"I felt that I was more of a hindrance then a..."

What I liked

In my opinion the labour ward in this hospital is grossly understaffed. I arrived at 2am with contractions that were 4 mins apart. There was no body present on the front desk and nobody attended when the bell was rung ( this is supposedly to be used in case of emergency or to make nurses aware someone is waiting). I was left with other women in a seated area for over an hour, with no advice, before my notes were even looked at.

This labour ward now runs a triage system which is completely overstretched and seems to just delay things.

Another problem was that there was no toilet facilities in the vicinity of the waiting room and when I was finally admitted through the labour ward doors, the toilet facilities i used had a bath with stains of blood in and over the floor.

I rarely saw any staff at all. If there was an emergency or I was ready to give birth at this point, I may have had to go it alone ( as ridiculas as this sounds as i was in a hospital) because nurses were behind locked doors on the ward and not responding as they were dealing with other patients.

I was later informed that labour ward was full and they were under staffed, struggling for beds etc.

I fail to see why a new hospital was built at such expense when there are clearly not enough staff to provide the service or care that is needed. I gave birth to my daughter in the old hospital on this site 10 years ago and standard of service is minimal in comparison to then.

What could be improved

more staff, advice and information. Better waiting facilities.