so angry..

[daftscotslass]

I got a 20 week scan and I am central scotland

Thats rubbish though - I would have thought the 20 week one was the most important too.

Ditto to this. They do 12 week and 20 week scans in NHS Forth Valley so it's a load of nonsense that it differs from health board to health board. I would definitely question it! Which health authority is it?

While I don't think you should have to pay for a private scan there's another clinic in Glasgow - http://www.babyscanning.co.uk/packages-fees.htm

 

[lauramumof2]

apparantly they only give them to people with suspected problems..

the 20 week scan is majorly important in my opinion, they check that all the organs are growing correctly, they check that babies growing properly, they check for ay abnormalities that they could correct in utero etc.

i am so fed up with the maternity services here, it's absolutey shocking. in my opinion everyone should be entitled to this scan so i'll just need to pay for it because NHS scotland are ars*holes.

Im really surprised at that, Im with Ayrshire and Arran health board and Ive never had a problem with scans. I thought the 20 week was more important than the 12 week tho they are both important. I would take that further, it just cant be right.

 

[sarafet]

thanks guys..

i checked that one daftscotlass but they only do the checklist health check, not the full anomaly one, so it'll have to be babybond. oh and it's NHS greater glasgow and clyde i come under.

poppy - we're defo going to go for it, it just makes you wonder what you're paying taxes for eh

i'm just wondering - because my placenta is anterior, i thought it would be important to have another scan to check the positioning of it?

 

[drea b]

It's Babybond im going to and it's a growth scan - which I think is pretty similar. Really annoys me that I have to pay for something I could otherwise get if I lived in another part of Scotland

 

[paradysso]

my last pregnancy, i wud have only had a scan at 16 weeks, but i didnt know i was pregnant until 20 weeks so had it at 21 weeks, and still felt like i missed out as every body seems to get 2.

my MW said some hospitals will do an extra one for a fee, so its worth asking, it would be slightly cheaper.

 

[nikkimitch]

ould definitely stamp your feet about this one and consider involving your local MP - according to a quick bit of research seems guidelines in 2004 state all health authorities should offer 20 week scans to ALL women but that 4 authorities in Scotland were failing to do this - mainly because of financial reasons. Your authority stated it would introduce scanning for all once it had moved to 2 maternity uinits ?? - 3 years ago surely something has happened by now?? As I say contact your local MP and demand your ROUTINE scan - for your baby's health and well being - it is outrageous that you should be expected to pay for this - good luck let us know how you get on

 

[nikkimitch]

meant to say until recently here we were only offered a 20 week scan and in my other pregnancies I haev paid for the 12 week but felt ok doing that as it was not a 'necessary' scan as I knew my exact dates - whereas the 20 week was essential

 

[WeArePregnant1]

That is really bad I thought this was the important scan to have xx I would look into that hun xxxx

 

[daftscotslass]

ould definitely stamp your feet about this one and consider involving your local MP - according to a quick bit of research seems guidelines in 2004 state all health authorities should offer 20 week scans to ALL women but that 4 authorities in Scotland were failing to do this - mainly because of financial reasons. Your authority stated it would introduce scanning for all once it had moved to 2 maternity uinits ?? - 3 years ago surely something has happened by now?? As I say contact your local MP and demand your ROUTINE scan - for your baby's health and well being - it is outrageous that you should be expected to pay for this - good luck let us know how you get on

Found a newspaper article on it after looking it up. Doesn't seem fair at all - http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_hea ... _page.html

Maybe this is something that could do with an online petition?

 

[nikkimitch]

well I would sign it for a start and advertise it on other forums I visit
anyone know how to set up an online petition??

 

[sparky]

that sucks. i'm in the NHS lothian area so i'll also only get a 12 week scan, if i'm lucky, my friend recently had to wait until 16 weeks because of a lack of staff i'm certainly not going to wait that long. Personally i will be paying for it and sending the authority a legal letter together with a copy of the bill for them to pay.

 

[sparky]

just a thought, if the nhs have a duty of care towards your wellbeing that includes your mental wellbeing also, you should emphasise the emotional strain and worry its putting upon you, stress can raise your bloodpressure etc ...

 

[sarafet]

aww thanks so much ladies

i'm going to put all this information together and see what i can do. not only for me but for everyone else who's being denied these vital scans

that article is absolutely heart-breaking

i'll have a look on the online petiton thing..

 

[sarafet]

this is from the AIMS website - there excuse for the scan not being mandatory

"In light of the growing trend for making keepsake videos and DVDs of babies in utero, AIMS Chair Beverley Beech examines the worrying evidence concerning the safety of prolonged ultrasound with modern high-powered equipment


If you are prescribed a drug during pregnancy or labour, you can be somewhat reassured that the drug was subjected to a series of trials to determine whether it works and is safe, and what adverse effects it may have. But most women are never told that ultrasound has never been subjected to any such rigorous trials.

