maternity care

oscar26

hi guys..i'm fairly new on here so hello to everyone. my wife is 4 months pregnant and is a patient with the coombe. she has had her 1st scan and now needs to see a consultant. the problem is when she went to her appointment she was left sitting there for hours and had to leave due to work commitments. now she is being treated like a leper by the hospital and is very distressed by the whole thing.

is there anywhere else she can go for this consultant visit e.g GP or Medical centre etc?

Thanks in advance

eviltwin

oscar26 wrote: »

hi guys..i'm fairly new on here so hello to everyone. my wife is 4 months pregnant and is a patient with the coombe. she has had her 1st scan and now needs to see a consultant. the problem is when she went to her appointment she was left sitting there for hours and had to leave due to work commitments. now she is being treated like a leper by the hospital and is very distressed by the whole thing.

is there anywhere else she can go for this consultant visit e.g GP or Medical centre etc?

Thanks in advance

Welcome to Ireland 2012

I had my first during the celtic tiger years when births were at their lowest and staff ratios at their highest.

I still had to wait. Not much you can do about it. I think hospitals are doing the best they can.

biko

From After Hours.

Squiggler

OP, sorry to hear that you had that experience. It's not uncommon, unfortunately.

Did your wife tell them that she was leaving and why and ask them to reschedule her appointment? If you/she now feel that she is being treated badly as a result of her leaving then I advise complaining in writing to Dr Chris Fitzpatrick (Master of the Coombe) and to the HSE

Hospitals seem to be of the opinion that a pregnant woman is at liberty to put every other aspect of her life on hold. In a country where the majority of households are being either jointly or solely supported by women this attitude needs to change. The fact that my employers are obliged to allow me to take time off for appointments does not mean that I'm going to feel comfortable giving them very short notice or having to take 4 hours off to attend a 15 minute appointment.

And, with the best will in the world, employers cannot be expected to pay the same bonuses and raises as they would were we "breeders" not requiring extra time off and coming back later than we said/expected we would.

I know they're busy, but the simple solution to that is to reduce the burden on consultants by only placing women in their care who need consultant-led care and increasing the level of midwife-led care and other options for healthy women with normal pregnancies.

oscar26

Squiggler wrote: »

OP, sorry to hear that you had that experience. It's not uncommon, unfortunately.

Did your wife tell them that she was leaving and why and ask them to reschedule her appointment? If you/she now feel that she is being treated badly as a result of her leaving then I advise complaining in writing to Dr Chris Fitzpatrick (Master of the Coombe) and to the HSE

Hospitals seem to be of the opinion that a pregnant woman is at liberty to put every other aspect of her life on hold. In a country where the majority of households are being either jointly or solely supported by women this attitude needs to change. The fact that my employers are obliged to allow me to take time off for appointments does not mean that I'm going to feel comfortable giving them very short notice or having to take 4 hours off to attend a 15 minute appointment.



And, with the best will in the world, employers cannot be expected to pay the same bonuses and raises as they would were we "breeders" not requiring extra time off and coming back later than we said/expected we would.

I know they're busy, but the simple solution to that is to reduce the burden on consultants by only placing women in their care who need consultant-led care and increasing the level of midwife-led care and other options for healthy women with normal pregnancies.

she did..their response was well its not their fault she has to leave. i dont get why they give timed appointments and then totally disregard them. i appreciate they are busy but surely to god someone has got to manage this better. have one section for timed appointments and another for walk-ins

Squiggler

They don't always allocate sufficient time for each appointment, people go off sick, emergencies come up. I can understand that they can't always make their appointments, but it's not ok to make your wife feel that it's her fault or distress her, which is why I think you should lodge a complaint.

There are some alternatives. If you're in Dublin have you looked into the possibility of getting into the Midwife Led Unit in the Coombe? I believe they only take on numbers they can handle. Or you could maybe consider applying for a home birth through the HSE. Then the antenatal appointments would take place in your own home at a time agreed between you and your midwife.

Hospitals see so many pregnant women that they become statistics and numbers instead of individuals. Difficult not to take it personally, but you need to develop a thick skin to deal with it.

Hope your wife is keeping well and that the pregnancy and birth go well.

January

There are no walk in apointments. Woman whp present at the hospital outside of a scheduled appt will be seen by the emergenxy department.

Your wife is entitled to paid time off for her appointments. It's not ideal but employers do have some idea of matrnity waiting times so will know she's not messing them about.

If you are unhappy with the care provided do complain to the master of the hospital as advised above.

Moonbeam

She would need to go private to have scheduled appointments.

Neyite

In my ante-natal the time on the appointment is 9am. For every visit and for every woman. If you arrive at 9am, you will be lucky to get to work before 12 noon. So I go in around 8am and the midwives are already on shift as are the doctors so I usually get out around 10am.

How Strange

Neyite I was the same; one morning I arrived very early by chance and the girls on the registration desk advised me to arrive that early for all my appointments so I'd be in the first 10. I think my max wait after 9am was 1 hour.

Op I'm sorry your wife was treated do badly. I'd definitely consider writing to the master. Also if she can keep her appointment days relatively free in work to minimise the stress on herself. There's nothing as bad as knowing you're going to be late and not being able to do anything about it.

wmpdd3

same in waterford, everybody gets 2:30 pm, but at 1pm there are 15 appointment sheets on the reception desk. i often offered not to bother with the consultant as i felt i was looked after well enough by the mid wives.

highly1111

I genuinely don't know if I've been exceptionally lucky in Holles st. Was always in and out in about 45 mins in the public system with Dr Michael Foley on a Monday. For both pregnancies on the public system. He ran his clinic with exceptional efficiency and could show this country a thing or two in how to run things!! No messing, no small talk and would only spend time with you if there were any concerns.

So sorry to hear about your wife's experience and I can only imagine her distress. Definitely write to the master. We always brush these things aside and try and justify them. We're taxpayers and the service we receive from some publc bodies can be shocking.

Moonbeam

Foley is a legend for his appointment sped but is an excellent consultant.
In semi private 45 minutes was the max wait I had.

Annabananna

Hi i know i am going to be shot down for posting this put if your wife and you can afford it would you consider mount carmel i had my two there under a consultant never waited longer then 5 mins to be seen from my appointment time when it came to delivery i was treated like a queen my husband jokes to our friends that i gave birth in a hotel and i just did a tiny bit off pushing. It cost us 4200e including consultant fees and to top up accommandation costs not cover by insurance but we got 20% back on med1 and no stress what so ever i had an elective induction on my 2nd as we moved outside dublin and it took the stress out of whether we make it if i went into labour at home also it meant my husband was able to organise his work around it

Awwwwfook

How long was she waiting?? In cork they say on their booking letter to allow up to 3 hours for appointments. I had a 5 hour wait recently but my boss is fairly easygoing so I didn't mind.

goldenhoarde

see if she can get switched to the midwife clinic (went to the one in lucan, one in naas too and there are others but not sure where they are) as then there were no more trips to the hospital until the last few weeks! In and out on time every time 15mins max!!!

oscar26

thanks for all the advice..definitely gona write to complain as i feel it was out of order. in relation to the outside clinics in lucan, naas, clondalkin etc.. she has been told that she has to see a consultant in the coombe first and be signed off before she can attend one of these..seems mad but true