"Told me wrong gender"

Thank you for your feedback. We were sorry to learn that your experience was not as positive as we would hope in the Ultrasound Department at Saint Mary’s Hospital. It is important to us that comments are heard and seen as an opportunity provided to the service to make changes and improvements wherever possible.

In response to your comment, Ms Lorimer, Lead Sonographer, would like to emphasise that a scan in a hospital setting is very much focused on the medical aspects of checking that the baby is healthy, so checking the baby’s anatomy in great detail at the 20 weeks scan especially and careful measuring and checking over the baby at all scans. The emphasis is not on seeing the baby’s gender at all and is not offered as part of the national screening programme. The sonographers at Saint Mary’s will look and try and state the gender, but they always emphasis the fact that this is never 100% accurate and it may be impossible or difficult to tell for example if the baby is lying in an awkward position. We are sorry that your experience was spoilt by the behaviour of the sonographer. The Trust has a Values and Behaviours framework that all staff should work to and Ms Lorimer will take this opportunity to remind her staff of the importance of treating each patient as an individual with respect and consideration.

It is difficult to respond to all posts in a full way often because of a lack of detailed information, therefore if you would like to discuss your experience with us in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0161 276 8686 or by e-mailing pals@cmft.nhs.uk quoting reference number PO16/0181.