"Felt like an inconvenience"

We had an emotionally horrific experience at West Middlesex Hospital this weekend because of the way we were treated and made to feel by staff in the maternity services.

To put things in context, we are in the process of going through a miscarriage. Having seen an excellent doctor in the EPU on Friday, we received a call asking my wife to go in on Saturday for a blood test and injection because she is rhesus negative. Because the EPU was closed at the weekend we were asked to report to the maternity building. We assumed the place to check in was the desk we had previously been to at the Women's Health Unit in the maternity building, but when we got there we were not treated with sensitivity at all - and to the contrary the most important thing for them seemed to be to get us out of their area as quickly as possible.

When my wife said she was there for a blood test and anti-D injection, she was asked if she was pregnant, to which she said no. She was asked to repeat this in a crowded room and she said 'not any more'. When the reception staff realised she was ushered out as quickly as they could - one of the receptionists asked why we had been sent there and said we shouldn't been because they don't want to upset any other women. They showed no concern or consideration for our emotional wellbeing at all, and was more concerned with complaining about internal hospital politics as we were whisked away. We were taken through some secure doors into the other side of the building and left in the waiting area for the maternity ward along with a number of heavily pregnant women all towards the end of their pregnancy - one member of staff came in to ask who was there for the feeding class. This was obviously far from an ideal place for us to be given what we are going through. Meanwhile, a nurse here obviously hadn't been given an update from her colleague that brought us through, so we had to explain it again, in public, and then hear her go off and speak to and ask colleagues about it, all within earshot of where we were waiting with others. I went to ask if there was somewhere more private for us to wait and the nurse went to look and then pointed to a room, but we were not escorted there and were unsure which she had pointed to and were left standing in the corridor, so had to go and clarify. We eventually got the blood test done but they clearly had not read any notes. It was carried out in a manner which we felt was quite patronising.

All in all we came out of it just feeling quite shocked and upset. Of all the places that should understand how emotionally hard a miscarriage can be it should be a maternity unit, but at no stage in the experience did we feel any of the staff were interested in caring about us. We felt like we were an inconvenience getting in the way of their usual jobs..