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Care Opinion

Very little.

Story from nhs.uk

"Very little."

About: Queen Elizabeth I I Hospital (Welwyn Garden City)

(as a relative),

What I liked

Very little.

What could be improved

The staff (Particularly the mid-wives) attitude towards members of the family, Which can only be described as overbearing,bombastic and rude.

Anything else?

Two of my children have now had thier babies dilivered at the QE2 maternity unit. Both have been very bad experiencies. Facilities for relatives awaiting the birth, are non-existant and when the first grandchild was born, the staff were very arragant(boardering on rude) with all relatives(not just my family members).And my daughter-in-law was left laying in her own mess from the delivery for 3 hours after the birth.

This I wrote off as a one off bad experience, but it now appears I was wrong.

My daughter had her first baby today. My wife and daughter-in-law both went to my daughters aid, when contractions started this morning.

At approx 11:00am my daughter-in-law (a staff nurse) phoned the delivery unit to book her in and informed them that contractions were strong,regular and 3mins apart.She was told that there was no hurry, as this being the first child, labour was liked to last hours.

By 1:30pm contractions were very close together so my wife drove my daughter to the hospital only to be told on arrival that the baby was breech, and that if shes had got her there earlier the staff could probibly have turned the baby. Again staff attitudes and reactions boardered on rude, and my wife(despite being on the birthing plan) was told to leave.

This was apparently due to the current swine flue scare. As my wife had spent a lot of time with my daughter in the weeks prior to the birth, and had attended the unit with her on two occasions in the past month,this does not make a lot of sense.

Also, as only few few have died as a result of contracting swine flue(all of who had underlying medical conditions) Does this mean the when the seasonal flue comes around again,you will be closing down the hospital completely on the grounds that it kills hundreds every year?

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Responses

Response from Queen Elizabeth I I Hospital 14 years ago
Queen Elizabeth I I Hospital

Submitted on 19/08/2009 at 08:49
Published on nhs.uk on 15/11/2009 at 20:28

You clearly are very unhappy at what happened when your daughter gave birth at the QEII’s maternity unit recently, but we wonder whether or not you have raised your concerns with those responsible for running the service at the hospital? Should you wish to, we would be very happy to put you in touch with our head of midwifery services, who is herself a practising midwife. All you need do is e-mail us at generalenquiries.enh-tr@nhs.net and we will ensure that your concerns are passed on.

There is one issue on which we can give you some feedback now. While the current swine 'flu pandemic has proven to be a mild illness for the vast majority who have been unfortunate to get it thus far, it has already claimed the lives of several people - with pregnant women and very young children being at particular risk. Once this information became clear and in line with national guidance, we - like NHS hospitals up and down the country - have imposed a temporary restriction on the number of people attending during a woman's labour. This may seem a punitive measure to some, but it is there to protect the lives of pregnant women and their unborn children.

Once again, we're sorry that your experience of the QEII's maternity unit has not been a positive one and we hope that you do give us the chance to hear your story in more detail to see what lessons, where appropriate, can be learnt. In the meantime, we wish you and your family – including its most recent arrival – the very best for the future.

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