Unable to get booking appointment

[sarahspeaking]

Hi everyone,

I've just had an email from my midwifery team and the only booking appointment they can offer me is for a the one weekend I am away in August. At that point I will be 9 weeks and they have no alternative appointments at the moment.

Has anyone had the screening tests done privately? I know they're meant to be done before 10 weeks and now I feel like I can't count on them to be done via NHS.

I'll be 7 weeks on Saturday so feeling slightly stressed!

TIA

Have you phoned and spoken to someone? I’m sure they can find you an appointment even if you have to travel a bit

Screening tests are done before 14 weeks at the same time as your dating scan? Unless you don’t mean the combined screening.

I can’t think of any screening that was done at the booking appointment. It was just form filling, urine checking and 2 vials of blood taken for baseline checks.

Maybe it's different in your trust but where I am the dating scan and screenings are totally separate appointment from booking. My booking appointment was at 9 weeks and dating scan and screening was at 13 weeks.

As I was 42 I booked privately anyway for NIPT as it's not routinely offered in my trust.

I agree call them.

Booking appointments are done around 10 weeks usually and the NIPT is done around 10-12 weeks. In fact, I had mine done privately and you had to be at least 10 weeks, not before 10 weeks.

Can you get an appointment at 10 or 11 weeks? That should be fine. By the
way, they only do your medical and social history and check your blood pressure and urine and do a blood test at the booking appointment, not the screening test. The screening test would be done at the 12 week scan so if you’re worried about time then go private.

They also only do quite basic screening tests unless you’re high risk for any conditions and they only screen for Down’s, Edward’s and Patau syndrome. Their tests aren’t as accurate as privately either so if you want peace of mind, I’d recommend going private.

Booking appt was busy talking. Can they don’t a phone appt?

then scan and bloods taken at 12 weeks by NHS for screening. Private NIPT has a much bigger window if you wanted that

I don’t think I’ve had any booking in appointment before 10 weeks, although my first scan was usually booked in by then.

Give them a phone, and if they have no appointments before 12 weeks, just ask them if they're happy for you to have your booking appointment later. If not they could probably arrange to get bloods taken by your GP surgery.

Thanks everyone for your quick responses!

Sorry I was just referring to the bloods and urine baseline checks they do at the booking appointment rather than NIPT.

Maybe I have a little extra time then for an appointment, I think I'll give it a couple of days and then ring if I haven't heard anything.

Appreciate they're busy and it's the summer holidays but as it's my first I was hoping my appointments would be by the guidelines that they themselves set 😅

I didn't have my booking appointment until I was nearly 12 weeks, then managed to get a scan and usual screening tests at around 13 weeks but up to 14 weeks would have been fine they said. Can they offer a later date ideally within the first 12 weeks and make sure they sort you the first scan and screening soon after?

OP, that's normal. Screenings don't get done as early as you think.

My midwife doesn't book anyone before 9 weeks.

They're going to let me know if they get any cancellations and they've said the scan will be arranged separately so I'll hear from the scan team in the meantime hopefully.

I'm planning on going for a private scan next weekend just for reassurance that somethings actually there

Booking in was at 12 weeks in the past anyway, really isn’t necessary much earlier

It’s very normal for a booking appointment to be between 8-10 weeks.

As PP said, it’s the NIPT that should ideally be done early, but the NHS don’t offer that unless there’s a reason to and even then it can be done later on.

It’s your scan that you definitely want when you’re 12 weeks, no later than 13 weeks and 6 days.

The only thing that the booking apt helped me with was picking up low iron. I had signs of it beforehand though- feeling very very tired. You may feel tired in pregnancy anyway, this was next level tiredness where I struggled to focus and needed to lie down. If you get any signs contact your gp and ask if they could check your iron because you’re pregnant, very tired and don’t have a booking apt. Only do that if you are very tired though.

It’s very normal for a booking appointment to be done between 8-10 weeks, I wouldn’t be worried about this OP

I wouldn’t worry either, the main concern I would have had would have been arranging the scan before 13+6 to ensure I could get my screening but it sounds like that’s not impacted. In my area the midwife refers you for scan at booking.

There are some screening tests done at booking. They routinely screen for heamoglobinopathies and also for HIV, Hep B and syphilis. They do usually try to get these done before 10 weeks but that is often not possible due to a shortage of appointments and it doesn’t matter too much if they are done later than this. Don't worry too much OP, I’m sure they will contact you as soon as they can find an alternative appointment time for you. But may be worth chasing them if you don’t hear in the next few days.