"I was quite frankly appauled by ..."

What I liked

I was quite frankly appauled by the treatment received.

Admitted for a 6 week scan, I had to wait and hour and 45 minutes with a full bladder at which point I was in tears with pain. I then saw a rude member of staff, no appologies for the lateness, who scanned the baby. She was unable to measure the heart beat due to old and poor equipment, but we were advised that it was slow for its age. Its age being calculate roughly in the sonographers head with no information. This was then passed onto the unit's GP, who preceeded to tell me that I was to go home and to wait for my baby to die, or I could opt for an abortion. The clinical evaluation was not even based on a measured heartbeat but a observation seen by the sonographer only.

Having reasearched the situation, I found out that there was a 50% chance the HB would pick up and cancelled my appointment to arrange an abortion. I am now in my second trimester of pregnancy and am expecting a happy and healthy baby.

What could be improved

Appointments made in advance should be kept, or patients should be informed of waiting times. Staff were uncaring, uninterested and seemed to lack knowledge in the area of maternity services. The equipment was extremely old and of a poor quality.

Anything else?

After a complaint from my first experience and a refusal to return two weeks later, an apology was made and a guarantee this experience would be a one off was promised. I returned two weeks later, to be treated in much the same manner by the time delay and GP, however, I chose my sonographer who was much better at her job than the previous one.