"Good manners cannot be blamed on lack of staff or..."

Anything else?

I took my daughter in to the delivery unit of good hope hospital after a day of slow labour. After her second call to ask advise she was told to come in. We set off an hour after that as my daughter didn't want to take up too much of the midwifes time (second child-8 hours last time in delivery unit). We arrived a 9.20 pm and a very nice nurse welcomed her and took her to a room. The nurse was chatting away putting my daughter at ease,when a nurse came in and said in a jostle manner 'not another one' and to my daughter she said abruptly 'why are you here?' My daughter replied she was having labour pains. The 1st nurse said she did phone and was told to come in. The second nurse then said 'well we are very busy' I'll get a midwife to you in 10 minutes and then left. My daughter was clearly upset by that treatment but by then getting severe pains.35 minutes later a midwife arrived. It was fairly obvious they were short staffed as the midwife did work very hard and on her own. I even had to go and get my daughter water and was given a small cup. Surely plenty of water is a basic in a delivery unit. There are a number of other incidents I could mention that I thought was lacking but could understand and tolerate as the staff were busy. Baby was born after one hour twenty minutes of midwife care, so hopefully that answered the question 'why are you here'. My daughter needed an operation afterwards and the care she got from that team was excellent. As I have said it was obvious they were short staffed and I am sure everyone (except one) did their best in the circumstances and I am eternally grateful that both my daughter and granddaughter are well, but to speak to a young woman two hours before giving birth in the way my daughter was spoken to, making her feel unwelcome was unforgivable. A little bit of compassion wouldn't of taken too much time and there are no valid excuses for it. Hopefully my letter will prevent another vulnerable young woman from being greeted with aggression. Thank you for reading this.