"Simpson’s maternity ward"

The staff at The Edinburgh Royal are overall fantastic, in particular the theatre personal for surgery, but some of the care pathway was not as pleasant.  I thought I would be afraid of unexpected changes and a surgical route but it turned out to be the most pleasant part for me. 

Lessons learned: 

During my Labour in a private room my midwife was accompanied by a new member of staff, shadowing on the job. I regret consenting for that. Rather than the extra person being of more help, the dynamic grew unpleasant. And it really distracted myself and my birthing partner. The senior member kept bickering to the new member of staff. They commented on their seniority, the new member of staff not pulling their weight, and rolled their yes at them several times. This got out of hand and I found it very unprofessional. I started to stand up for the new member of staff and as I was trying to work through my Labour, which ended up prolonged this was the last thing we needed, it really was unpleasant to be part of but I think neither realised what impact this had on us as part of patient experience. 

Luckily the shift changed staff and later we had student midwives for the final stages. To be honest, they seemed to be most professional. In fact one who guided me through a resistance towel pull technique was amazing and I put full trust in her to get me to the finish line. Communication at that stage was excellent. I never thought I would be prepared for last minute changes with a surgical route but in the end the theatre was not scary, it was calm, staff were so professional and communication then was amazing. I was amazed at the level of staff/patient interaction and how they managed the situation as a whole. 

I personally was unprepared for the postnatal experience in a shared open ward and maybe moved from high dependency too soon. I was in a lot of pain, immobile, uneducated in how to feed and moving from a high dependency ward to postnatal late at night expecting me to function was a big ask. Staff were under pressure and it did not feel so welcome at this stage. 

The heat was unbearable in the ward, visitor hours long and noisy prolonging recovery for mums, in the end it was so unbearable it nudges us all out of there home as soon as possible. I just wish more attention was put on helping both mum and baby to function in a more educational, non judgemental way at this vulnerable stage for both.

To help: 

More consistency in midwife to patient interaction across day and night shifts would help. Communication is important but equally moments of active listening and even silence ! can also be of importance for patients to feel calm and safe in the care of others :) 

Thank you