"Maternity Triage - No communication/ patient..."

I am 24 weeks into my first pregnancy and had lost some blood on a Sunday evening.

Although I was not immediately alarmed and persuaded myself that everything would be ok, I called Maternity Triage the following morning.

The Receptionist/Assistant that assisted that initial call was extremely rude and actually brought me to tears on putting down the phone.

I am a member of Staff at the Hospital and would never treat somebody the way that she did!

I explained my symptoms to her and advised her that I was calling as I had another episode of bleeding on the Monday morning - she told me that 'I should not be calling a day later' and continued to tell me 'I was obviously bleeding from somewhere but it was going to be difficult to find where because I had left it so late'.

As this is my first pregnancy I am not too sure what to expect and had spoken to family members about my symptoms who reassured me and take a 'watch and wait approach'.

This particular lady left me feeling guilty and IF something had of been wrong I would have blamed myself forever just because of the few rude words that she did say to me.

I was called into the Triage Department where I was greeted by a much more friendlier team and the Midwife that assisted me was very supportive and reassuring.

I was thoroughly checked over and thankfully everything was fine.

I would like to say that the Midwifery Team were extremely good and really did reassure me.

However, my first account over the telephone was very off putting and as mentioned above left me feeling very upset and guilty.

I would like to add as a member of Staff that Healthcare Professionals should take much more care in the advice that they are giving and think how there words could damage somebody long term.

I am a strong believer of 'treat people how you wish to be treated' and this very individual did not do that!