"Care and support on Ward 3 Dr Gray's Hospital"

I have had two children delivered at the maternity unit at Dr Gray's.

I was admitted on five occasions during my first pregnancy but only had a three night stay a few months ago while having my second. The care and support from the midwives was excellent on both occasions.

I would also like to mention that the Domestic staff were very efficient and friendly.

However, some of the auxiliary nursing staff I came across could do with learning a few manners! To be fair, I only have negative memories of two members of the auxiliary staff. A member of my family was on the ward to swap childcare duties with my husband. This occurred outwith visiting hours so the said family member was not supposed to be on the ward. The nurse looked at him, pointed at him and said in a stern voice, "you...out". She was right, he shouldn't have been there, but there is a nice polite way to ask someone to leave and there is a rude way!

I overheard the same member of staff having a conversation in the corridor. She asked a colleague if a woman that had been admitted was full term because if she wasn't she could go elsewhere, insinuating that if you are not a patient that is full term you are not welcome on the ward! This got me wondering about my previous pregnancy and, in this member of staffs opinion, I was seen as a pest.

My other gripe is that when you are not able to breastfeed you visit the nurses station to collect milk as and when it is needed. During the night, on a trip to get milk, I was lectured for five minutes in the corridor, by an auxiliary nurse, about health and safety and the rule that you cannot carry your baby with you in the corridor. I think that it is natural to lift your baby when it cries and I have spoken to other mothers that have made the same 'mistake' on ward 3. I don't have a problem with the rule, just that it would have been nice to have been told about it in advance, or to have seen it written somewhere, to spare me the lecture!