Care Opinion

Text size

Theme

Language

Videos in BSL or ISL
Help with language translation
Help with reading or listening

I felt as though I was not listened to or heard

Posted By Launm88

"I felt as though I was not listened to or heard"

About: Antrim Area Hospital / Ward C2 Maternity care

(as the patient),

I had my baby the day Coleraine hospital maternity ward closed. My birthing experience was fantastic as I had my Coleraine lotus midwife with me the whole time. However my experience before and after my midwife arrived and left was not as pleasant.

The maternity ward was at capacity in Antrim. There was no running water on the ward when I arrived just after giving birth. The midwife’s on the ward seemed to have no time for me or my baby, it was a student midwife that completed most of our care.

I felt as though I was not listened to or heard throughout my whole experience. I struggled massively with exhaustion and shock as it was my first baby, I received no help from any of the midwives even after explaining how I felt and explaining that I was struggling to cope.

I felt an immense amount of shame as I was visibly struggling more than any of the other mothers, I continuously fell asleep with my baby on top of me as I was exhausted from having no sleep in over 40 hours, again I had no help and it was borderline dangerous.  

The next day a midwife came in to talk to the women about contraception and other things. I felt I had backhanded comments thrown at me by midwife’s, about my young age.

It has put me off having any more babies, just to avoid Antrim maternity ward. The decision to close Coleraine maternity ward was not just inconvenient, but I feel dangerous. For the sake of myself and many more women Coleraine maternity ward needs to be reopened.

More about:
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Louisa Lapworth, Lead Midwife, Maternity Services, Women, Children and Families, NHSCT nearly 2 years ago
Louisa Lapworth
Lead Midwife, Maternity Services, Women, Children and Families,
NHSCT

Submitted on 27/10/2023 at 18:26
Published on Care Opinion at 18:26

Dear Launm88,

I am Louisa Lapworth, Lead Midwife in Antrim Maternity.

Thankyou for taking the time to complete this feedback. Your feedback is invaluable and I want to assure you that we take the issues raised are taken seriously.

I am particularly sorry to hear that you felt as though you weren't listened to, felt shame and didn't feel supported. We strive to provide compassionate, supportive care for all our women and this is not the standard of care we would wish women to receive.

I will take forward your concerns to the maternity ward Sister so that we can review the care given in the postnatal period and take the learning forward and share with staff. We want all women to feel supported and to be treated with kindness.

The reconfiguration of maternity services was put out to public consultation. The maternity model that we had in the Northern Trust was unsustainable and so the decision was made to amalgamate services for births on the Antrim site. We do continue to have maternity services in the Causeway locality for antenatal and postnatal women and our focus is on developing services for women on this site

I would be very keen to discuss some of the detail of your feedback with you if you felt this was appropriate. I am saddened to hear that this has impacted future choices around having more children and I would be keen to listen to your concerns and offer any support that I can.

Please do contact me on Tel 07825106240

Many thanks for your time,

Kind Regards,

Louisa Lapworth

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k