"Delivery suite very good, post-natal care terrible"

We chose SJUH for our first child because it was literally behind where we used to live. Luckily I had a straight forward and drug free birth (8 hours) and I cannot fault the staff at all in the delivery suite. They were excellent, they really put me at ease and supported both my partner and I from beginning to end. Unfortunately I did suffer a 3rd degree tear post-delivery and had to go into theatre. The theatre staff were excellent and explained everything to me in layman terms, again putting me at ease at a fairly uncomfortable time (having several staff working to repair my most private and intimate area post-delivery isn't exactly thrilling). The real issue for me unfortunately was the moment I was transferred from the delivery suite to the post-natal ward. I was assured by the midwives that someone would offer me something to eat once taken here and offer to assist in having a bath. Well this never happened, though fortunately I have a very big family that live locally who brought me more food than I could have eaten alone. Bearing in mind I'd just gone under anaesthetic and had a catheter put in, and was exhausted from labour, I couldn't really do much for myself. After my family left, I was left to my own devices. It was obvious there was a severe staff shortage. I had to ask a nurse 3 times for a bowl of water so I could freshen up. I was left in the bed bleeding heavily and no one came to change my pads/sheets as had previously been done regularly in the delivery suite. And tbh I was too ashamed to ask someone to assist in this as I could not get out of bed. The next morning I was in absolute agony and discomfort. The feeling had completely returned to everywhere and I had to ask twice for a nurse to remove my catheter otherwise I'm sure I would have left hospital with it. I had no idea that I was supposed to be given pain killers and antibiotics until I was discharged that afternoon. This meant I left hospital in agonising pain, barely able to walk and on the verge of tears feeling overwhelmed by the whole experience and wondering how the hell I was capable of looking after a newborn baby when I couldn't even bear to walk or sit. As soon as I got home and took the painkillers (Diclofenac) within an hour or so I felt so much better, so why the hell did no one give me them whilst in hospital and in the most pain! Another thing, after my catheter was removed, a nurse told me I had to provide a wee sample in a bed pan. So I did this, couldn't find a single member of staff to tell so had to take the full bed pan back with me and put it under the hospital bed. A few hours later the same nurse came back asking if I'd done a wee and asked why I hadn't shown it to anyone! To add insult to injury, she then instructed me to empty the bed pan before I left! Excuse me, isn't that your job?! Well I didn't anyway, it bloody stayed there! I left that god awful ward, and there wasn't a single member of staff to see us out. Very disappointed