"Need better communication and admin for Maternity..."

Anything else?

My wife and I went to Worthing for the birth of our second child. She was two weeks overdue and was booked in for induction. The staff were very good (when we finally got to see someone) and we understand that patient numbers will vary day to day on a maternity ward but with just a small amount of extra communication we could have been spared a lot of unnecessary waiting around and related stress Our 9.00am appointment was put back to 2.00pm. On arrival we were shown to a bed and told "someone will come and talk to you soon" and that was it... for 5 hours! I understand things get busy, but a simple phone call asking us to come in when it was less busy and we wouldn't have been sat around waiting all day for no reason. At 6.50pm we were convinced to stay and at 10.40pm the induction treatment was started. Needless to say my wife was a bit tired and stressed by this point, having expected to be induced at 9.00am that morning. The next day, strong contractions came on quite quickly at which point we asked to see a midwife. We had to ask to see someone another three times before we had any attention, by which point forget "dilation", on examination the baby's head was visible. Our baby daughter was born 18min later. When it came to it the staff were very good and we have a lovely health girl so we are happy. But my advice, if you care about "birth plans", or things like knowing the midwife's name before the delivery you'd better hope the ward isn't busy on your day. Also, if you have an appointment for induction, call just before you're about to leave home. If they are busy, consider asking to come in at a different time. Still love the NHS, but there's got to be a better way to organize your scheduled appointments!