Requesting a copy of maternity notes

[needsadviceplease]

Hi,

Am planning to request my maternity notes from DS who was born earlier this year. My hospital's PALS webpage has a straightforward doc to fill in, with tick boxes for what notes you're requesting. Does "maternity notes" mean all the antenatal handheld notes, plus the notes from birth? Do I need to put in an additional request for any notes regarding my newborn?

(Yes, I should and will check this with PALS, but am interested in anyone else's experience and in what 'typical' mat notes contain.)

TIA

[vix206]

I'm still waiting for mine but I just requested all documentation from the moment I arrived to the moment I left the hospital. I don't need my DS's notes but if I did I would definitely have specifically asked for these. Good luck.

[jumblequeen]

Wow - I didn't know you could do that. I've often thought that I'd like to see my notes - especially now that I'm pregnant for the second time! Do you know if there's a time limit? My DS is 2.5 now...

[Emsyboo]

You can request your notes at any time, my hospital charged per page up to £50 but I got this wavered as I was pregnant with DC2 and was concerned about care and what happened with DC1.
I think this is different per hospital but there is no time limit, they are your notes and you have a right to see them and have copies if necessary - although mine arrived in such a bad condition my postman has probably seen all about my tear and bleeding after delivery - poor guy apologised handing the notes over. As I requested the notes to complain this didn't go down well lol ;)
Good luck I think it is a great idea to have your notes especially if expecting again.

[vix206]

Yes I've had to pay £50 for mine. Was told 40 days limit on response but its been longer than that

[soundevenfruity]

My notes were supposedly sent to the hospital I was initially booked in. And they haven't received / have lost them. But there is plenty in hospital records which start when you are admitted on a labour ward. Don't forget to ask for results of scans.

[jumblequeen]

Thanks Emsyboo. I contacted my hospital and was told I could get a copy but it would cost £50. Still considering it as there was much in my somewhat epic labour that I didn't understand.

[needsadviceplease]

Thanks, all. That's helpful. Though a very positive experience (I realise I was very lucky), my labour was too fast and I'm hoping that seeing my notes will help the coherence of my memories, if that makes any sense. I've also had a physically difficult recovery and think it would feel helpful to be able to piece it all together.

But now I'm thinking, well, and wouldn't it be nice to have the whole lot, like a kind of souvenir.

Do they normally just refer to the notes from labour, though?

vix206, I hope yours arrive soon.

[FamiliesShareGerms]

I still have my original antenatal / delivery notes - we took them home, not knowing any better, and noone ever asked for them back

[soundevenfruity]

If you want to make sense of it all I would request a follow up meeting with a midwife as doctors' writing can be quite impenetrable due to abbreviations and funny handwriting they all seem to develop sooner or later.

[leannac]

I got mine through the pals service simply by requesting them & as hospital was concerned I'd be sueing them for negligence I got them free! Notes covered pregnancy, delivery, post delivery complications & surgery (me), details of baby's health following delivery & the few visits I had to make to hospital in the wks after being released from icu.

Not sure if they just did this for me or if anyone can request it but as the delivery notes contain lots of scribbles the head of maternity sat down with me for an hr & went through everything from start to finish in case I had any questions.

All of this happened when dd was 3-6 months old.

[mummytobe1990]

ive been told that if you apply for them within 40 days of having baby, you are entitled to see them for free x

[golemmings]

I went to talk through mine when DS was about 4mo. We also talked through the parallels with dd's birth 2 years earlier which was interesting;there was loads in both I hadn't been aware of...

My notes were missing the last page though... It's in DS's file from when he was transferred to nicu. If I'd realised that I'd have asked for his notes too.

I found it very interesting - and helpful to understand what happenned and why it all went a bit pear shaped for us.