"Mixed up hospital admission at William Harvey Hospital"

My daughter is expecting her third baby.  She has been very unwell during this pregnancy, particularly with breathing difficulties. When she was 28 weeks pregnant she collapsed outside the school gates when taking her daughter to school. A teacher took her to her GP surgery, which is very near the school.

They immediately began treating her, and when her husband arrived, he told them she had a gynae Consultant appointment within the hour, so when she was a bit better, they advised him to take her to that appointment.

The gynae consultant decided she had to be admitted to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford as her peak flow was only 150 and if the mother isn't getting enough oxygen, neither is the baby. So off they went.

As a pregnant woman sent in by the gynae consultant, she was admitted to the Antenatal ward. They monitored her baby for a week and said he was fine, but lots of remarks about an earlier postnatal depression were written in her notes, so she was worried they thought it was all in her head. She was sent home after a week with instructions to see her GP.

She saw the bemused GP, who measured her Peak Flow again at 150, exactly as it was when she was admitted. She perceived inhalers and an urgent referral to a chest physician. The chest physician tested her thoroughly and diagnosed asthma and started intensive treatment.

We told both the chest physician and the gynae in clinics that my daughter had been sent to hospital with a Peak Flow of 150 and discharged with a Peak Flow of 150. They both agreed that she should have been sent to a medical ward rather than Antenatal, and have told her what to say should it happen again.

We are happy with the all the doctors, GP and consultants. And they were kind to her in Antenatal. But she was away from her children for a week and they are still unsettled. When she went in she felt too ill to start fighting for treatment for her chest. Her husband was at work and I was looking after the children so in the end nobody spoke up on her behalf. I feel that this shouldn't be necessary in a good hospital.

Although all the kindness was appreciated, we would have preferred her chest problems to have been sorted out while she was in hospital. It seems like a waste of a week with nothing other than miserable children to show for it.

She is OK now, so I suppose all's well that ends well.