Naaz attends the antenatal booking clinic with her husband, Guneet. They have recently moved into the area after her husband was relocated by his company where he works as an IT specialist.
The receptionist had booked the appointment for the couple last week when the couple attended the GP surgery to register as new residents and Naaz disclosed that she was pregnant.
At the appointment today it becomes clear that Naaz does not speak as fluent English as her husband but he acted as the interpreter during the appointment. Naaz explains that she only arrived in England from the Punjab 2 years ago when she was 16 years old.
As her named midwife you considered rescheduling the appointment to allow time to book an interpreter but decided that since Naaz was already 12 weeks pregnant by her dates and there were no other appointment slots to rearrange for a few weeks due to the Bank Holiday, you decided that the delay might impact on Naaz’s screening options so carried on with the appointment.
As her midwife you explain you have to ask lots of questions during the appointment. Occasionally you were able to use your work mobile phone to use Google translate for some of the questions especially when her husband did not appear to be translating all that you had asked.
During the appointment Guneet leaves to take a call on his mobile phone from his boss. Naaz bursts into tears and says she is very sad and lonely. It becomes clear that Naaz knows no one in the area, her only family in the UK live live in the north of England , where they have just moved from. She says “she feels really guilty as Guneet works long hours, this was a great promotion so soon after leaving Uni and he is trying to build a good life for her and her baby.” She says “please do not tell him how unhappy I am?’