Bad doctor experience...!

[mandspice]

I started spotting on Friday night and was soooo scared – we went to A&E and I had to wait 3 hours to see a doctor. When I finally saw her I can only describe her as a bitch (harsh but true!). She did an internal and told off for “tensing” (sorry, but it’s hard to relax when you think you might be losing your baby!). The neck of the womb was closed and when I asked her if that meant things were probably ok she was very dismissive and said “we don’t know what’s going to happen yet” and spoke about my pregnancy as if it wasn’t that important as it was only 6 weeks!! She said she couldn’t get me an appointment for a scan for another week…………so boyfriend and I went home and had a sleepless night…since then I’ve spoken to lots of friends and NHS Direct and read all the messages on here and have been reassured that it’s probably nothing, esp as it’s stopped now….but damn, I feel like making a formal complaint!! Anyone else experienced this kind of “care” from the NHS?

 

[mrs_tommo22]

Yes, when i visited my new MW, and when i thoiught this LO was leaving me as well at 4 weesk gone.Its disgusting and i know how you felt.
Im complaining to my doctor today and maybe you ahould as welkl so this dont happen to anyone else, though its your desision of course

 

[Noor~ul~Usman]

Not because of my pregnancy but actually just before.

I got rushed to hospital about 7-8 months ago because I had stabbing stomach and chest pains and normally I get all kinds of pains and just bare it but this had me flat on my back, crying and struggling to breath properly. In the end after an x-ray and a few hours lying on a bed, all they gave me was ibeprophen and galviscon and said they thought it was a muscular complaint and couldn't help. I went to emergency doctors and NHS walk in clinic in the following 2 weeks because I was still getting tight stabbing chest pains which really hurt but all of them said it was muscular and just take regular pain killers It eventually subsided on it's own after about 1.5-2 months.. Never found out what it was.

Well I got the same chest pain and difficulty breathing a week before I found out I was pregnant My neck was killing me as well though...I'd recently had a vertibre popped back in on my neck and 2 along my spine..so I thought maybe I'd popped them out again. But due to the complete lack of help I received last time I sweated it out at home that night instead of going to A&E. My best friend booked me a chyropracter(sp?) appointment a few days later as I was still in extreme pain. But my chest was swollen and really hurt and I ended up telling her there was no way I could be on my front while he put pressure on my back. My doctors was full but I was concerned so I rang NHS direct and on their advice got my mate to drop me off at A&E.
I got some cardio test thing within 20-30mins which didn't show anything but then it took about 2.5hrs for me to be seen again and literally just before I went into the cubicle the pain had eased off (which it had been doing for an hour or so before starting again all week). I'd been in so much pain waiting and now this trainee doctor was poking me and because I wasn't crying she gave me this whole lecture on how "people wake up from a normal nights sleep and can't even move their necks for 2-3 days, so I've seen A LOT worse than you with just a stiff neck". I pointed out the bone poking out in my neck but she insited it was normal even though I knew full well it had been popped back in and lying flat only a few weeks ago. I tried to ask her about 3 times well what about my chest pains and the fact it was actually physically swollen, it wasn't just a stiff neck. "Take pain killers for your neck and you'll probably find your chest stops hurting their probably linked" was the reply. She then went on to say the it was practically impossible for you chest to swell up unless you had *somat- I forget*. But I tried taking the strongest ibeprophen you can get over the counter when I first got the pain and I couldn't even tell I'd taken it because it made no difference so I've been having to bare it, I told her.
And then she went off on another one "We'll we're only A&E I'm limited to what I can prescribe you I can only offer you ibeprophen or diclofennic. You should have gone to your doctors".
So I pointed out I'd already tried my doctors who were too full even for emergency booking and the NHS direct had told me explicitly to come to the hospital. I also pointed out I already had dicolfennic at home for my artheritus.

She basically told me I either took a prescription or I didn't so in the end I took a pescription for the diclo' even though by this time the ph@rmacy had just closed so I couldn't even get it until the next day.

And lo and behold only 3 days later I found out I was pregnant!!! Which normally they ask but they'd never even mentioned it this time. Man am I pleased that in the end I hadn't taken any more painkillers or anything And you guessed it...my chest was swollon because I was just under 1.5months in already! No idea what the stabbing pains were all about though. In the end I've been using a herbal oil every time I get a muscular pain instead if any painkiller.

 

[Squiglet]

When I had my first child, I started bleeding heavily at 7 weeks, it was worse than any period I had ever had and lasted two weeks. I went to the hospital (we lived in Farnborough at the time) and saw a military doctor, who treated me like some stupid little girl wasting his time. He basically reduced me to tears. He told me without examining me or touching me in anyway that I was miscarrying and to go home, rest and that I could go back in a week and they would do a DnC. He had a very busy AE department and had more serious cases to deal with. No test, no scan...nothing.

Needless to say I went back a week later and saw a different doctor, who said they wouldn't do the DnC without a scan first. So the did the scan and lo an behold there was a little heart beat which turned into my beautiful daughter.

