"Despite the stress staff showed professionalism"

I gave birth to my second child at Wishaw General Hospital 8 weeks ago and would like to post about two aspects of the care. First of all each individual staff member that I met did an amazing job. I felt that they really cared about me and wanted the best possible outcome during my stay. From cleaning staff to HCSW's to Midwives and doctors - they worked tirelessly to provide such a high level of care and I really appreciated them all.

What needs improved is the staffing levels on all of these wards, and I think management should be ashamed of the conditions their staff are having to work under. I was admitted for induction in August, moved to a labour room after two days and postnatal later that night, where I stayed till discharge a few days later. On one of the nights there was ONE trained midwife and one auxilliary to care for the entire induction ward, which was full (12 patients). The following day there were only two midwives for the ward. I think that it is appalling to expect a single trained member of staff to be able to effectively monitor and treat women who - by the very nature of induction - are there because there are complications with their pregnancy/medical issues/high risk etc.

There was not a single day during my stay (6 days and 5 nights) when the ward I was on was fully staffed. 

I had pre-eclampsia and previous PPH and was induced at 38 weeks. They identified that I was ready to have my waters broken in the afternoon, however I had to wait a further 12 hours before there was a room and staff member available to do this (despite being part of the best start pilot). During this time another woman in my ward very nearly delivered her baby in the induction ward because they didn't have any labour rooms to move her to either.

August and September are two of the busiest months for births and this is a fact that has been well documented since records began so I find it hard to believe that we can still find ourselves in a situation where the staffing and accommodation are inadequate to deal with the numbers of women being admitted. 

Despite the obvious stress that this was causing the staff they continued on with their work and showed incredible professionalism in difficult circumstances. Please, managers, sort this out. Your staff appear stressed, overworked and under-appreciated and I believe it is creating an environment where with the best will in the world there may be the potential for serious safety breaches and compromised patient safety.

I hope this can be passed on to the staff who looked after me on those days (apologies that I can't remember any specific names - baby brain!) to thank them for their kindness and care; and to their managers as a wake-up call to get their act together before something tragic happens.