"A&e and maternity triage"

I was advised to attend A&E  in the morning after speaking with the midwife advice line- I explained I was having reduced fetal movements and query dvt. I was 26 weeks pregnant at this time. The midwife on the phone told me to tell A&E they needed to check the baby as well and they would come down to A&E. 

I attended a&e at 10:00am. As soon as I arrived the systems broke so I could not be put into the system so I spent an extra 20-25 minutes waiting for someone to decide if they would go to paper or not. 

I was checked over by a nurse within 30 minutes who told me that I needed specialist care and needed to be seen by a doctor. I told this nurse I needed to be seen by maternity triage due to reduced movements. 

Two hours went by and I saw no one. I rang maternity advice line again and asked, they said it was not protocol for midwives to come down to A&E and said I would have to wait until I had been checked for DVT concerns first. I did say that my baby therefore wouldn’t have been checked for several hours in that time, but there did not appear to be a sense of concern. 

Another 2 hours went by and I still hadn’t been seen. I rang the midwife advice line again and said I was upset and was worried my baby could have died in the time I was waiting in a&e and everyone in a&e and the midwives knew I was there. I was then told two midwives had already come down this morning to see and left a message but ‘couldn’t see me’ so went back. She proceeded to tell me a midwife would be coming down now to see me and to wait. She was very defensive and rude and said I wasn’t there and that is why I’ve not been seen, yet I hadn’t moved all day and was clearly the only pregnant woman in a&e.

I followed this up immediately with a&e reception and they told me no midwives had left a message. I then spoke to the co ordinator in a&e who also confirmed there was no message. She then rang the midwifes on my behalf who confirmed there was no record of a midwife coming down to see me. 

At this point I had been waiting 5 hours. I was then told I needed to have my blood taken. The person who took blood informed me she had tried to find me for this but couldn’t therefore I had to wait for these to be processed before I could see a doctor. 

In the meantime I went up to maternity triage, 5.5 hours later after I arrived. On arrival I requested an explanation and was greeted with a defensive rude attitude, I was blamed and it was my fault for not being in the correct place when someone went down (even though no evidence of this happening). Thankfully my baby was ok but that is not the point. I did speak to a care coordinator up in triage who was nice and understood that this was not helpful or compassionate. I explained that being seen for reduced fetal movements 5.5 hours later is unacceptable and is more than substandard. 

I then went back down to a&e and waited a further 40 minutes. I had to ask when I would be seen as it had been a total of almost 7 hours wait. The doctor kept calling me the ‘pregnant person’ which was very dehumanising, despite me telling him my name. They then proceeded to discuss my medical complaint in full view of all medics and other patients to which I asked if we can go in a clinic room which they did. They then explained due to the concerns of dvt (no chest pain) I would be admitted to the ward as that’s all they can do as I need a scan but did not know when this would be and it is possible I could be on the ward for several days. They also suggested I’d have to wait in a&e for an undisclosed number of hours to wait for a bed. They also said the blood test I was given and then had to wait for the results was completely meaningless in pregnant women and was a waste of time.

I was shocked and honestly appalled - they were suggesting I needed close monitoring hence being admitted however I explained I’d been sat in a&e for 7 hours with no monitoring at all being 7 months pregnant. I requested to speak to the consultant who did advise another option to go home and return for a scan another day which I accepted. 

I then had to wait a further 1 hour 45 minutes for a pharmacy prescription and then eventually got home, 10 hours after arriving. 

I honestly cannot put into words how appalling this experience has been, it uncoordinated, chaotic and stressful. How a pregnant women with these concerns was treated there yesterday is honestly beyond me- I cannot believe it. I felt completely neglected by both a&e and the midwife triage and was failed. I’m sure if my baby had died during the 5.5 hour wait to see a midwife we would having a very different conversation - given all the concerns currently about the maternity service at NUH.