"My experience at Newham General Hospital... Part 2"

After 75 hours at the hospital I wasn’t dilated enough so doctors decided to go for a c section. After the c section I was given some drop through a cannula in my hand. Woke up next morning and I was shocked to see my hand has swollen up to twice the normal size and there was blood in the tube.

I asked the midwife who ignored me and then a HCA looked at it and said the liquid went into my flesh instead of the vein!! Someone came over after more than an hour and took the needle out and took the empty bag away. If my husband and I didn’t chase the staff members again and again,

I bet no one would have fixed this. Again no apology or explanation of why this happened!! And the HCA scared me by saying it is a blood clot so i started panicking and crying until the midwife said it's not a blood clot.

After all of these problems, my husband managed to find a wheelchair and took me upstairs to see my baby who was in an incubator (you are having a laugh if you think anyone will help, do it yourself if you want to see your baby after a c section). I was very emotional seeing my baby for the second time and this was my first opportunity to spend time with my baby. A doctor came over and took three little tubes of blood from my babies foot. Baby cried but husband consoled him and he was ok.

15/20 minutes later a nurse came and started taking more blood from the same foot. Baby started crying hysterically and I politely asked why they are taking more blood when a doctor just took blood from the same foot 15 minutes ago. The nurse got very annoyed because of my question and first denied that anyone took blood before and then when my husband walked in and backed me up they still refused to give us an explanation and said rudely - ‘ go and ask the doctor if you want to know why I am taking blood’ and just carried on. I started crying because I couldn’t believe it that I am being treated this way just for requesting an explanation for why someone is taking blood from my baby!!!

Husband went away and got the doctor who took blood earlier and they were very nice and confirmed that they could have taken all the blood in one go and they apologised. But the nurse was still being rude and at one point the other doctor had to request her to calm down!! This experience really affected me emotionally. I just couldn't believe the way I was treated.

I couldn’t possibly go through all the issues I have had at this hospital but all I can say is all the horrible reviews I read about this place was true and even understated in many cases. Yes, there were a handful of good staff members but the huge majority of the staff were rude, inefficient and unapproachable.

Childbirth is a very painful and emotional time for us ladies and we really don’t need disgraceful establishments like Newham General Hospital to make this harder.