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Access to consultant

Posted By Moltp78

"Access to consultant"

About: Maternity / Maternity Outpatient Department

(as the patient),

In my first pregnancy in 2024 I was attending the Ulster for my appointments as I was deemed high risk and told I would have to be seen regularly by a Consultant. I had a few community midwife appointments and the staff in Ards were lovely. Every time I went for my consultant appointments the clinics were running over 1-2 hours late. And although being high risk, I was never actually met my consultant. I was later told after my birth that the consultant wasn't currently working and actually several Consultant-led clinics were running over the past year with no consultant present. Maybe this is why the clinics were always running late but the staff always looked to be working hard and I felt like I had good care overall. I have now booked with my second baby and the midwife told me that the doctors were covertly audited and to expect much more timely clinic appointments this time. I did ask who my Consultant was at my 12 week scan but was told there is no consultant in post yet as one had left to go and work at another hospital. 

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Responses

Response from Zoe Meneilly, Clinical Manager Maternity & Gynaecology & Deputy Head of Midwifery, Maternity & Gynaecology Services, South Eastern HSC Trust last month
Zoe Meneilly
Clinical Manager Maternity & Gynaecology & Deputy Head of Midwifery, Maternity & Gynaecology Services,
South Eastern HSC Trust

Submitted on 09/06/2025 at 16:15
Published on Care Opinion at 16:17

Moltp78, thankyou for taking the time to share your experience of maternity services. I am sorry to hear of the delays you experienced at the antenatal clinic. We make every effort to try and ensure our clinics run to scheduled appointment times but this is not always possible. We try to ensure every woman is given the time she needs, especially when we are sharing difficult diagnoses or breaking bad news and this can have a knock on affect on clinic times.

I wish to assure you that there is no covert audit process and and we regularly and openly review the clinic schedules and staff assigned. Audit of our practice, systems and processes is a fundamental element of our service which assists us in ensuring we provide a safe service and to inform improvements. This is always undertaken in an open and transparent way.

Consultant Led care is advised for women who may require additional oversight from the obstetric medical team or who are outside the remit for midwifery led care. However, this does not mean that you need seen by a Consultant at your clinic visit but require medical review as opposed to midwifery review. You may request to see a consultant if you have specific concerns you wish to discuss but your care will be managed by the whole team.

I also wish to reassure you that any woman assigned Consultant Led Care will have a named consultant as part of their care team although this may not be assigned at the booking appointment.

If you have any concerns about your care please feel free to contact me directly to discuss further and I will assist in any way I can

zoe.meneilly@setrust.hscni.net

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