"Brierly Midwives are wonderful ..."

What I liked

Brierly Midwives are wonderful - I was referred to them following my complaints about the standard community midwives.

What could be improved

Treated at KCH at ante-natal and labour wards. My experience echoed the Healthcare Commission's findings in their report which judged KCH as providing amongst the worst ante and post natal services in the country. I had to lodge 2 complaints prior to the birth leading to a meeting with the senior hospital staff and 2 letters of apology about poor treatment. Problems too numerous to mention, but generally poor staff attitude and one instance of a midwife writing notes in the wrong patient's records (!)

Treatment post-birth incredibly upsetting.

My emergency buzzer did not work so when my canula fell out I lay in bed bleeding all over myself and my newborn son without assistance.

Ward so hot I was unable to sleep at all the night after giving birth.

The paediatrician's first words to my son were "I hear you've been a naughty boy" when he was about 15h old. This was as he was not feeding due to a traumatic forceps birth and being bruised all over, but despite constantly asking for help with breast feeding it took nearly 48h for someone to come to advise me, and this was a student who spent about a minute giving me useless oral advice. It took until I got home and saw my community midwife before I got the physical help I needed.

Made what should have been a wonderful experience absolutely awful - actually had nightmares about it a couple of months afterwards waking up crying! Anyone considering using this hospital should read the Healthcare Commission report and take note of their findings - I ignored them at my peril.