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"Amazing surgical team, terrible post natal..."

About: University College Hospital

Ante natal care was ok. Long waits, one or two registrars who seemed fairly inflexible. Different midwife at each appointment. We went early to the hospital as I noticed that I was bleeding. When we arrived at the triage, my husband told them I was bleeding and they took their time examining me as there were no clean rooms. When they did, they immediately called for help as my placenta was abrupting. My husband said the midwife who insisted on getting me into a room looked panicked and was visibly shaking. I was given a caesarean under general anaesthetic. The medical team who got my baby out were amazing and we owe our lives to them. I am extremely thankful for the staff who performed the caesarean. The post natal care was terrible. My notes were lost. I was still recovering from the op and felt very shocked, had lots of morphine and anaesthetic in my system and had lost a lot of blood. After being moved to the ward, I felt as if I was tossed aside on a rubbish heap. The midwives took ages to come when I pressed the buzzer, my baby cried a lot so I had to shuffle around my bed most of the night in agony trying to soothe him as he wouldn't sleep in the bassinet. No one came to help me. The only time someone checked on me, ironically, was when I had got so exhausted from carrying my baby that I put him on my chest and we both fell asleep on the bed. I was told off by the midwife as they said it was dangerous and that he could roll off me so I sat on the plastic chair near my bed trying not to fall asleep and drop my baby. By 6am, I was so desperately in need of sleep and rest that I called my husband and asked him to come in straightaway and hold our baby so I could lie down and sleep for a few hours. I believe my husband should have been allowed to stay with me due to the nature of my baby's birth but we were not given this option. I was taken to have my dressing removed by an assistant (very rude and unsympathetic) and they forgot to come back for me and left me for over an hour in a room, I waited because they said they would come back for me. My husband came to look for me as they were concerned. I was so desperate to leave that I would have discharged myself if they hadn't let me out that day. I think they wouldn't have actually cared if I had left or not. They were clearly understaffed. I was offered a birth reflection session which I accepted so this has already been fed back to the hospital but I wanted to feedback here too. My notes have never been found. Instead of being able to spend an enjoyable time bonding with my baby postnatally, I felt desperate, shocked, in pain and alone.

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Responses

Response from University College Hospital 8 years ago
University College Hospital
Submitted on 26/06/2015 at 15:51
Published on nhs.uk on 28/06/2015 at 02:31


Thank you for taking the time to feed back to us. We are very sorry to hear about your recent experience of Maternity Services at UCLH. We would be grateful if you could contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) via pals@uclh.nhs.uk or by calling 0845 155 5000 ext 73042 so that we can investigate this matter further.

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