Midwife skipped appointment

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Hello! Hoping for some guidance as I’m a little confused.. my midwife booked in my 25 week apt for 3rd Feb, however she cancelled due to being sick. I then had to chase a new appointment FOUR times before they booked me in for 19th Feb. At this point I am 27 weeks. I’ve just noticed that they have booked the 19th Feb as my 28 week appointment and seemed to have just surpassed the 25 week one, is this normal? Want to ensure that I aren’t being disregarded and an appointment being skipped. Already fairly unhappy having to chase an appointment for my baby 4 times! Thank you x

Well, you'll be near enough 28 weeks then..

Both appointments are the same for those weeks so missing one won't be a problem, any concerns in the gap call midwife number I would

It's annoying to have to chase, however there's no real benefit to having 2 appointments close together just to tick a box. I'm not sure you get a 25 week appointment with subsequent babies anyway.

During Covid women got half the regular appointments. I think some of the ones they dropped were unnecessary anyway! When I had DC2 in non Covid times I was like wtf why all these pointless appointments. I’d be grateful haha

I think it depends on whether you're having any symptoms or being monitored for anything?

If you look on NHS website the 25 and 31 week appointments are only for first pregnancies. Subsequent pregnancies you don't get those appointments. Really it's just blood pressure, urine, bump and heartbeat measure and off you go. Main thing you want is your MatB1 form.

It's a bit shit obviously but no point having appointments 2 weeks in a row.

It’s my first baby so I wasn’t too sure if this was normal or not. Thanks all

I guess realistically if she was off sick they probably don't have the staff to make up all the missed appointments. Imagine if she was off for a week with the flu: that's a lot of appointments. They probably have to prioritise.

Clearly not my question, this is my first pregnancy so it is all new. Thanks for your unhelpful answer! 😊

I was trying to help you by saying for your 28 week check, you'll be nearly 28 weeks.

Not good enough though really is it. I'm not criticising this particular department because I know it's the same everywhere but it's just indicative of the poor quality of maternity services generally. A properly funded service would be able to get bank/agency staff in to cover.

These appointments are all about risk management. They are for picking up potential problems. If you have a low risk pregnancy anyway, the chances are you'll be fine and nothing will happen.

@Achyarms the stillbirth rate increased significantly in 2021 in the UK, most likely because of disruption to services during and after the pandemic.

I know how far along I am as I’ve written that above. My question was if it’s normal to have an appointment skipped 😊

No it's probably not normal to have an appointment skipped, however it's happened now, due to sickness. There is no point in squeezing in an extra appointment now.

My question was if it’s normal to have an appointment skipped 😊

I don't know.

I do know something else that may be useful to you but as we are only answering your question I am unable to tell you.

There's nothing they do at 25 weeks they can do at 28 weeks. No time limited tests or anything. Bit crap they didn't bring anyone in to cover the midwife but I guess the teams are often down to minimal staff so maybe they can't cover if someone is anyone is sick. Any concerns you can always call your local triage team I'm sure they're help 😁

It's not normal to have an appointment cancelled and then not rearranged automatically.

In a first pregnancy you should have appointments at 25 & 28 weeks but in later pregnancies you skip the 25 week appointment. It might be that they are less bothered about rearranging the 25 week appointment because not everyone has it anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

Wow you're rude

Ooos hang on 😊 fixed it with a passive aggressive smiley

This is just bonkers.

you said you'd missed your week 25 appointment and were having it at 27 weeks when it was now booked as a 28 week one. The point is, that is ok as you're almost 28 weeks..

Well yes, you can’t have your 25 week appointment if you’re not 25 weeks. They just do the same checks anyway so there would be no point having both appointments now

I didn’t miss it, it was cancelled by the midwife. My question (that has since been answered) was whether it was the norm that one was skipped or not. This is my first baby therefore my first experiences with midwives and appointments, it’s a valid question I think and better to check, hence the thread

To be fair, if you are nearly 28 weeks there would be no point calling it your 25 week scan (when you're not 25 weeks) and then having another appointment a week later?

How can they not skip it? They can't take you back in time.

I was unsure if different things happen at different appointments (first baby) but understandable for it to be voided out if it’s all the same checks

I knew you'd pick up on that. You did miss it. Because it wasn't available. Don't worry, we all know you didn't cancel it.

I can’t remember for my first baby but I feel like most appointments were just urine, blood tests and maybe hearing babies heart beat with the Doppler? Have you heard it yet? Always nice to look forward to that as you don’t get enough scans on the NHS in my opinion