"Poor practice within the Ashgrove Ward."

This review is regarding the lack of support that the staff within the Ashgrove ward provided for us from the beginning of January 2021. In addition to advise of the poor practice, lack of care and risk that they placed us under.

The birth was traumatic but the medical team were excellent in providing the care and support we needed. This changed when we moved to the Ashgrove ward.

I was unable to move after the section I had, my legs were numb for a longer period than usual and I had a catheter in. I had lost alot of blood and I was given an iron infusion.

During this time we felt the staff were neglectful in their towards my Baby, they forgot to change her and take accurate feeding, changing and observations. I had to constantly ask for their assistance to pass my baby to me to be fed or to ask them to change her as they had forgotten about us. I was always met with unwelcome comments such as "what is it now" or "I don't have time at the moment". This made me feel like a burden to the ward and very helpless as I could not attend to my babys needs when required. I believe this has caused me a significant amount of trauma. 

I was faced with comments from staff such as "we need to be cruel to be kind", when advising about mobilising, despite my pain levels. Including "what is it now" and "we're not here for you but for the baby". I wouldn't have expected these comments from staff all together and especially towards a recovering first time mother.

I was still not fully mobile and the midwife kept telling me to put the baby back into the crib by myself. I advised this was very risky for the baby and myself as I couldn't move fully after the section. I had also asked at this point for some support/wipes as my medical gown was soaked through due to sweating. I was not provided with assistance with this un till the next day and was extremely uncomfortable, despite asking for help with this on many occasions. I was also given morphine for my pain, however I am allergic to morphine, it causes me breathing problems and this put me at risk. I had to ask on several occasions for water as this was not provided for me.

I was continuously provided with conflicting information about feeding, at first that baby was not latching well and then she was. I was advised on 3rd that the breastfeeding was going well and that baby was latching on well. The midwife observed this on the 3rd day and advised it was going well. At this point I was told that we were both ready for discharge and that my partner should arrive for 19:00 to collect us. I was still concerned about feeding and spoke with health support workers and the Midwife about this. We were not provided with assistance to use a pump to make sure I was providing enough milk, or advised about formula use if needed.

I was advised there was a feeding diary that staff would fill in for me. They unfortunately forgot to get this diary and to fill it out, but reassured me that baby was doing well and had plenty of wet and dirty nappies they recorded in her records. This was not the case, as we later found that she had lost 13% of her body weight and was dehydrated.

I also spoke about my level of pain and the midwife advised that I could be given Shortec home with me. That I was two days postpartum and ready to be discharged. I still believe that this was incredibly risky sending home a new mum with Shortec to look after a new baby, also discharged in the evening at winter time. I was fully reassured by the midwife that this was normal practice.

The staff continued to reassure me that all observations were good for myself and baby and that we would feel better at home. Also that due to covid it was safer to be at home. I was reassured that baby's weight was good. Although I found out after having to return to hospital that her weight was not taken and that there was a miss communication with that. Also that my observations were not good, I had very high blood pressure and protein in my urine, which is not normal for me. I was also not provided with a sharps bin, to put in the empty needles for the blood thinning injections that need to be taken every day for 10 days after delivery. Overall our discharge was rushed and we were informed of inaccurate information. Also not provided with sufficient aftercare information for baby or myself.  

I was the last person in the ward that evening and we overheard staff discussing that they were keen to get the ward empty. I also believe this was a contributing factor to making us leave that evening.

We had an unsettled first night with baby and I called the community Midwife, who took baby's weight and advised we needed to go straight back to hospital. Baby had lost 13 percent of her body weight and was dehydrated. This was classed as a failed discharge. Which I believe led to the further complications with baby and myself. I ended up with an infection and baby a choking incident.

During my second time in the ward I was advised we were here for baby only and was provided with no support for breastfeeding, to express and clean the equipment, looking after baby. Despite instructions not to lift etc after having a section. I also had a fever with the infection I had. One health visitor advised she would feed baby as I was unwell. Despite me advising her that the paediatricians instructions were 40mls to be fed every 3 hours, the health support worker fed baby 120 mls, she was very sick and had diarrhoea after this. I reported this to the midwife who advised me they would report this as it was 3 times what was needed and resulted in her been unwell.

In addition, there was no support for my husband, he asked about bottle feeding as been a first time dad had never done this before and baby needed extra support with bottle feeding at the time. I was sorting breast equipment at the time and the midwife would not support or advise my husband with this. This left my husband overwhelmed and upset.

Overall our experience has left us feeling traumatised and I would not return to Aberdeen Maternity hospital to have another baby.