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"Lack of communication"

About: Birmingham Women's Hospital / Maternity care

I was waiting from the 24th of August until eventually the 14th of September for my scan date, during this time, I rang the hospital about three times. First time I called, the maternity unit phone rang out for 20 minutes. Second time, I called antenatal, who tried to put me through to them (as somehow a dating scan isn't antenatal there ?), of which I was calling for another 10 minutes, and the receptionist came back on the line, asking if I'd wait any longer. I obliged, and waited an extra 15 minutes... No answer. So I hung up. Called back the next day, and the same happened. The week later, I received a letter and phone call from a midwife, asking for the same things my community midwife did prior. At the end of the conversation, I asked if they knew when my scan date would be, or when I would be receiving the letter, they informed me that I should have already been sent it, and the people dealing with the scans are a different department, so they couldn't find out. Fast forward to today, 16 September, I finally received my scan letter, dated the 14th, two days after I had a scan elsewhere, and found out my baby's heart had sadly stopped beating at 8 weeks, and the day after I had to have a medical miscarriage. The hospital had been informed of this, and to add to my heartache, still sent out the letter. I don't believe this was done purposely, but I do believe that communication needs to be extremely reinforced here. This is a specialised hospital, women from all over the country travel to, and I hoped to eventually give birth here, but this experience has completely put me off even thinking about this hospital again.

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Responses

Response from Birmingham Women's Hospital 7 years ago
Birmingham Women's Hospital
Submitted on 22/09/2016 at 13:26
Published on nhs.uk on 23/09/2016 at 02:31


Thank you for taking the time to feedback about your experience and we are so sorry to hear of your very sad loss and the problems that you had with poor communication. Your feedback has been sent to the senior team in charge of Antenatal care so that they can look into the concerns you have raised.

If you would like to speak to any one further, please do not hesitate to contact the PALS Team on 0121 627 2747.

We are always grateful for feedback to help us improve our care and services, we are so sorry to hear that you were let down by us on this occasion.

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