"Unprofessional and disappointing experience"

Wishaw general maternity unit and Coatbridge health centre with pregnant women I find extremely unprofessional and disappointed to the experience my sister has had during her time there.

My sister is having her second child in maternity unit in wishaw and is in the care of the Coatbridge health centre. She hasn’t had the best time during her pregnancy due to COVID-19. However, she was taken into see her midwife at the start of the year as her first appointment and was told she would have one midwife for her full time she was pregnant. This did not happen, she has seen 5 different midwifes since falling pregnant within the Coatbridge community midwifes and has has had no faith with in the NHS maternity. 

My sister has been in and out of hospital during this time with various different issues. She’s had extremely bad migraines, back pain, stomach pain etc. She was in the hospital in august and was advised to take a swab ‘if she wanted to’ so she did. These results came back and no one was in contact with her with these results. She only found these results out when she went into the hospital again with leaking water and was asked if she was the ‘strep B patient’ making her and my mum extremely confused. Her swab test came back that she had Strep B. This making my sister worry even more. The midwifes failed to give her any information regarding this and did not advise on what the next steps would be. 

The past few weeks she has been very anxious and nervous about labour and being taken into the maternity unit within the Wishaw General. 

In September 2020. She was taken into the maternity unit as she had reduced movement. They put her on the monitors and gave her the ‘sweep’. She told them she asked her midwife a few days before if she would give her a sweep then and she was told no. At the maternity unit tonight she was told that the only reason they can think of is that the midwife ‘didn’t have time’ to give her the sweep. In my eyes this is extremely unprofessional of the midwife not having time to check over a 39+ Women with her second child. She has been told tonight from the midwife in wishaw that she should have been given the sweep at her last midwife appointment. 

Tonight she has been give the sweep to try start her labour off and was told she is 1cm dilated. She was told to go home with painkillers and come back as quick as possible when she is further dilated. As my sister has strep B and has been advised that’s she must be on an antibiotic 2 hours prior to the baby being born, I find this very unusual and odd that she has been told to leave when there could be multiple complications with Strep B. 

I am extremely disappointed within the NHS as this is my second time not having faith in them with not only one life but 2. 

I feel there needs to be something put in place within the NHS to prevent women feeling let down and anxious when having a child. 

I am writing this on her behalf as previously when I had my first child in Wishaw General I had a traumatic experience which almost made it a death experience.