"Sadly disappointing"

What I liked

My daughter was delivered safely and you cannot put a price on that, obviously. I was also lucky enough to get my own room with private bathroom, (though I feel this may have been because I am a hospital employee).

The hospital was generally clean and my birthing midwife, (although a trainee), was very friendly.

All pain relief and eventual forceps delivery were handled very efficiently and quickly.

What could be improved

- My biggest bug bear with JR maternity is that I only found out months after my stay that there was a drop-in breastfeeding clinic in the same building I was staying in (for 5 days). When I mentioned some minor difficulties with breastfeeding, this wasn't even mentioned, despite me being more than able to take myself along.

In fact, what happened is that a healthcare assistant forced me to instead supplement my daughters feeds with formula, a habit we were never able to break away from and consequently my milk dried up completely when she was just 4 months old.

This was in complete contrast to Government guidelines at the time and something I felt I was made to feel very embaraased about when my community midwife first visited. To know that I could have dropped in to see a specialist infuriates me to this day, a year later!

- during my stay I was made to move the entirety of my belongings to another room on the ward and then back again the next day with no satisfactory explanation.

- I felt very isolated on the ward (a floor of indiviual rooms - "Spires"), and it was very difficult to find help when I needed it. The place seemed bereft of staff. Although I appreciate national shortages, I am forunate not to have experienced a real emergency.

- being very anaemic post-birth I was told a doctor would visit me. They did - 3 days later and stayed for 5 minutes.

Anything else?

I write this feedback with a heavy heart. I am a fierce champion of the NHS and of the JR, but I also believe that change cannot come without knowledge.