I gave birth prematurely in May 2025 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Throughout my antenatal care, up to the point of delivery and postnatal care, I found almost all the staff to be brilliant. In particular Rosalie, Julia, and Sinead/Siobhan (sorry I don't remember!) in the labour ward who helped deliver my baby girl with minimal intervention, and Laura, Heather, and all the midwives and assistants on the postnatal ward (Laura was an absolute gem after I had had a rough first night, and even came and checked in a few days later when we were still there even though she was working on a different room). I'm sorry I've forgotten more names - the midwife who pulled me through when I was finding expressing a completely disheartening experience and got me to the point where my milk actually came in was totally brilliant too.
What was clear though is that these brilliantly hardworking people are being let down by the facilities they're in. For example, during labour, they tried to honour my request for wireless monitoring, only for the machine to play up and wired monitoring being required - which meant then one of the midwives was essentially having to hold the monitor in place, rather than do any other parts of her job.
Despite not using rooms to their full capacity in order to reduce overcrowding, the postnatal wards are cramped by the time you take into consideration a bed for the mothers, the babies cots, and the equipment the midwives need to bring in. They had very little agency in asking patients to adhere to visitor numbers, and the day room is so poorly equipped that it isn't even really a usable space - if it were even like the day room on the antenatal ward, visitors could at least go there rather than crowding the ward rooms.
No-one is expecting the food to be good, but there should be provision for serving larger meals. These are pregnant or newly postpartum women, many of whom are breastfeeding or expressing, who have some of the highest caloric needs, which is absolutely not reflected in the meals provided - partly I believe because of the logistical difficulties in delivering these.
There is very little provision for women needing longer stays in the postnatal ward - shared rooms might be fine for those staying a night or two, but I honestly believe that had we been in a private room or one with only one other person, our 6 night stay would have been 3 or 4, as we dealt with jaundice and then weight and feeding issues for our premature baby. Ironically, had my baby been less well on birth, we may have had access to better facilities had we been in NICU/children's hospital.
In my view, the fact that the maternity unit wasn't upgraded when the Southern General became the QEUH is a scandal, and a disservice to the staff doing their utmost to provide the best care they can. If I were to have another baby, I would be happy to use the QEUH based on my positive experience of the staff, but would go in with my eyes open about the facilities, and desperately hope they have some investment soon.
"Excellent staff that need better resources"
About: Maternity care / Labour suite maternity Maternity care Labour suite maternity G51 4TF Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow / Maternity care Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow Maternity care Glasgow G51 4TF
Posted by BackgroundRain21 (as ),
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