"Antenatal care and Community teams"

We gave birth to our little boy in January 2020 in the QEUH in Glasgow.

There were a few 'issues' with antenatal care I would say. A failed recognition of anaemia during a consultant led clinic appointment in QEUH resulted in having to take one month off work to recover from severely low iron levels. Despite telling a midwife at clinic that I was tired and pale with shortness of breath, blood tests were not run to check for a relatively common antenatal condition. I was instead told ' you're just pregnant.' I probably knew myself that this wasn't the right answer and should have pushed for testing however at that point felt I was in no position to question a medical professional.

Hand held notes are also no longer in use which, in my opinion, makes integrated care between different obstetric depts and primary care more difficult as well as removing an element of excitement and the ability to track the pregnancy and future appointments for the patient. I appreciate the need to save both money and the planet but an app based approach being embedded prior to removing hand held notes would have been useful.

The community midwife team however were fantastic, stayed on top of my iron levels and had sound recommendations regarding treatment. I primarily saw the same midwife which might have been pot luck but resulted in far more streamlined care as she had background knowledge of the pregnancy and was able to compare with previous visits etc. Low fluid levels were predicted at one appointment and an emergency scan was arranged within a few days by the midwife at clinic, mw palmer organised then and there for me so I didn't have to go home without a plan in place which offered me some reassurance. Postnatally they were great with breastfeeding support and actually got me through mastisis and sepsis - if it hadn't been for MW Palmer I would have given up on our breastfeeding journey. We're now 7 months in and so appreciative that she supported us to carry on.

Delivery was via c section with a friendly team of midwives who all made myself and partner feel calm and in control. We were well informed of what was going on and the theatre sister along with her team were full of friendly conversation and it felt like they we're really engaged and excited with us during delivery.

Ward 50 were truly outstanding. Every staff member we came across was warm, welcoming and passionate about their work. HCA Jackie was so kind, organised allergy meals for me and ensured I had something to eat if I wasn't up to walking to the food cart. Midwife Sharon was also amazing along side a 3rd year student midwife called ? Iona or Imogen I thibk. I was later readmitted with sepsis and Sharons care was second to none. I really struggled emotionally being away from my older kids on top of being pretty ill and the team were in full supply of tea and hugs to get me through it no matter what time of night it was. SM (? Imogen ) has a bright future ahead of her if she continues to care the way she did during our stay, her kindness really went a long way.

Paediatric doctors also went above and beyond looking after my son even though I was the patient at the time which was again appreciated as he wasn't technically under their care.

Bar the odd hiccup the care we received really was fantastic 👏