"Poor Communication & Lack of Accountability "

Throughout my 2nd pregnancy I have experienced a catalogue of errors, lack of communication & poor service from the Community Midwife Hub, my assigned midwife and the antenatal clinic.

As someone who rarely complains I cannot let the items that have occurred go unnoticed.

1st Instance: Contacted the Community Hub to register 2nd pregnancy on 09/03/21. Auto message advises will be contacted at between 8 to 10 weeks. 10 weeks pass with no call. Chase the Hub who advise they updated North Team Base the day after I logged my pregnancy.

An unknown individual from North Team base called later that day to advise my assigned midwife was off sick and had been trying to ring me for 2 weeks before realising she had noted my number down wrong. This unknown individual actually had the decency to check with my doctors for the correct details so this call actually happened. If I had not chased nothing would have happened.

2nd Instance: Booked in for bloods and urine test at 11 weeks. Asked about FW8 form being completed on my behalf, advised this would be done. Also booked in for 16 week check at the same time with an assigned midwife I had not yet met.

3rd Instance: Attend the 16 week check with my assigned midwife, meeting for the first time. As soon as I sat down she was booking in my next appointment at 28 weeks and did not ask me any questions, instead complaining about the system being slow. The student midwife accompanying was friendly & asked if I would like to hear the heartbeat which I obliged to.

Sat back down with the midwife who advised 'your bloods are all fine' which was incorrect as I had received notification from the hospital that I had low PAP-A and therefore required additional scans. I flagged this to the midwife who said 'oh yes, well your scans have been booked so that's fine'.

I asked again about the FW8 form as nothing had been received from my last appointment & she advised she would do it. End of appointment, completely impersonal, lacked any content whatsoever & felt rushed.

4th Instance: Needed antibiotics related to a UTI. Obtained prescription from the doctor, however no exemption form received 2 weeks after the 16 weeks check to claim these free. Rang the Community Midwife hub 26 times on Tuesday 8th of June from 8:30am to finally be answered at 11:15am. Requested a message be sent to my midwife to complete the FW8 form, told she would ring me back - I have heard nothing.

5th Instance: VBAC vid call booked for 6:30pm by RS via letter on 10/06/21. Call from unknown midwife on 8/06 requesting an earlier appointment in the day, I offered 5pm & leave work earlier but was advised she was thinking more between 9am and 3pm. Individual agreed to the 5pm time. Lo and behold log on to the waiting room for the call at 4:55pm on 10/06 and receive a call at 4:57pm again from another individual stating it has been cancelled with no reason and could I do 10:30am tomorrow.

This would not be acceptable in a business environment.