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Zero idea what to do with pregnant women

Story from nhs.uk

"Zero idea what to do with pregnant women"

About: Southmead Hospital / Maternity care

A&E staff are very accommodating and polite but twice now (In this and my last pregnancy) I have had emergency issues which were unrelated to my pregnancy and both times I spent hours only to be bounced to the maternity assessment unit. And both times I was rudely reminded that was the department for maternity emergencies. And both times I had to explain that I made clear to a&e that it was nothing to do with the baby but I was told I had no choice! These people are terrified of a baby belly. It's infuriating and after 4 hours, when you get to the place that specialises only in babies and can't help you, you're treated like a time waster. Ridiculous. They need to communicate with other departments!

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Responses

Response from Southmead Hospital 5 years ago
Southmead Hospital

Submitted on 20/11/2018 at 14:12
Published on nhs.uk at 15:06

Dear Patient,

Please accept our apologies for your experience when you attended the Emergency Department (ED).

The ED Department advise that their process with Maternity is that any patient who presents who is pregnant, the ED need to discuss with the Maternity team to ensure they do not miss any potential complications.

Sometimes the Maternity team is happy for the ED staff to conclude the treatment in ED and others wish to assess the patient on the Maternity unit, as the Maternity team are the experts.

The process is followed for the safety of both the mother and the baby as sometimes an innocuous presentation (nothing to do with baby per say) can have a profound effect later in the pregnancy.

This is why the ED liaises closely with Maternity and follows their expert advice.

I hope that this helps you have an understanding of the actions taken, however, if you would like to contact us at Complaints@nbt.nhs.uk with your details, we can if it would be helpful investigate what happened in your case.

Yours sincerely, Sue Needs, Deputy Advice & Complaints Team Manager

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