"Induction experience"

Awful induction experience. After coming back a day later than scheduled the process was started after nine hours of waiting in a room with no communication.

Later that day my contractions were every 5 minutes, lasting a minute each time, I asked for pain relief (paracetamol, codeine- anything!) They said they would get some- After an hour of agony I asked again and was told I had to wait as doctors were doing handover. I didn’t get any pain relief until three hours after I initially asked- when they checked I was already in established labour.

I then asked for an epidural and was told the anaesthesiologist was in theatre and I again had to wait. By the time the anaesthesiologist was available there was no time for an epidural and I had quite a traumatic birth with the amount of pain.

The midwife who actually delivered my baby was amazing, but the bedside manner for 80% of the staff I encountered on delivery suite was appalling- everything was rushed- when somebody came to put me on the monitor I asked to go to the toilet before it started and I got an eye roll and attitude. My partner also heard the staff at the desk making fun of a question another patient had asked!

In my view, there is a severe lack of patient care. I understand it is busy and low staff, but women come to this unit in the most vulnerable position of their lives and we should expect to not feel like an inconvenience.