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My labour experience

Posted By Newham mum

"My labour experience"

About: Newham General Hospital / Maternity care

(as a service user),

Highlights of my 3-day labour: 

- I felt the consultant pushed me into an induction I did not want. Refused to just monitor the overdue pregnancy despite my repeatedly asking for this. This is against NICE guidelines. 
- consultant refused an outpatient induction in spite of this being a low-risk induction (again, this is against NICE guidelines)
- being told I can't possibly be in pain as I wasn't screaming (pain was too high to breathe let alone scream, which isn't uncommon in an induction)
- no pain relief given in spite of me repeatedly begging for it.
- One midwife didn't believe my waters had broken despite puddle on the floor. This is the most puzzling to me & it really rankles not to be believed on something so obvious. 
- different midwife not giving me pitocin in time meaning the induction stalled
- I was not allowed to stay on the birthing ball, a midwife made me lie back on the bed. I believe this is another (although lesser) reason the induction did not work. 
- different midwife instructed me to push when I wasn't fully dilated. I feel this is causing me physical pain today still, 6 months after the birth of my child. 
- midwife checking and replying to texts instead of helping me push. 
- not being allowed to leave the hospital after the birth due to an issue with our baby - but not being told what the issue was, or indeed being offered any treatment for the baby. We saw over a dozen medical staff during that time and kept asking what was wrong and what they were going to do about it and not a single one of them ever answered. This caused major distress to my partner and myself as we obviously got very worried.
6 months on our baby is a perfectly happy healthy child so I'm still not clear what the hold up was. 
- I was woken up through the night, every night after the birth to be offered pain killers, although I didn't need them. This one particularly rankles as I was denied painkillers when I really did need them. And after a 3 day labour, with a tiny newborn, you really do need all the sleep you can get. 
Only two people in that whole week asked for my consent before doing things to me, when every single one should have asked before every single intervention. I didn't feel like I was treated as a human being in that hospital - I felt like a piece of meat for them to perform a task on. Some staff didnt even speak to me. 
I love my child more than anything in the world but the week of her birth has been the worst in my life and I still get flashbacks about it, especially at night. This - being treated as less than a human being - hurts more than the physical pain I still have due to the mistreatment. 


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Responses

Response from Traci Hughes, Complaints Officer, Barts Health NHS Trust 4 years ago
Traci Hughes
Complaints Officer,
Barts Health NHS Trust

Submitted on 29/11/2019 at 15:08
Published on Care Opinion at 15:37

Thank you for taking time to contact us with feedback. We were very disappointed to learn of your experience. We would like an opportunity to investigate the issues you have raised and the findings of our enquiries will be shared with you.

We would therefore like to request that you contact our PALs team on site with your details – nuhpals.bartshealth@nhs.net or telephone 0207 363 9292.

We appreciate your feedback as it helps us improve services.

We look forward to hearing from you and we would like to congratulate you on the birth of your baby girl.

Kind regards

Traci

Central Complaints Officer

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Update posted by Newham mum (a service user)

Hi Traci,

Thank you for your response. I have already been in touch with the PALs team, who directed me to the birth reflection service.

On a personal level, Shona from the birth reflection service was very helpful to me so thank you for directing me to her.

On a more general level, however, she told me my story is incredibly common. This leads me to think the Newham maternity services are not fit for purpose, if this mistreatment is the norm rather than the exception.

I have detailed what should be changed in the feedback form I sent to Shona afterwards. It boils down to:

- all staff should respect the law. This includes asking permission to perform medical acts (checking dilation, inserting a pessary, etc), even when the act is performed in the patient's best interest. We still have a right to be asked before our body is touched. Not doing so exposes the hospital to legal consequences.

- all staff should follow NICE guidelines. There is a reason they are in place!

- women giving birth should be treated like human beings at all times. We don't have medical degrees but we do know our bodies. If we're in pain, we'll know it. Take our word for it. If we're not in pain, we'll know it. Take our word for it. When waters break, we'll notice. Trust us when we tell you between two strong contractions that the puddle on the floor is amniotic fluid.

I however have no confidence that this feedback will be taken into account. I feel like you are trying to avoid my suing the hospital and have no interest in preventing more women from being mistreated. Just ask yourselves why you need a birth reflection service in the first place and why that service refers people to PTSD treatment. Is is not possible that your hospital may be doing something wrong on an institutional level for that to be the case?

Response from Traci Hughes, Complaints Officer, Barts Health NHS Trust 4 years ago
Traci Hughes
Complaints Officer,
Barts Health NHS Trust

Submitted on 13/12/2019 at 17:05
Published on Care Opinion on 16/12/2019 at 13:47

Dear Newham mum,

Thank you for your reply, we are happy to take this forward formally and you will receive a formal response.

Please can I ask you contact the complaints team on 0207 480 4776 or you can email us on BHNT.centralcomplaints@nhs.net with your details and we will be able to fully investigate and provide feedback.

Kind Regards

Traci, Central Complaints Officer

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