"Excellent staff. Rooms impractical for mother and..."

What I liked

All bar one "agency" staff member all nurses/doctors that I came into contact with we're kind, considerate, sympathetic and eager to make my stay as stress free as possible. The hospital was extremely clean and the cleaning staff were unobtrusive when cleaning the room.

What could be improved

Policies on hospital food allowance need to be reviewed. I arrived at the hospital with my 10 day old baby who needed treatment. We were told that we would be staying in hospital for 48 hours and on the first day were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner. However the following day when my baby turned 11 days old, I was told that I was no longer entitled to any hospital food (only up to 10days). As a breastfeeding mother I needed nourishment to be able to feed my baby and as I was unwilling/unable to leave my child alone on the ward, I wasn't able to go and get any food. Luckily I have a brilliant husband who ran around and got me some well needed food.

Although there was the use of a fridge and microwave neither was really satisfactory for being able to prepare a nutritious meal for a lady who's breastfeeding. I really can't understand why the cut off is 10days. Babies do not become self sufficient after this period and still rely on their mother for nourishment. This is a ridiculous policy and whoever set these benchmarks should be ashamed of themselves.

Also the room, although very spacious and clean was not really set up for a mother and young baby. The bed was a single pull down bed which had a shelf at the back so you were unable to sit up in bed and breastfeed and the only chair was very uncomfortable, especially at 3o'clock in the morning when your baby has been crying for hours!!!!! A normal hospital bed with a prop up back would have been so much better.