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"Poor experience of maternity care so far"

About: Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Maternity unit

(as a service user),

I am expecting my first child in December and the care I have been provided thus far has been far below my expectations. There have been three key issues:

1) My records were lost after I had my bloods taken, therefore the maternity department did not have a record of me on their system. When I had my 12 week scan, a member of staff said to me that I should have a community midwife appointment at 16 weeks, and to contact my assigned team (Beech) if I had not heard anything. I did not hear anything, got in touch and was booked in for an appointment. I showed up on the day of my appointment, and sat waiting and was not called in by the midwife. Half an hour after my appointment was due to take place, I managed to ask the midwife what was happening. She did not have an appointment for me in her diary. She quickly realised what had happened with my records. Apparently I was not the only person this happened to, which is concerning (especially for people who may not have realised that something was not right or that they should have been having appointments). A new appointment was arranged for me and subsequent appointments have been happening, and I am very thankful to the excellent care provided by the community midwife. 

2) At our 20 week scan, we found out on the day that the hospital policy is not to share the sex with expectant parents. There should be patient choice in this matter, and/or the hospital should inform you in advance that they will not tell you, as I had been looking forward to finding out but being told 'no' really tainted the 20 week scan for us. The hospital needs to be more mindful of the emotional impact of their "policies". This policy is also exclusionary as not everyone can afford to go and have a private scan to find out the sex of their baby if they wish to do so. 

3) The only antenatal classes available at present are one online two-hour class. This is completely insufficient - on the NHS Scotland website it states you can expect "2 to 6 sessions". Only birthing information was covered in the session with no information regarding post-natal care (which to be honest I am more concerned about). It was also unclear on the booking website that it was only one session, as four sessions were listed. The midwife leading the session was covering for someone and commented several times on there being staff shortages, and had to go and ask someone else what classes were being provided (at which point it became clear it was only one). Antenatal classes are also not just about learning about birth etc but the opportunity to connect with other expectant parents. Running these sessions online puts a serious limitation on this. 

To clarify, the individual experiences I have had with most staff have been very good, but in my experience  there are clear systematic failures and poor communication throughout this health board. I am concerned for the rest of my pregnancy and birth.  

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Responses

Response from Kirsty MacInnes, Interim Service Manager/Senior Midwife, Women, Children's & Sexual Health Directorate, NHS Forth Valley nearly 2 years ago
Kirsty MacInnes
Interim Service Manager/Senior Midwife, Women, Children's & Sexual Health Directorate,
NHS Forth Valley
Submitted on 08/09/2022 at 16:32
Published on Care Opinion at 16:45


Dear Disappointed Dora,

Thank you for sharing your experience of your maternity appointments at FVRH. Please accept my apologies that we have made you feel concerned for the rest of your pregnancy and birth. As Care Opinion is an anonymous, I wondered if you would feel able to speak with myself Alana Harrower - Department Manager/Senior Midwife ( Midwifery Teams ) or the Beech Team Leader Julie Guest. I am positive we can help reassure you about the rest of your pregnancy care. It is also really important to us to learn from your experience for the benefit of other mums.

Our contact details are:

Alana Harrower, Email: alana.harrower@nhs.scot Telephone: 01324 567167

Julie Guest Email: Julie.Guest@nhs.scot

I am pleased to hear that you have developed a positive relationship with your community midwife and I would encourage you to continue this and seek advice and support when required. I wish you well for the rest of your pregnancy and hope you have a wonderful time when your little bundle of joy arrives,

Best wishes

Alana

Department Manager / Senior Midwife

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