St Thomas’s Hospital has admitted there are delays to pregnancy scans after a woman said had to wait three weeks for a slot.
The News contacted the Trust after a woman, who asked to be kept anonymous, told us she spent weeks calling and emailing the hospital trying to book her first maternity scan, but was repeatedly told that none were available.
She was eventually offered an appointment scheduled 17 weeks into her pregnancy – around three weeks later than she should have received her scan.
The Guy’s and St Thomas’s Trust website states that women should receive a maternity scan within the first 11-14 weeks of pregnancy.
The scans check how far along a woman is in her pregnancy and whether the baby is developing as expected.
After the News contacted the trust to ask if there was a delay, a spokesperson admitted some pregnant women had been forced to wait longer for their first scan because of ‘increased demand and capacity pressures’.
The spokesperson said: “We recognise that some women have experienced longer waits than expected for their first maternity scan at St Thomas’, and we are sorry for any frustration or worry this has caused.
“The delays are due to increased demand and capacity pressures within our ultrasound services. We have put a number of measures in place to reduce the backlog, including additional support from our doctors to help our sonographers, and recruiting to the vacancies we have within the team.
“We are continuing to closely monitor the situation and are working hard to bring waiting times back down as quickly as possible.”
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The spokesperson did not directly comment on how many patients at the trust have been affected.
