"Maternity Services"

I have had 2 babies at the Women and Children's Hospital in Hull and I have been very pleased with the care I received by the wards there. I think they are, however, under staffed and the midwife in charge of my care on several shifts changed as they were called off to work on other maternity wards where they were short staffed.

Clinically though I found my care to be excellent and I was dealt with in dignity.

I had a problem in my 2nd pregnancy in October 2008 and I had to be admitted until my baby was born by caesarean section, this meant a lengthy stay comparatively to my first experience. My only complaint would be visiting time for children/siblings. My 3 year old son was only allowed to visit twice a day at 3 pm and 7 pm and this was difficult as he didn't finish Nursery until 4 pm and then it's tea time and bedtime and it just meant he was always rushed for a short visit and was tired.

I think open visiting should be allowed for husband/partners and children. I find it is very hard to explain to a young child that they can't visit their Mum when she is away for such a long time. Also when my baby was born I wanted my son to meet his brother the next day and didn't think about the visiting times, I assumed they would be more flexible, and because I hadn't asked I nearly didn't get to introduce them to each other as he came out of visiting time. I had a private single room which I think he could have come into to, but no we (me and baby) had to go to the day room to see them and it was ok in the end, but at first they were told they couldn't see me, only my husband was allowed out of visiting hours.

Also, I am appalled by the costs of TV for patients, especially long stay patients. There was no working TV in the day room so unless you paid the patient line TV card thing, which is not cheap, you could get quite bored.

On discharge I did feel they left me to myself a bit, and didn't go through the paperwork clearly. As a breastfeeding second time mum who had successfully fed first child, I felt I didn't receive as much support. Maybe it's because I am a qualified nurse they felt I didn't need as much input, but I did, I think it's different being a patient.

Overall though it is a good unit, and I was pleased with the care received. The staff are all friendly, the ward was clean, and the food was good (when you consider how much they have to feed each patient with!).