"Poor communication between doctors conflicting..."

Thank you for taking the time to post your comments on NHS Choices at such a difficult time. We are very sorry that you have experienced a miscarriage, and are very sorry that you didn’t feel you were well supported through this difficult situation. Staff in the Emergency Department are asked to send patients directly to Gynaecology to prevent waiting in the main Department with other patients. From there you would then have given you the next Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinic appointment. At the clinic, the nurse practitioners are trained not only in ultrasound but in clinical examination and therefore are able to offer you advice and information about your plan of care .The aim is to provide an appointment within 72 hours of referral but unfortunately we cannot meet always this target at weekends. Patients have direct access to Ward 40 through our Open Access system to support them outside of the normal clinic hours but unfortunately we do not always have nursing or medical staff on call 24 hours to provide a scan. We completely understand the anxiety caused by the wait for a scan and apologise for this. Having an ultrasound scan can provide some information in relation to a pregnancy but this can change at any time and we would like to reassure you that paying privately for a scan would not have resulted in any changes to the management of your pregnancy loss. It is disappointing to note that you were given conflicting advice about the need for Anti D medication. The current national guidance now advises that ladies with blood group Rhesus negative are not routinely given Anti D but that it should be administered to women who have had two episodes of bleeding heavier than a normal period in their pregnancy and who are over 12 weeks gestation. We acknowledge your comments in relation to our nursing staff and understand how this can feel insensitive at such a difficult time and we apologise for this. Please be assured that your concerns have been passed onto the management team in the directorate to raise with the relevant staff. As your comment has been posted anonymously, it is not possible to look into the exact details of your concerns. The Matron for Women’s Services would be happy to do this if you could contact Matron Barnes on 0191 2820527 to provide some further details. Matron can also support you to access counselling support if you feel that this would be useful.