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Care Opinion

Miscarriage experience

Posted By statusxh59

"Miscarriage experience"

About: Altnagelvin Area Hospital / Gynaecology

(as the patient),

I had a missed miscarriage and was advised to undergo treatment. I had medical management and although the baby passed after a few hours I continued to lose a lot of blood and my HG levels were 83.

The hospital was very busy so I had to wait several hours for an examination by the doctor when it was discovered that the placenta was stuck in the neck of the womb. This was then removed. The experience was distressing and made me feel very weak.

I have previously suffered a missed miscarriage and had a Manual Vacuum Aspiration under local anaesthetic in Scotland. I would definitely have selected this option again, however unfortunately it is not currently available in Northern Ireland. The procedure was quick and I didn’t bleed very much and it was less distressing than the medical management. 

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Responses

Response from Leanne Hughes, Lead Nurse for Gynaecology Services WHSCT, Women and Children Service Altnagelvin, Western Health & Social Care Trust 2 weeks ago
We are preparing to make a change
Leanne Hughes
Lead Nurse for Gynaecology Services WHSCT, Women and Children Service Altnagelvin,
Western Health & Social Care Trust

Service Manager for Gynaecology

Submitted on 13/04/2024 at 10:09
Published on Care Opinion at 13:51

Thank you for highlighting your recent experience within our service.

I would firstly like to offer you my condolences on the loss of your pregnancy. I want to acknowledge that to lose a baby through miscarriage is difficult for woman both emotionally and physically.

I can only apologise that you felt you had to too long to wait before you were seen by a doctor, as you have highlighted the department was busy. However I do wish to reassure you that this would not be normal practice as patients are seen according to clinical urgency.

Currently a discussion is had with all woman who present with miscarriage, to enable them to make an informed decision about management options available to them. I understand from your feedback when you lived in Scotland MVA under local anaesthetic was provided as an option, which in your experience was more favourable.

I wish to reassure you that we are currently reviewing gynaecology services and I will relay this feedback to the Team.

Our aim will always be to try to improve on the services we provide according to the needs of our service users.

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Update posted by statusxh59 (the patient)

Thank you for your response. When the options for my miscarriage were presented to me, I was told the MVA was unavailable. I was also told that the doctors would not feel comfortable doing a D&C at my stage of pregnacy (I was 12 weeks but the baby had sadly stopped growing at 9 weeks and 4 days). I was also told there were a lot of doctors off on holiday for Easter. They did say if I wanted to they could ask the doctor if they would do a D&C but it was presented in a way that seemed it was not a normal request and they recommended a medical miscarriage. I therefore accepted the advice that having a medical miscarriage in hospital was the best option.

Since this has happened to me, my friend in London has had a missed miscarriage at 10 weeks and her baby stopped growing at 7 weeks. She was advised to have a D&C. I know all cases are different but it makes me wonder why I was told the doctors would not want to do a D&C. If you could explain the reasoning it would be helpful. I have now had four miscarriages and am worried there is a high chance I will have another one in the future so this information would help me to make future decisions on my treatment if I need to.

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