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My pregnancy induction

Posted By Perth mum

"My pregnancy induction"

About: Maternity care / Labour Suite

(as the patient),

I was booked in for an induction at Ninewells Hospital and was delayed in  getting taken to labour suite due to staff shortage and emergencies.

I was left in a side room with limited information daily and told it might be next day repeatedly and still nobody came. It was a lot on my mental health and I’m lucky I had my husband with me.

I just hope other women don’t have to experience what I did! As if you are a single women in there then it would be awful lonely 

Not an experience I would like to have again and hope this kind of incident doesn’t happen to any other women 

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Responses

Response from Lee-Anne Abel, NHS Tayside 4 months ago
Lee-Anne Abel
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 12/12/2023 at 13:24
Published on Care Opinion at 13:24

Dear Perth Mum

I am sorry to hear that your induction of labour was delayed. In our obstetric unit we do have a mix of scheduled and unscheduled work. Due to the somewhat unpredictable nature of labour and birth, this can lead to peaks and troughs in activity that can create delays which are unavoidable and must be balanced with patient safety at the fore, This should have been explained to you prior to you accepting induction of labour as an intervention. I would like to apologise if this was not clear for you.

I am disappointed to hear that you did not feel you were updated regularly or kept abreast of the evolving situation across the department. We would expect all inpatients to be reviewed by our obstetric colleagues during the daily ward rounds and at this time you should be given an update to the situation and anticipated, although often unpredictable wait times. In addition to this our midwives working within the maternity floor should have provided you regular updates and check in during your stay. I will share your feedback across our midwifery and obstetric teams so they can understand how you felt isolated at times while you were waiting and ask them to consider how we can improve this for other expectant mothers. I appreciate this will not change your experience but hear really strongly that it is something you feel other mothers may find more supportive.

We are currently reviewing our induction of labour process within NHS Tayside and will use your feedback to help plan changes around the timings across the process.

I would like to apologise that your delays felt unsupportive to your needs and would like to thank you for taking time to share your story with us. We do acknowledge how waiting for the birth of your baby can feel frustrating for expectant mums and fathers and work really hard in service to ensure the flow of work is balanced with the holistic care needs of mothers across their stay.

Best Wishes,

Lee-Anne Abel, Senior Midwife

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Update posted by Perth mum (the patient)

A thank you for your quick reply. We never got daily obstetric visits to my room. We arrived on the Tuesday and the first doctor to visit us was on Sunday to update us and apologise for the delay.

I wasn’t informed at my appointment with the consultant about delays in being seen, so maybe that's something that needs to be said to ladies before accepting an induction appointment.

I was told my induction was necessary due to my risk factors of my age, and baby being in the large side. It is totally understandable that emergencies get seen first but if I had risk factors then where does that put someone like me on the list?

I cannot fault any of the staff at Ninewells, they were all lovely and brilliant, it’s just frustrating when your told nothing.

thanks

Response from Lee-Anne Abel, NHS Tayside 4 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Lee-Anne Abel
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 13/12/2023 at 08:55
Published on Care Opinion at 08:55

Dear Perth Mum

Thank you for providing this additional detail as it does really help me understand what could have made your stay more reassuring. I have shared your perspective with my obstetric colleagues for learning and reflection as women should be advised of the potential for delays and the system within which Induction of labour operates.

It is really kind of you to share your positive sentiment in your reply as I know our teams work really hard to deliver care with kindness and compassion and your feedback that this was the case is wonderful.

I understand your frustrations and please feel reassured that your feedback has been shared and acted upon from our perspective. As I mentioned previously we are going to implement new timings for Induction in a bid to ensure effective flow across the department.

I hope you are enjoying the early days with your new arrival and hope you have a lovely festive season.

Best Wishes,

Lee-Anne Abel, Senior Midwife

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