In 1955, Glasgow obstetrician Ian Donald realised that the machine that dockyard workers were using to detect cracks in the hull of a submarine could be used to detect tumours. It did not take long before this technique was used to examine the contents of a woman's uterus. Some years later, Donald published a warning:

"Perhaps the time has now come... to take stock of where we are going... bearing in mind that sonar [what ultrasound was called at that time]... must never lose [its] subservience to the medical art and the paramount importance of the patient... Viewed with this sense of proportion sonar comes as a commodity only, although with many uses. Out of control it can be an obsession, a tail that wags the dog. Sonar is not a new medical religion or an end in itself. A tool exploited for its own sake is no better than a saw given to a small boy for cutting wood, who must presently look around the house for suitable objects of furniture inviting amputation...".

Little notice was taken of this warning, and ultrasound was promoted and enthusiastically sold to trusting women and healthcare providers all over the world. The question of ultrasound safety was barely raised and, when there was public awareness, the promoters were quick to dismiss these concerns. We know that Professor Stuart Campbell (the most vociferous ultrasound propagandist) attended the same Medical Research Council conference in 1985 as we did, where a number of experts made their anxieties clear. Yet, Professor Campbell persists in his claims of safety:

"Some 100 million people throughout the world are walking around having had scans before they were born, and there has never been a shred of evidence that it does any harm."1

No one then - or since - has thought to ask whether that statement was based on any research evidence. The press was (and still is) happy to accept without challenge a statement made by a medical man who, as one of the most enthusiastic promoters of ultrasound, can hardly be unbiased.

The amount spent by health providers on ultrasound is awesome. Marsden Wagner says:

"In France in one year, three million ultrasound examinations were done on 700,000 pregnant women - an average of more than four scans per pregnancy. These examinations cost French taxpayers more than all other therapeutic and diagnostic procedures done on these pregnant woman. In Australia, where the health service pays for four routine scans, in one recent year, billing for obstetrical ultrasound was $60 million Australian dollars."2

The widespread assumption of safety has led researchers in fetal behaviour to assure women volunteering for clinical trials that ultrasound exposure of one to one-and-a-half hours (sometimes on more than one occasion) is safe for their unborn babies - yet we know of no follow-up of these exposed children. Any question of the value of ultrasound, or of the need to carry out long-term research to determine the risks, are ignored - until, that is, ultrasound enthusiasts began offering women the opportunity to have what the Americans call 'keepsake videos'

medicine and healthcare these days prides itself on EVIDENCE BASED CARE - so why would they allow ultrasound scanning if it was proven to be potentially dangerous?

 

[sparky]

makes you sick! if you were a junkie there would be money in the budget for methedone!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[sarafet]

makes you sick! if you were a junkie there would be money in the budget for methedone!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

remind me what we pay a fortune in taxes for again

 

[oldmama]

the 20wk scan is really imprtant

they check for holes in the heart, kidney function, brain defects etc etc etc

i wonder if it is because you are young that they feel you are low-risk and arent bothering.

do you have any family history that might reinforce the need to have an additional scan?

i have paid for all 3 of mine because i went to a private clinic (only cost me equiv of £15 ea though) and no waiting around for your scan with a full bladder!!

yes - it is nice to see your baby functioning correctly - but i dont think many of us just want the scan as a keepsake! they are out of order.

you could always have a "mini breakdown" with your midwife and tell them how stressed this is making you and paranoid. they have to look after your mental health too!

 

[Urchin]

They did this to me when I was pregnant with Brody, there were a group of us local moms who went to the paper and everything.

To make it worse I paid for a 20 week 4D scan, then found out they had reinstated the NHS one without telling me! They said I wouldn't be entitled to it anyway as it was only for moms who were 9 weeks at a certain date onwards.

All my letter writing and talking to the paper got me nowhere though...I was glad I paid for one in the end.

 

[Urchin]

Here's an old thread I made about it

http://www.pregnancyforum.co.uk/forum/v ... php?t=3043

 

[daftscotslass]

I don't know why they think they've got an excuse not to. The article above is all very well but why can 10 other health boards afford it and not the remaining 4? I'm sure they have a big population of people in Glasgow and Edinburgh but I don't think that's an excuse - they're a much smaller area geographically than the rest. And why the 20 week? My friend's 5 year old wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the anomaly scan picking up her heart condition (she's now fine).

I haven't got a clue how to set up an online petition... will ask other half, he's the geek in the family.