Consultant appointment- waste of time?

[JRTfan]

I'm 40 and 17 weeks via IVF so tick the 'high risk' box. Had a letter to attend hospital today to see consultant or member of team. Was 1st taken in with a midwife who did BP and urine- both of which were checked at my midwife appointment 4 days ago..then saw a doctor who asked a list of questions I've already been asked (history of diabetes in family, allergies etc) there were no further checks at all. He recommended I take aspirin which has already been prescribed since 12 weeks and then said he'd book me in for 20 week scan which was already booked anyway..it all seemed very much a 'box ticking' exercise and I don't really know why I needed to be physically there.
I think the NHS is absolutely brilliant but I've discovered since being pregnant that they seem to waste a lot of time and resources or maybe that's just my trust? For example we have an app for appointments yet they still send letters that often arrive after the appointment has been and gone!

Agree, there's so much time wasting. In our a and e you have to see a total of 4 different doctors before you can receive any care. How is that productive?

Totally agree. I was “under a consultant” with my second, met him once, he asked all the same questions the midwife usually does then I never saw or heard from him
again.

It just seems very strange that they just don't seem to work smartly or efficiently at all. I had to take my Downs, Edwards etc test results to my midwife so she could put them in the system. The doctor at the hospital today asked if all was ok with my 12 week scan..it was at the same hospital he was sat in! I have faith that when it comes to it they know what they are doing but there's a hell of a lot of faffing about!

You’d be surprised how often things come up when we ask the same questions over and over again…allergies, family histories, medical problems people had forgotten about. In addition, it’s not that uncommon generally to spot subtle signs of medical problems in a face-to-face appointment that would be otherwise missed. That it felt like a waste of time to you is probably a good thing! Midwives are great at the normal physiology of pregnancy but usually have less experience of pathology/general medicine & this is where obstetricians are of huge value. (DOI: I’m not an obstetrician!)

@Greybeardy that is interesting thank you..I think it's more the repeating of routine obs 4 days apart and the doc not knowing whether my 12 weeks scan was ok or not. I'm happy to have all the unnecessary checks/questions they want to give better safe than sorry but in a time when the NHS is stretched to its limit there does seem to be some dots that could very easily be joined up.