Petition Close the 12-16 week gap so pregnant women with bleeding or pain always have somewhere to be seen
In Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Early Pregnancy Units stop seeing women at 12 weeks, but maternity triage will not see them until 16 weeks. Women who bleed or have pain in between are left with A&E or nowhere. Staff call it a “grey area”.
After three miscarriages, I was passed between hospitals while bleeding at 13 weeks.
We call on the Welsh Government to require every health board to provide a clear, 24/7 route to urgent assessment for women at 12 to 16 weeks.
More details
Bleeding or pain between 12 and 16 weeks can signal a serious complication and needs prompt assessment by staff trained in pregnancy care. A&E is not designed for this, and women can wait hours only to be redirected.
In my case, the Early Pregnancy Unit discharged me at 12 weeks, maternity triage would not see me before 16 weeks, and I was advised to attend A&E. Despite consultant-led care for recurrent miscarriage, no service would take responsibility for assessing me.
We do not know how many women in Wales are affected, or whether other health boards have the same gap. We ask the Welsh Government to:
find out whether each health board has a pathway for women at 12 to 16 weeks
require a single, clearly published point of contact, available 24/7
make sure Early Pregnancy and maternity services hand over care without leaving any gap.
Under NHS Wales’s Listening to People process, health boards must learn from concerns. This gap has been raised, but has not yet been fixed.
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