In August 2024 I attended the Ulster Hospital A&E department as I was experiencing vaginal bleeding whilst pregnant, on the advice of the out of hours doctor, it being a Sunday.
I was seen quickly by the triage nurse to do a pregnancy test and then was sent back in the waiting room. There are no sanitary products vending machines in the waiting room toilets so I was bleeding through my clothes. After many hours in the waiting room I was taken through to the cubicles where a doctor palpated my abdomen and I was advised that, as I was at high risk of ectopic pregnancy due to my specific risk factors, the doctor wanted me to be scanned by gynaecology / obstetrics before I could go home. I was sent back to the waiting room.
After a number of hours, a nurse took pity on me and found me a bed in the cubicles where I waited until midnight and then decided to go home as I had not been seen by gynaecology and I had been waiting for 11 hours at that stage, bleeding and in pain.
I gave up on being seen by the NHS and I went for a private HCG blood test three days later and a private scan four days later and the staff there advised me that I needed to be urgently seen at the hospital due to the risk of ectopic and that I could self-refer to the early pregnancy unit (EPU), a fact of which I had not been made aware previously.
I then contacted the EPU who asked me to come in the next day. Once I was with the EPU, the care I received from the staff there was exemplary over the course of the next month, as my pregnancy of unknown location was carefully monitored to ensure my safety.
It has taken me a year to be able to write this, as I still find the whole experience distressing. I understand that efforts have been made in the interim to improve the experience of women suffering miscarriages so my hope is that my experience is no longer typical.
"Poor A&E experience with miscarriage"
About: The Ulster Hospital / Early Pregnancy Clinic The Ulster Hospital Early Pregnancy Clinic Newtownards BT16 1RH The Ulster Hospital / Emergency Department The Ulster Hospital Emergency Department BT16 1RH
Posted by microscopiumzt34 (as ),
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