"Antenatal Care"

Three completely different experiences of triage in the same pregnancy.

My first admission I was cared for on triage and Rubislaw. I was admitted with abdominal pain and was cared for rapidly and very kindly. They were relatively full that evening so I was in another bay with 2 women and their partners, I feel I may have scared them with my pain as I wasn't the quietest. I am unable to remember much of my stay due to the pain, but my husband keeps telling me how wonderful all the staff on triage and Rubislaw were.

On my second visit, I called with reduced movements. On the phone I was greeted with a staff member who appeared very dismissive of my concerns. I was given the advice to stay at home for 1-2 hours to monitor baby's movements, which I understand is protocol but I explained I had already tried the methods to get baby to move, this was dismissed by the staff member and they said for me to call back in 2 hours if I still needed their help, then abruptly hung up. This experience made me very uncomfortable, especially when I had to call back later as I continued to have reduced movements. Thankfully someone else picked up the phone and was much more friendly, I believe this was after a shift change. This experience made me feel like my instincts were wrong and that when I was calling triage I was being accused of lying about my baby's movements when I was just concerned.

My third experience was much better, I called with reduced movements. The midwife on the phone asked the questions about trying to lie on my left side etc. When I informed them I had tried these, I was immediately believed and asked to attend. We were seen to very quickly and had a CTG monitoring and my vital signs checked promptly. The midwife was so supportive, when he could see we were anxious he recognised this and talked to me and my husband until we felt less anxious. We couldn't fault the care or staff during this visit and we were very reassured about baby's movements following this visit.

Despite having 2 good experiences in triage, the second experience has made me extremely fearful to call triage again incase I am treated the same way.