"Not a good experience..."

I gave birth to my first child at Dorset County Hospital in November 2015. When I arrived at the labour ward it was clear there was hardly any staff on duty. When finally being shown to a room at 12midnight, it was not until 1am when a midwife came in to take care of me. During that hour I sent my husband out to find someone as my contractions were very fast, but there was literally nobody around. The midwife only came in as they "heard me screaming and wanted to make sure all was ok". This was a really bad start. My daughter was born very quickly and we were moved to a ward because there was a lack of staff. This I found really uncomfortable, I was trying to have skin to skin contact as my baby was struggling to latch, but with the male partners of other women on the ward and gaps in the curtains, plus staff opening the curtains to come and see you-it was just really uncomfortable. My daughter required 3hrly blood sugar tests. The first 2 a midwife came, took the test and recorded it my notes. The third test was late, and it was only when i mentioned to a midwife that it had not been done. The midwife's response was "if you know your baby needs a blood sugar test then you need to let us know". I was lost for words. I had called the midwife to say the test was late-and clearly sthey had no clue about me or my baby as there had been no handover/continuity of notes. Nobody knew that my baby needed a blood sugar test-and apparently it was up to me to make sure it happened! I had heard great things about Dorchester maternity unit, but the fact is this is just like many other hospitals across the country; not enough staff.