"Caesarean section birth/antenatal care"

Anything else?

i choose UCLH for the birth of my first child due to the hospitals reputation for education and training. the Antenatal care i received was very good, though this was entirely down to my care being under a consultant midwife (A)

i had a planned elective caesarean on a friday afternoon. my care in theatre and in recovery was impeccable up until 5pm on friday night when i was shipped to the maternity ward and then i felt almost abandoned from any trained medical care for the entire weekend. (no doctors and only one midwife on duty caring for the entire ward). i had pain from my caesarean which was not respectfully treated ( i had to ask my partner to bring in pain relief from home so that i wasn't left waiting for the medicine round and in pain from my pain killers wearing out) i had no support to help me breastfeed, i was told to watch a video! this was not the hands on approach that i expect from a reputable teaching hospital and also when brestfeeding is a national priority for health outcomes. i discharged myself from hospital not being able to brestfeed my daughter who then developed jaundice a few days later and my nipples so badly damaged that i couldn't even express milk.

My main contact with staff was with a healthcare assistant who tried her hardest to help me but obviously had no training to fulfil my needs, she then after about 2 hours managed to get a member of nursing staff for my attention who then told me she was on bank and was trained in elderly care and had no idea how to help me breastfeed. I left hospital early very dissatisfied.