"Cuts to Maternity Services"

I had my 3rd baby via c-section recently and wanted to share my experiences of the maternity services. I've seen a major change in the services since I had my 1st child in 2014, my 2nd in 2016 and this time; the staff seem overstretched and overworked. I live in Leek, North Staffordshire and the cuts to the local hospital meant that I had to have my 12 week and 20 week scans at Royal Stoke (scans used to be available at Leek). I accepted this and was prepared to have extra scans there too as I'd had IUGR in my 2nd pregnancy. To my surprise I had to travel to Stafford for the extra scans! This is approximately a 25 mile journey one way and due to traffic always took me at least 1 hour and 30 mins to get there. Not good for a heavily pregnant woman travelling on her own! In total I did this journey 5 times because the 2nd growth scan found IUGR as I had previously and then further scans found restricted blood flow in the umbilical cord. I can't fault the care of Dr Gupta, the midwives and sonographers at Stafford, they were fab, it's just that the journey in my opinion was one that I shouldn't have been doing. There was just no availability at all at Royal Stoke.

The c-section itself at Royal Stoke went well and the staff in the theatre were fabulous and put me at ease. Afterwards I stayed on ward 205 where again the midwives were brilliant. Then on the evening of the Friday, they appeared to be short staffed and were a bit late with our medications (I am pretty certain we only had one midwife on ward 205 as I didn't see anyone else and she was excellent, really sorry I can't remember her name). I later found out about the situation with the midwife who had gone missing and has since sadly been found deceased and I'm only writing this to say that the midwife on that evening shift and the midwives we saw in the day shift (Janice and Suzanne) must have had a lot of worry on their minds, but never let it show once. They were extremely professional and must be commended on the excellent care they gave to the mums and babies on the ward, despite the circumstances.

Lastly, I would like to thank both Stafford Hospital and Royal Stoke for the excellent maternity care I have received this time, and to Royal Stoke in my previous pregnancies. Each time I've been well looked after, despite all the cuts and various changes, and the maternity centre at Stoke in my opinion is 2nd to none.