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Experience at EOU

Posted By disinfectantqf64

"Experience at EOU"

About: Maternity / Emergency Obstetric Unit

(as the patient),

I attended EOU in the Ulster maternity several days ago, when I had vaginal bleeding during pregnancy and was advised to attend after phoning EOU for advice. I had arrived just after night shift had started, and the only person I saw in 4.5 hours was a student midwife (who was very competent), but had no interaction from any  midwife’s/medical staff until 4.5 hours after my arrival.

I work in the Health Service so I can appreciate the pressures that each department is under; but it appeared to be well staffed and not particularly busy. I was advised that my ketones were high (but given no treatment for the same), and felt like there had been no reading into my notes as it would have explained that I had hyperemesis. Whilst I was there, another pregnant patient’s waters had broke an hour previous, and she was still sat in front of me for 1.5 hours without having been seen by a midwife.

I was able to overhear conversations between other patients and midwives, where a midwife actively encouraged several women to sign a form to discharge themselves, telling them it would be a long wait. I did not hear them explaining that they would be discharging against medical advice - I was honestly appalled at this as a health care professional, it came across as if she was recommending discharge to make her shift easier.  

I am grateful for the care I eventually received, but this experience has frightened me for the remainder of my pregnancy journey, and if I go into labour, will I too be waiting 1.5 hours before I see a midwife? I was also discharged with my maternity notes, but on the back of it was a urinalysis result of another patient, with their name and health and care number listed. 

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Responses

Response from Sarah McKevitt, Lead Midwife, Woman & Acute Child Health - Maternity, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust 11 months ago
Sarah McKevitt
Lead Midwife, Woman & Acute Child Health - Maternity,
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 10/07/2024 at 17:57
Published on Care Opinion at 17:57

Dear disinfectantqf64,

Thank you for taking the time to post this valuable feedback. I wish to apologise for the delays that you experienced when you attended and I hope the bleeding that you had has now eased.

I plan to share your feedback with the team in EOU. You have raised a lot of very important issues which we are keen to address. I hope the rest of your pregnancy is uneventful but if you would like to have these issues investigated in more depth please contact me directly at sarah.mckevitt@setrust.hscni.net. Alternatively if you wish to raise as a complaint please contact the complaints department on the link provided on the trust website or alternatively at complaints@setrust.hscni.net.

Yours Sincerely

Sarah

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by disinfectantqf64 (the patient)

Thank you Sarah for engaging with my feedback.

My intention is not to lodge a formal complaint but instead to raise these concerns openly here on Care Opinion in alignment with HSC policy and the Nursing and Midwifery Council professional standards.

According to the NMC guidance on raising concerns - nurses and midwives must “act without delay" if they "believe that there is a risk to patient safety or public protection”. This supports early, informal action to protect patients and promote learning.

The NMC and GMC joint guidance on duty of candour states that all healthcare professionals have a duty of candour and must be open and honest with patients, and should offer apology and appropriate remedy when care falls short.

Key concerns

1. Excessive wait times of over four and a half hours before being seen by clinical staff despite apparent adequate staffing

2. Clinical management where high ketone levels were recorded but no treatment or consideration of my hyperemesis history was offered

3. Discharge advice where patients were encouraged to self discharge without clear information that this could go against medical advice

4. A serious confidentiality breach when I left with another patient’s urinalysis attached to my notes including their name and HSC number

What I hope to see

• A public response here on Care Opinion demonstrating openness and accountability that reflects NMC and HSC duty of candour standards

• Details of specific actions the Trust will take regarding wait times clinical responsiveness patient communication and protections for confidentiality

• A commitment to open dialogue and ongoing local improvement via this platform

I look forward to hearing via this platform how the EOU team will address these important issues and work to implement meaningful improvements

Response from Zoe Meneilly, Clinical Manager Maternity & Gynaecology & Deputy Head of Midwifery, Maternity & Gynaecology Services, South Eastern HSC Trust last week
Zoe Meneilly
Clinical Manager Maternity & Gynaecology & Deputy Head of Midwifery, Maternity & Gynaecology Services,
South Eastern HSC Trust

Submitted on 24/06/2025 at 18:58
Published on Care Opinion at 21:18

disinfectantqf64,

As Deputy Head of Midwifery, I would like to apologise for your negative experience in EOU. EOU is an emergency department where women are triaged and seen in order of clinical priority and lengthy waits are sometimes unavoidable. Waiting times will also be impacted by availability of medical staff who may be dealing with emergency cases. Activity is not always evident to those having to wait and I fully appreciate how frustrating and worrying this can be.

However, I would request that you contact either myself or Sarah via email as we are unable to fully investigate or respond to clinical scenarios without your details and a full picture of events and it would be inappropriate to do so on a public forum. We are keen to engage with you to see how we can improve services and investigate if there is learning to be shared with the team.

I cannot comment on the care of other women attending the department but we are absolutely committed to working with service users to help improve our service and investigate untoward incidents. I can be reached via email zoe.meneilly@setrust.hscni.net or alternatively via the complaints department email as shared above.

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Update posted by disinfectantqf64 (the patient)

Dear Zoe

Thank you for your response and apology.

I appreciate your request to discuss details via email to better understand the full clinical picture. However, I have intentionally chosen Care Opinion because it provides a safe, anonymous platform for open dialogue while protecting my privacy. To facilitate your review while maintaining my anonymity, I have included key clinical markers and details here:

When and where:

• First week of June 2025

• Arrived just after the night shift began

• Emergency Obstetric Unit, Ulster Maternity

What happened:

• Pregnancy with vaginal bleeding

• Waited 4 hours 30 minutes before being assessed by a midwife or doctor (seen only briefly by a student midwife who provided competent care)

• Recorded urine ketones plus 4 no IV fluids or antiemetics administered despite a history of hyperemesis

• Observed another patient with ruptured membranes wait for over an hours before being assessed

• Witnessed a midwife advising several women to self discharge without clearly informing them this was against medical advice

• Discharged with another patient’s urinalysis record containing their name and Health and Care number raising concerns about patient confidentiality

What I am requesting:

1. Service level review covering

• Triage wait times

• Escalation procedures for clinical markers (for example high ketones)

• Staff communications regarding self discharge

• Management of patient identifiable information

2. Public update in this thread to include

• Acknowledgement and confirmation of a target completion date within ten working days

• Summary of findings and planned actions within eight weeks

3. Confirmation that the Trust will publish the summary here on Care Opinion even if further internal work continues beyond that

Please let me know if additional non identifying details would help your review. I will gladly provide them here.

@CareOpinion – Could you please confirm that maintaining our conversation on thread aligns with the site's anonymity policy?

Thank you again for supporting transparency and ongoing service improvement. I look forward to the Trust’s response and hope this review contributes to better experiences for current and future patients.

Kind regards

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