Feeling gaslit by the NHS. Any advice or anyone had similar experiences?
This is a long one, so sorry in advance:
I am at the vale of leven but booked for birth at RAH.
Unfortunately I have struggled a lot with getting simple things like urine tests done by my GP throughout my pregnancy and reception staff gatekeeping so it's hard to get Doctors apps or speak to one. The last straw was when I had a blood test requested by a locum doctor and notes put in to say if the test comes back negative I should be retested in 2 weeks. I got a call the day after the bloods were taken to say the lab had rejected my blood sample. I asked the receptionist why and she said she doesn't know and I'd have to speak to the doctor. I explained I had a midwife app at 9am the next day and asked if the Dr could speak to me today so if there was an issue with my sample the midwives could retake it as they are doing other bloods anyway tomorrow. The receptionist was very rude and abrupt and said no he will speak to me tomorrow afternoon and that's that. She then spoke to the doctor and came back and informed me he will not be speaking to me at all as there's no need for me to have had said blood test in the first place. I requested a doctors app for any time or day and was told no there's no need. I ended up calling the Vale and asking if they could see the reason my bloods were rejected and explaining that the GP would not explain. The vale said they couldn't see any bloods on the system. I then called RAH who said they could see that the labs had not rejected my bloods, they had stored them and said the GP who requested them had not submitted the required info on the reason for testing so they would require further information before carrying out the test. I was advised to move GPs due to the struggles which I did.
The new GP submitted the required info to the lab. For over a week I have been asking the new GPs if they know what happened at the lab and if my bloods did indeed get tested and they have said they don't know.
Yesterday in the early hours I had worries about my baby's movements (1st time ive ever had any concerns like this) so I called triage, they told me to wait 30 mins and count the kicks, if they seemed to have gone back to normal I should be OK but to please call them back either way so they know the outcome. I called back an hour later to say all felt normal now and at the end of the call said could they check if labs had responded about my bloods since GP kept saying they didn't know. The RAH checked and said yes the bloods had been tested and had come back negative. I thanked them and said I have a call with GP about UTI tomorrow so will tell them then that the bloods have come back negative. In my call to the GP I told them this and they said this is incorrect and that the bloods have not been tested as there was no clinical need.
I called the RAH back to say GP had said blood test was not done and could I confirm one way or other, they said definitely has been done and is negative. Called GP and confirmed this and asked for app for next steps so I could get retested as previously recommended. They booked me in and then called back amd said they'd cancelled my appointment as the GP I had spoken to about my UTI had said I did not need to speak to a GP about my blood tests and should not be offered an appointment. The GP then also said there was a note on the system to say I had called maternity a lot and was something else going on.
I explained I had called maternity a lot because of issues like this with the GP where it is hard to get clarity and I'm going back and forth. I then called the RAH maternity unit to ask about this note the GP had and see if they had any alerts or concerns. They said no, they aren't concerned cant see any alerts and they're not sure why the GP has said this. So I asked to speak to triage as the GP had said it was about calls to triage. Triage confirmed no alerts and no communication concerns and all fine.
The next day I get a call from my midwife at the vale of leven saying that the RAH have emailed her concerned that I have called a number of times in 24 hours and they're worried I'm anxious/worried and may require mental health support. I spoke to my midwife about this who explained mental health support is for women who are worried about labour/birth, scared of hospital or very worried about their baby's health or their own. None of these are me. I'm just going back and forth with inconsistent info from NHS providers giving me a headache.
Has anyone experienced similar and can tell me how they handled it or how they would? Im really enjoying my pregnancy and this is kind of taking away from that now and is starting to really make me feel down as though I should just not go to doctors for UTIs or blood tests etc because I'd rather not interact with them at all!
This sounds a total mess. I'm so sorry this is your experience. I'd honestly put through a formal complaint and inform your MP or MSP. You're likely not the only one with similar frustrations x