPOINTMENT

Ok. It seems from the consensus of replies so far that lm under reacting. Time for PALS on Monday. Can’t even go through my midwife as l only met her once at week 16 and haven’t seen her since.

What type of twins have you OP? As that affects thing’s significantly

I never ever saw my community midwife when I was pregnant with twins. They knew I would be consultant led so didn’t give a shit

definitely contact PALS on Monday, it’s appalling your treatment so far.

That’s pretty poor but unfortunately routine for maternity care. I’m 29 weeks with a singleton, but I’m type 1 diabetic which catapults me into the high risk zone. I didn’t see a midwife at all between 9 and 28 weeks 🤷🏼‍♀️ they seemingly forgot about me, it was only when I phoned to ask whether I had any upcoming appointments because I hadn’t heard anything that they hurriedly booked me in. When I arrived they didn’t have the Anti D injection ready, nor my Mat1B. So I have had to chase both of those up, and am awaiting another appointment. The consultant has been pretty good and stuck to our monthly appointments though. But the community care has been pretty bad.

I think you’re very wise, the odds of a smooth delivery at 43 with twins as a FTM is slim to none. Don’t let them fob you off with any ‘trial of labour’ shit!

Op my advice is to get a complaint in with pals.

I had loads of problems getting the appointments / tests I needed for my high risk pregnancy and thinks improved massively after my complaint.

@Cuppasoupmonster this hospital are infamous for hating giving caesareans. They may try and reel me in with “let’s give it a try and see how it goes, then we can move onto caesarean”. Nah, l wasn’t born yesterday

If they try just mention the Ockenden report.

Who is doing your next scan? Is it with a consultant? I would be minded to email pals on Monday. I did this in my last pregnancy and got a swift email and phone call from the head of midwifery. Good luck - twins are awesome (mine are 2.5 now).

@EL888

I am sorry to hear you are going through this.

I am going through IVF so I can sympathise with you.

However, I am also the Head of Governance in the NHS, which covers the Complaints Department, PALS, Investigations and Risks all under my remit. The first thing is that PALS in not a complaints dept, it's a Patient Advice Liaison Service where patients can raise queries and concerns (quick wins, to deescalate matters from going formal - which is a complaint). Raising a formal complaint does not alter your care which people are afraid of, but what it does do, is get logged against the Maternity division and they HAVE to respond to you within a certain timescale. They are held to account until that complaint has been formally responded to.

Now, if I were you...

I would draft a letter and send this in. You will see how quickly you get an appointment scheduled by the Service Managers into the Consultant's clinic/list. In that letter, you state that you do not was a VD as you have concerns and opt to have an elective CS. That way, it's in writing! You see where I am going with this...

Friday, I had a case where mum missed her appt because she wasn't feeling well. Pregnant with twins. She was not scanned until 3 days later. Needless to say, this is why it is now on my desk. I felt terrible knowing I'm also going through this process and as a human being, what if it was me?!

I'm keeping it real with you because your health is SO important. Do not let no one fob you off. You put your foot down and don't delay. Don't wait for your next appt in 2 weeks time. If you want help drafting, you can msg me privately xx

🙏all the best ❤️

Most hospitals have a special IVF policy where they always prefer to to a section. This is because of higher risk and IVF babies are considered precious. Add that to a twin pregnancy and age you should not even be questioned on the c section

The first line sent a shiver down my spine! What is wrong with these hospitals?! Very glad you don’t seem the sort to be easily pushed around!

Zero response from the hospital today. Despite me following up with an email to the midwife’s after speaking to you lot. They’re so fucking rude! I know they’re are busy l get that -ironically lm a nurse. Instinct tells me they are going to send me an appointment in the post for the dim and future OR ring me randomly to shoe horn it it. When the odds are l will be too busy or with a patient to discuss and husband won’t be with me. PALS it is then!