"Maternity care"

Unfortunately, I have not had a good experience with Kings midwife team. I am not one to leave reviews normally but I have been so disappointed and upset after my 3 experiences with the team, I felt I had to. 

My midwife was 45 minutes late to my 9-week midwife appointment which gave me a bad first impression, especially as my partner and I had come 10 minutes early, meaning we were waiting to be seen for nearly an hour. As we were the first appointment of the day, this was incredibly frustrating and meant my partner had to leave soon into the appointment to go back to work. Our midwife gave a mumbled apology and no explanation as to why they were so late. 

On my 2nd midwife appointment, I felt there was a real lack of connection/care from the midwife. They barely asked me any questions about how I was feeling and took my blood in the most painful way I have ever had blood taken (I'm a regular blood donor and have never been left with a bruise like that before).

The 3rd encounter which has tipped me over the edge was when I phoned the midwife team to ask about a physio appointment being brought forward due to worsening back pain to which I was given a very unhelpful -  you need to phone the physio team as we can't do anything. I thanked them and then asked about pregnancy rhinitis which I've had since the beginning of my pregnancy. The midwife responded with - I can't give you any remedies for a blocked nose, try a pharmacy. And when I questioned whether I could have a piriton, they sighed and said - of course you can, despite everything else I've read on the back of antihistamine boxes. 

I myself work in public services and know how difficult it is when you are stretched and working flat out, but that does not excuse the rudeness and lack of compassionate I have had from 2 separate midwives on 3 separate occasions. This most recent interaction left me in tears and I promptly filled out a referral form to another hospital. 

Appointments