Waiting times at antenatal clinics

[Glamourcide]

My record was 4 hours and 25mins waiting for antenatal clinic! I would have given up and gone home but I was nearly a week overdue and desperate to get bub out so I sat there and waited (even though I knew DH would crack because I wasn't there to pick him up from work and he didn't have keys to get into the house).
I was told when I booked all my appts at 35 wks (I went through my GP until then) that they were so busy with pregnant women they were deliberately double-booking appts because antenatal clinic was only one day a week and there just weren't enough hours in the day to see all the women they needed to see. So generally if you were given a 1pm appt, you knew you would be twiddling your thumbs until around 3pm, then get a three-minute check (blood pressure, weight and fundal height) and then they'd boot you out so they could get the next appt underway.

That's why I stuck with my GP until she kicked me out. I don't believe women who are going public should even be at the hospital until 36 weeks unless it's a moderate- to high-risk pregnancy - if you go to your GP you get the exact same service, on time, and you can go bulk-billing (which I did with both kids) and it eases the burden on the hospitals when the area is experiencing a baby boom.
Just ETA: FWIW, the people I saw at the hospital for both my pregnancies were not Obs, just a doctor - you see an Ob once before you give birth if you're lucky, so I had no worries about staying with my GP, she was just as qualified and experienced as the random doctors I saw at the hospital