General information

General information about Walsall Healthcare’s Maternity Services.

Ultrasound Scan Information

Patient Letter for Obstetric Ultrasound

CHANGES TO ACCOMPANYING PERSONS INTO OBSTETRIC ULTRASOUND SCANS

1) To align service provision with other hospitals in the West Midlands region and the LMNS, unfortunately, we are no longer able to allow children to accompany adults into scan rooms.

There are no childcare facilities provided in ultrasound waiting areas and children should not be left unaccompanied. If you do attend with children, you will be offered another scan appointment. For those who have childcare issues we have extended our service to offer appointments on evenings and weekends. Should you have concerns please speak to your community midwife at booking so we can try our best to support your pregnancy journey.

The reasons behind this change are as follows:

A sonographer needs to maintain a high level of concentration to ensure that your scan is undertaken to the highest standard. The working environment must remain calm and peaceful to facilitate the scan as distractions may lead the sonographer to miss something.
Scan rooms are small clinical areas which have not been designed to accommodate children. They contain hazards such as hot water taps, high voltage electronic equipment, low-level cupboards and sharps bins which all have the potential to harm your child whilst you are busy having your scan and are unable to maintain supervision.
Some examinations are “intimate” examinations which require the patient to be in either a state of undress or to undertake an internal transvaginal scan which could be considered inappropriate for children to observe.
Parents attending antenatal scans do not often consider that they may receive bad news, this can be equally distressing for children to hear as well as the parents.

This change has been made to ensure that you are in receipt of the highest quality scan and with children’s welfare in mind.

2) To ensure that your Ultrasound examination is undertaken to the highest quality standard, Only 1 support partner will be allowed to accompany the patient into the Ultrasound room. Exceptions to this rule would include, surrogacy, under 16’s who need an adult present, and patients who need hospital interpreters.

Reasons for this change are as follows.

1) The waiting area is not large enough to facilitate large groups, on occasions, pregnant women have been forced to stand and wait for their appointment as there was no seats available.

2) Previously we have allowed partners to swap places during the scan, however this causes distractions and may result in something being missed.

3) When several people are gathered in the scan room there is a tendency for them to talk and this causes distraction and may make it difficult for the Sonographer to communicate with the patient, particularly if they have to give bad news.

Under no circumstance should the Ultrasound examination be Video recorded due to confidentiality and therefore phones must not be visible at any point during the examination. This is to protect the privacy of both the patient and staff present in the room.

Unfortunately, due to the high demand for Ultrasound examinations, we are unable to guarantee the sex of the sonographer/Clinical Support Worker due to unforeseen staffing levels. However, should you require a preferred sex of those performing your scan, please make this known on your arrival at the Antenatal Reception desk and we try our upmost to accommodate your request.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.