"Lack of communication and patient centred care"

I unexpectedly found out I was pregnant. I began experiencing pain on the left side of my abdomen and was advised to attend Maternity Triage. During my appointment I was seen by a Jr Doctor. I explained my pain but also advised that during my last pregnancy I was prescribed Clexane injections due to a DVT at 15 due to birth control. The doctor gave this very little acknowledgement but said I would need a pelvic exam and that this would be supported by their consultant.

The consultant arrived and completed the pelvic exam and I was told I would need a scan the following day to rule out an ectopic pregnancy. No further mention of the clexane injections.

The following day I waited until 2pm for a phone call about a scan. At 2:30pm I was finally phoned and told that the Dr I had seen in triage at 2am did not put my scan request in until 8:59am and so my scan request had been completely missed. They were able to offer me a 3:45pm scan so I raced from my workplace to Wishaw.

I attended EPAS only to be greeted by a staff member who said - we don’t do scans at that time. I advised I had been phoned and the sonographer had agreed to scan me due to the error made by the triage Dr. The scan did eventually take place. I mentioned again that I was on clexane in my previous pregnancy but no further action was taken. 

I then attended maternity triage due to days of vomiting and nausea. I was seen by a midwife and a doctor and again mentioned that I had been on clexane in my previous pregnancy. Again no further action was taken. 

My partner and I made the difficult decision that we no longer wished to go ahead with the pregnancy. As you can appreciate this was a very emotional decision and a hard one to make. I contacted the Women’s Health Clinic and was given a telephone consultation. They were aware of my clexane in my previous pregnancy and said following a medical abortion I would be sent home with clexane.

I was asked to attend the clinic. When I attended I was told that the termination could not go ahead as I needed to be on clexane pre and post treatment. I would also no longer be allowed to have the procedure at home and would need to have this carried out in hospital. Worse still, there were no spaces available until eight days later. 

I cannot verbalise my frustration at this entire experience. From maternity triage right through to Women’s Health the lack of communication has been shocking and arguably dangerous. I advocated for my clexane injections to three different staff members and not one acted on this. As a result, I now have to sit with the impact of a difficult emotional decision for a further eight days.

My partner and I had organised our work and childcare commitments to accommodate the procedure taking place at home. My partner cannot be with me, and as such I will be going through this procedure in hospital alone. I am totally disgusted by the communication and lack of patient centred care that has made a hugely challenging time all the more difficult.