"Theatre recovery"

I wish to highlight a recent experience I had while having my gallbladder removed in Daisy Hill Hospital in December.

In December 2022 I lost my first born son shortly after he was delivered, as a result I have struggled with my mental health and hospitals are a big trigger. I currently have an 11 month old, throughout my pregnancy and postnatal period I have been supported by the perinatal mental health team in the Southern Trust.

I discussed my traumatic loss with my Perinatal mental health nurse who helped me to communicate my concerns prior to my admission. These were also relayed to all staff during my pre-op assessment and again on the morning of my surgery along with theatre staff when I arrived down.

I was not made aware that Daisy Hill hospital had shared theatres with maternity. Unfortunately once into recovery I was in close proximity to a mother and her newborn baby, hearing the baby cry whilst only coming round myself really triggered me and found myself getting distressed.

The staff were made aware of my previous history and fears I had whilst being in the hospital setting, so I feel they should have tried to prevent this from happening or at least I should’ve had some sort of warning. I had to inform the staff why I was so distressed and insisted I was returned to the ward immediately. The staff put radio on to ‘block out the noise’ however, this was not helpful at all.

I do want to highlight when on my return to the ward the nursing staff were excellent and very attentive to my needs, I simply want to raise this as I feel it should not of happened and I would like to prevent this from occurring someone else he has been through similar situations as myself.