"There was just no need for that level of reaction"

My wife and I had an appointment at 10.30 am at the scanning department. We could not find any parking spaces or disabled spaces close to the maternity ward.

My wife is 34 weeks pregnant and I have stage 4 cancer. We finally managed to find a space but both struggled to make our way to the scanning department. We arrived 10 minutes late at 10.40. We apologized at reception and were taken straight through, where we apologized to the sonographer directly too.

As we got to the room, we we were told next time to call if we were going to be late, to which we agreed and apologized again and explained that we were looking for a space. The reply form the sonographer was to ask if it takes two to drive. It was unwelcoming and unnecessary to say the least.

The sonographer then progressed with our scan, mumbling sizes of things that we could not hear and they were not describing what was on the screen or showing us the baby in full. They then said because we were late, therefore making them late and the other appointments after us late , that's why they were rushing estimating sizes.

At the end of the scan, which took about 10 minutes, I asked for a photo of our baby, to which they replied they did not have time to take one. My wife by this point was in tears and told the sonographer that they had ruined the last scan for us and left the room. I stayed and asked again if they could please print a photo as it was very important to me, but once again was told that they didn't have time!

The staging of my cancer means I might not be around for my baby's birth and definitely not for the majority of his life, so every scan and picture is very important to me. 

We totally understand lateness causes disruption to everyone else, and were totally expecting to be told to wait as our appointment time was given to the next person, but to be treated in such a disgusting way by someone who is in a job to help and support families, I find this totally unacceptable and unforgivable over being 10 minutes late.

There was just no need for that level of reaction. We then made a private appointment and paid for our measurements and picture to be done privately.