What has your gynae experience been like?

I'm delivering at TMC and this is my first pregnancy. I seldom deal with specialists/hospitals, only going to the GP when I have the flu, so I'm not sure if my experience with my gynae clinic is the norm and I just had high expectations, or if they are just unprofessional and uncoordinated. Most of the time the consultation is very mechanical - the doctor does the ultrasound, then says everything's ok, when he'll see me next, and bye. I've had to cut in after the Bye to ask him questions about symptoms that I have, and what to expect/look out for. I had expected much more handholding and guidance seeing this is my first pregnancy and honestly you won't know what questions to ask, or what symptoms are red flags unless you had been actively googling it - is this not what you pay a specialist to advise you for? I am aware I need to do 2 vaccinations, whooping cough and flu - but the doctor totally forgot about it. I was paying the bill when I queried the nurse and she realized that this is the week I was supposed to take the shot and ushered me back into the clinic. After I'm done with the consultation, it's almost a one hour wait for the nurses to process the bill and advise on the next steps. And even so, a lot of times this is messed up. Like today I overheard they forgot to bill another patient for something last visit. I waited 40 min for them to print out my hospital form... But only the name was correct and all the details were wrong (prices were 5x what were agreed I don't even know what happened there). And we now just found out that we have to register at the hospital online ourselves (because we happened to doubleconfirm this with the staff), the clinic won't be processing for us, which was different from what was advised initially. I'm in the banking sector, this type of professional advice and service will be negligence.... But my husband said this just may be the norm in the medical industry. I'm wondering if I should go back to this clinic for my next pregnancy, or if this is the same experience across the board. What has your experience been like? #firstbaby #advicepls #pregnancy

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Wow sorry to hear about your experience at your gynae clinic. My first gynae was a 5 minute doctor as well - very clinical, and just robotic la. He is very well known under Thomson medical as well, but I got disappointed and went for second opinion elsewhere. In stark contrast, my second gynae was so amazing and fatherly and patient. He is private but not under the TMC group…and I can tell you it’s not “industry norm” to get a 5 min doc. You have those, but you also have the opposite type so I guess it’s impt which type suits you as the gynae will be walking with you through from conception to birth. the rest is history. I followed through and appointed the second gynae as MY gynae. 🙂 he delivers at TMC too which I chose. And his clinic would make the necessary pre admission notification to TMC. Having said that, There are other well reviewed gynaes under TMC too…so I guess doing some research beforehand helps!

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2y ago

Thanks for sharing! My current gynae is quite well reviewed too; I was definitely not expecting a 5min doctor from the forum/Google comments. I think I should rely on word of mouth next time, but I don't have any close friends/relatives who delivered recent years. Your current gynae sounds great, I would have loved a fatherly kind for my first pregnancy. All the best for your delivery!

Hello. Ive had this issue before. The first gynae likes to rush through our consultation and seems like she’s not willing to answer my qtns. Felt like she just wanted to chase us out too. The only answer that she gave me was “its okay, its normal”. Nothing reassuring from her. I spent nights googling to get my answers and it’s frustrating as i was paying for private consultation and that was the kind of treatment that i got. My husb and i decided to go with another gynae, and im so glad we made that decision. I’d say find a gynae who makes you comfortable and safe. ☺️

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Oh dear, that doesn't sound so assuring especially for a first time mum, especially since it is TMC. Maybe you'd like to try out another gynae either from same hospital or elsewhere. I'm seeing a gynae from kkh and the experience is better than what you described. May not be the best of hospitals (subjective) but everything is systematic and so far I've been treated well by the staff there. Hope you find a better gynae and experience soon!

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2y ago

thanks for sharing! we might go KKH as private patients next pregnancy, I've heard it is more systematic. Unfortunately I can't switch anymore as I'd signed the package - it's just that the incidents had been stacking up and we are getting increasingly unsettled. I'm not worried for the delivery as the gynae is well known and comes with great reviews; I'm just very confused by the discrepancy in service vs the online reviews.

I’m with Dr Woodworth and I have no complaints. He was recommended by my step mom. Very straight forward and consultations were swift. His SK staffs were all very nice too. *He suits me because I don’t like to talk.*

2y ago

Thanks! A much older colleague recommended Dr Woodworth too, but warned he was super brief and I decided to search online as I wanted a friendly doctor who would be more communicative.

Same exp as my gynae from TMC despite many positive reviews online. Definitely won’t be going back to him for future pregnancy

Hi, may I know which doctor you went to at TMC? Just wanting to avoid the same pitfall. Thanks!

Our TMC Gyane is also a 5 minute session.. it can be quite disappointing