I started spotting last week again with this pregnancy...the local hospital here in Spain were very good and again the scan came back fine. I was in and out in less than two hours, although the midwife there was a bit brutal.

Try to stay calm (easier said than done and a fair amount of tears were shead last week on my behalf) but it is quite normal to spot during the first few months and is usually your body telling you to slow down and rest. I was made redundant last week which probably started it and the week before I had been working 10 hour days...mine was certainly a need to slow down.

I don't know how much a single appointment with a private Gyno costs in the UK but you might be able to get an appointment and scan with one of them. It cost around 100€ here, but if you can get it, its well worth the money for the peace of mind it provides.

Chin up, hun...you'll get through it.

 

[mandspice]

Thanks, I'm quite calm now as from what I've read and from people I've spoken to it seems as though many people experience some spotting...but I wish the doctor could've told me that at 11pm on Friday night!

Your experiences above seem even worse - I mean I know we don't pay directly for the NHS and we're lucky to have the service in this country but maybe they should stop employing robots and teach their staff some people skills!

 

[AllieW]

Things always feel really rushed in my surgery and often you feel shooed out of the appointment.

I think the trouble is that most of them would have better people skills if they weren't permanently knackered and overworked!

 

[mandspice]

True, they are overworked, but on these type of occasions the emotional support is just as, if not more as important than, the physical diagnosis. A smile and a kind word doesn't cost much!

 

[AllieW]

I do appreciate that. I wasn't trying to be dismissive and I'm sorry if I came across that way.

 

[mandspice]

Noooo, not at all!

 

[Daddy Danza]

I started spotting on Friday night and was soooo scared – we went to A&E and I had to wait 3 hours to see a doctor. When I finally saw her I can only describe her as a bitch (harsh but true!). She did an internal and told off for “tensing” (sorry, but it’s hard to relax when you think you might be losing your baby!). The neck of the womb was closed and when I asked her if that meant things were probably ok she was very dismissive and said “we don’t know what’s going to happen yet” and spoke about my pregnancy as if it wasn’t that important as it was only 6 weeks!! She said she couldn’t get me an appointment for a scan for another week…………so boyfriend and I went home and had a sleepless night…since then I’ve spoken to lots of friends and NHS Direct and read all the messages on here and have been reassured that it’s probably nothing, esp as it’s stopped now….but damn, I feel like making a formal complaint!! Anyone else experienced this kind of “care” from the NHS?

I would like to reinforce that statement and say she was an EVIL cow.

 

[NIE]

I am sorry that you had an evil NHS worker. There really was no need for her to act that way with you, wether she is over worked or not. Manners cost nothing and it is her choice to get payed every month.

I haven't experienced anything like that during my pregnancy care, although I did make a point of saying that I worked in the same hospital. I don't know if it made any difference.

It is your right to complain about the treatment you received, I certainly would have. xxx

 

[ella]

Im so sorry for you nasty experience. Its so weird, all you needed was a tiny bit of reassurance and a scan (or a least a date for one) it really was not that much to ask!!!!

I too had spotting a couple of weeks ago, I had a fair idea from reading a few posts here A&E would be a nasty experience so I rang my GP, she was lovely and got me an emergency scan within a couple of days, its weird because when you go in person you always feel really rushed. Anyway im rambling, just wanted to say dont let it annoy you, main thing is you and baby are fine!!

 

[mrs_tommo22]

If i could afford to go private i would, when i payed for my 4d scan i got a taste of whats its like then and its amazing the dofference makes to the people working fir the private sector.They were friendly, calm and polite and put me at ease totally!Must be what happens when your payed a good wage instead of the crap the nhs pay.

 

[AllieW]

If i could afford to go private i would, when i payed for my 4d scan i got a taste of whats its like then and its amazing the dofference makes to the people working fir the private sector.They were friendly, calm and polite and put me at ease totally!Must be what happens when your payed a good wage instead of the crap the nhs pay.

Considering that they're often the same people, this is probably true!

 

[rachie29]

sorry you had such a bad experience, have you considered making a formal complaint?

My GP is actually quite nice... i think i'm quite lucky.. dont know about the hospital yet, my midwife is coming to see me at home tomorrow...

 

[youngmumtobe20]

hmm, my experience when i m/c wasnt that nice. I'd been bleeding most of the day but didnt go in til the evening, typically it was a sunday so a&e was heaving. I was there for an hour b4 ANYONE was seen, i was sat on a cold floor, practically in tears, my heart in my throat the whole time! and i was in quite a bit of discomfort cos i had period like pains. once the nurse had seen me, after a two hour wait on the floor i was seen pretty quick, but u wudve thought that id be made a higher priority than the person with a scratch on their face!!

And there was a lad sat in front of me in agony, cos he'd broken his leg playing footy, i cud see it was broken i actually wanted him to go in b4 me cos he was in so much pain the poor lad but i dont think he was seen til about half an hour after i went in