"Suspected miscarriage"

I exprerienced a real lack of 'care'.

I was 9 weeks pregnant and had been away from Brighton over the weekend but had experienced cramping and bleeding on the saturday. Attended Leeds A and E but was told they had no scanning capability and to just wait.

I waited until Monday morning, by now convinced I had miscarried but desperately hoping. I called the surgery and told them what had happened. The first receptionist I spoke to said that I would have to come in to see the GP. I didn't want to come in, I had hardly spoken to anyone, left bed all weekend. I just wanted a referral to the early pregnancy unit so I could have an ultrasound scan to know for sure.

The receptionist told me that the doctor would call me back but they did not. I asked my husband to go to the surgery as it is very close and talk to the doctor/receptionist as I couldn't manage it. The receptionist/doctor unfortunately told him that I could just walk into level 13 of brighton hospital (which is not the early pregnancy unit but actually the labour ward) and that i would be cared for. What would have happened if we had gone to level 13!? More trauma.

When my husband came back to tell me this I was frustrated as it clearly says on the brighton hospital website that you can't just walk in, you need a referral from a GP or A and E. I couldnt face A and E. We did not follow the instructions and my husband drove me to the surgery. By this point I was grieving, upset, angry at being messed around and feeling like the surgery didn't know what they were doing. I shouted and swore at the receptionist who said that they were trying to be 'nice to me'. But I did not need or want him to be nice to me. I just wanted a referral so I could have a scan, so I could see whether my baby was dead or not. I shoudn't have shouted, but I had not yet received any 'care'.

The receptionist left their post because they said I was 'shouting', I was sobbing. Someone in the waiting room comforted me more than the staff at the NHS surgery themselves.

I was told to wait in a quiet room for a doctor. The doctor came and told me that they could squeeze me in after they'd seen another patient, or did I think that I should be seen first? I said to them - well what do you think?! Surely, staff must take more care of women who are in this position. Empathy? Compassion? Reassurance?

In the room with the GP they asserted that I was being 'aggressive', whereas really I was grieving, traumatised and frustrated by the lack of efficiency of the surgery when it seemed like a simple task - just get me a referral to the early pregnancy unit for a scan.

By this point I had nearly completely lost it. They told me off for not cooperating. They examined my abdomen which made the pain worse. They said that they would try to call the unit later in the day. I asserted that could they call them now?

I ended up going to A and E and getting a scan appt myself.