"Aberdeen Maternity Hospital - Triage"

I was admitted to Triage a few weekends back and it was honestly a complete shambles. Even trying to get through on the phone took well over an hour which is concerning considering you are told to phone there if you are having an issues. I was told to come in for 4. 30pm which was fine. Upon arrival they said they were treating me as though I had covid so was going to be put in a room on my own.

I wouldn't say I had covid symptoms however understood given the current situation. I was told someone would be to covid test me and check my stats. My stats were checked which showed I had low BP & high pulse, my baby however was not checked which I thought was strange. I was asked to do a urine sample, when going to the toilet in the room, there was pee & hair on the seat and dirty towels on the window. Again given the covid situation I thought this was ridiculous as the room clearly had not been cleaned.

I was left for a good while and still no one came to test me for covid which I kept asking about as was obviously feeling anxious about this now.   My urine sample was also not checked until I asked the 3rd member of staff if anyone was coming back for it. I am yet to find out the results of that sample. Eventually after some other checks I was told Id get home after my covid test and would have to return on the monday.

I was prescribed medication, however they could not give this to me as the pharmacies were closed. So even though I had been vomitting throughout the day they could not give me the anti sickness instead I would have to wait for a pharmacy to open the following day. I explained to the DR that there were no chemists open locally and It would mean a 60 mile round trip to the nearest pharmacy the following day. I felt this was totally ridiculous and I was in the same situation before even going in there for help. I was to be given injections to take the following day at home in which the DR said he had left them for me and a midwife would give me them.

I was not given these instead I got a prescription for them. The following day the DR called to advice me that they had made an error on the dosage amount and I needed to take an injection straight away. I explained I was not able to do this as I did not have them. He said they were left for me and could not understand why they were not given to me. Upon going to the pharmacy to get these I was told the dose of injections didn't exist and the prescription was wrong. After speaking to triage again I was finally able to get the correct injections but this also meant I had to miss a dose because of the mix up.

On the Monday I could not fault ARI when I was in for the scans but upon going back to Triage they did not know why I was there even though I was told to return there for a follow up. Instead they wanted to give me injections that I did not know I needed going by scan results. I was left to wait and eventually told to go home and someone would call me. A junior doctor called any thankfully explained my results were clear however I had other questions and they said they were unable to answer them as they are a junior.

I honestly feel so disappointed with the care I received when in Triage, I completely understand the pressure the NHS is under especially with Covid but there were too many things that went wrong that is just unacceptable. The fact they suspected I had covid but was not tested for over 5 hours just does not make sense, the lack of checks on my baby, the lack of communication and the cleanliness of the hospital room. I really hope I am able to use one of the community midwife units as I am totally put off Aberdeen and feel very anxious at the thought of returning to the maternity hospital there.