Community Services - CSH surrey 2024-05-01 Person 3 5 0

A mess of an experience of the service, referral and appointment.

QR code leading to this form was floating on a page with no explanation about what it was or direction to it. Do you actually want feedback?! Tongue tie service experience a fiasco. Initial referral rejected due to HV submitting incomplete and wrong form at 2wks old. Referred and offered an appointment when baby c. 11wks old. Managed to request a cancellation, seen at 8wks. Practitioner unprofessionally blamed midwives for being seen late - midwives had been clear they are unable to refer if baby gaining weight (mine rose from 25th to 70th centile). I suggested TT team need to liaise with community/midwives if they have the wrong information about referrals. Practitioner heavily implied I should have gone private (despite weight gain and no pain on feeding after 1wk old) and that I’m not doing so I was making her job harder to have to cut an older baby. The delay was systemic and I had no obvious reason to go private. In the consultation I stated when baby was last fed and frequency of feeds - I’d followed the instructions in the later about minimum time since last feed, and he was at about 2hrs at time of procedure but uninterested in feeding. Practitioner made me feel awful that he wasn’t hungry. Maybe letter shouldn’t state a time given mine was nolonger newborn, or practitioner shouldn’t have released TT then if it wasn’t enough time since feed. I also informed her my older son had to have two cuts as it was so profound, but she was very confident in being able to do it better. In the event, she only partially cut and decided not to cut further due to bleeding, so I was left in a quandary about whether enough had been done. On assessment, I was repeatedly told my son’s tongue was pathetic. I was made to feel very guilty and yet - wait time not my fault - clarity on hunger not my fault - TT not my fault - I’ve not fed a newborn before as first child had a rare medical condition and I pumped for first 4-5 months as I was not allowed to breastfeed - I don’t know issues of later procedure, especially as thriving and no pain - practitioner could have delayed procedure if uncomfortable with feed times Someone should point out urgency (age and strength if worsening outcomes, feeding style) given I didn’t have reason to justify going private and I wouldn’t want to do an unnecessary procedure. I was then told to go private to get a second cut. The person I contacted felt this was unwarranted (phone consultation) and unethical. I am hoping that as baby continues to thrive now, their future is not impacted. After speaking to them, I serenely got emailed a link for another feedback form too - with loads of parents emails not blind copied!! Another Datix fir the service!