To Ask for your experiences of post natal wards

[RozziPringle]

Mine was Noisy and hot with incredibly overworked midwives. The most memorable incident was around 12 hours after a c-section i was made to get out of bed to walk along 5 corridors to shower, doubled over in agony. When i told the widwife i wasnt going to make it and i felt faint she tutted and muttered about me been lazy under her breath.
There were some fantastic midwives Don't get me wrong but they seemed few and far between.
Im due to give birth in 3 weeks and im dreading going through all this again

My DS (20 years ago), was fine. I was a teenage mum and they were kind and never patronising, help me with BF. I stayed for three days. My DD (18 months ago) was very different as she was 11 weeks early and very sick. I was spent the first night in the labour ward, the second night on the induction ward and then I was moved into a private room. All of this was a godsend as it meant I did not spend anytime on a ward with other mothers and their babies, I would have completely fallen apart if I had. The MWs were lovely, they took me to SCBU as soon as I was able to sit in a chair (EMCS) and were kindness personified. On night 2 I had a massive meltdown as DD was so ill and they took me into the day room and stayed with me while I howled. I was at Hinchinbrooke hospital and I can honestly say the way I was treated made all the difference.

Oh and the bounty lady left me alone.

probably best not to go in with high expectations! With DD1 I had missed meals, late painkillers (post c-sec) and staff criticising my efforts at feeding and changing. With DD2, the ward wasn't actually any better but I was more confident and aware. I ignored the criticism, and I rang my bell as soon as anything was 5 mins late rather than assuming they'd be bound to get round to me soon. On that basis it was OK, but I was glad to get home. (Had another c-sec so another 3 night stay.)

given the circumstances (nothing serious but c-section never going to be enjoyable) i had a excellent stay at my hospital. midwives were lovely and very helpful, constantly checking on you and the baby and even though they saw hundreds of thousands of babies always were happy to have a new one on the ward and admired them. i had baby blues the second night and the midwife took dd to the nursery and brought me up to the day room so i could freely ghurn without embarrassing myself or annoying others. tea, food and medication was ran like clockwork and in the morning time they had a small room with cereals toaster and kettle so you could get breakfast at your own time i.e. if baby had finally fallen asleep at 6 you could sleep on and get something whenever they woke up. they had a list of things they had to show you how to do like how to give a proper bath and they were always very patient when showing you things. DD had to see paediatrician and he was up within half an hour, nothing major umbilical stump problems. the best thing they had was the bathroom. it was big enough to bring in baby in the cot and the bath was like a giant seat so easy to get in and out of. no one else seemed to use it so i would sit in for ages. the midwives were very accommodating to my mum they let her help me in the shower and stuff and let her in the nursery bit to bath and change DD, i felt she was majorly in the way but they let her get it on with it. when you left if you FF they gave you a days supplies of pre mixed formula bottles and teats. the one bad thing was the fire alarm went off at 2am one night but that wasn't anyone's fault and it was mega hot but it was august.

that was long but i have to sing their praises. i was a young first timer having a c/s and terrified and they were all so so nice. a friend had her baby in the same hospital and thought it was dreadful, but i would never have a baby anywhere else.

I gave birth in labour ward of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary- awful experience.

Once I was moved up to the postnatal ward it was great. Midwives were super, I had lots of help with feeding and food was really good. It was a bit hot and the shower room was pretty hopeless, but overall it was fine. I was able to stay an extra night for help with feeding.

Oh my god almighty. This is really terrible.

One thing is for certain (if I ever have children) the first words out of my mouth to any of these awful awful midwives will be "I am a clinical negligence solicitor".

Lets see how they treat me after that

Mostly shite really.

With dd1 (stillborn) the pn midwife didn't bother looking at my notes, shoved me into the middle of the pn ward surrounded by newborns, congratulated me on the birth (!) and abandoned me. I discharged myself as soon as I was able. That was Edgware Hospital

With dd2 I had had minor bleeds throughout pregnancy, and because of dd1 was considered high risk. I was induced and had a 3 day labour with an epidural at the end of it. The pn ward was clean and there were plenty of midwives; they just didn't bother looking after the mums, and treated a young mum (about 15) really badly.

With ds I had an emcs - had had a bleed earlier during the day and gone in to be monitored. His heartbeat dropped and despite my dh shouting at the midwives, it was pure luck a junior dr came to see what the fuss was about.
Went to pn ward with ds - the ward had four bays with 8 women in each. During my first night there there was ONE midwife for the entire ward; there had been four other emcs done that day, and none of us could move. My ds was put out of my reach and when he started choking, another patient (high forceps) managed to get to him as he stopped breathing.

The second night there, we again had the one midwife; a friend of hers stopped by (another midwife) and insisted on staying the whole night to help her out - she was off duty and did it unpaid!

During the 3 hellish days I spent in with ds, I was shouted at for not knowing I had thrush in my boobs, for not knowing that I HAD to get my own food, for not being able to get myself out of the bath, for getting my dh to bring food in for me, and for shouting at a mw who forced a woman to go to the bathroom (hours after a emcs) and then left her there unable to get back to her bed.

A formal complaint was made, and we got back a form letter apologizing for any 'less than perfect' experiences we had.

Both of these were the Lister Hospital, Stevenage.

Mumsnet has power. If it were ever going to get behind a cause, it should be this one.

Most of these posts relate to non-clinical matters which could be addressed fairly easily IMO - perhaps some universal basic standards of care and attention, implemented across all post natal units.
Eg: patients being given an info card relating to:

• how to get your food
• how to manage after a c section
• how to access breastfeeding help
• how to best help yourself in hospital
• how to complain

What comes over so strongly is how noone is asking for special/luxurious treatment, just to be treated with respect and dignity at THE most vulnerable time in our lives.

(sorry im derailing the thread)

Bagofholly no you're not, why don't you repost on the campaign section i'd be straight over to support it.

Raigmore hospital in Inverness-Fantastic for both of my births, Both during labour and post-natal care.

Could not fault any of the staff, especially the auxillary (sp?) who gave me an extra little tub of ice-cream.

Reading this thread has made me appreciate them all the more.

I do wonder if there has ever been any correlation shown between a negative postnatal ward experience and PND?

dreadful. I was in UCH - no nurses on the ward overnight, only a nursing auxiliary who screamed at a woman who couldn't feed her baby because she was still numb from her c-section. And when someone collapsed in the shower they couldn't find any surgical gloves on the ward to treat her. Originally thought it was unusual but have now heard so many horror stories that I just think it gets overlooked as women who've just given birth are too traumatised/knackered to complain. It's a scandal.

Oh - and they sent my discharge notes to the wrong doctor so I didn't get a home midwife visit for 2 days - by which time dd was getting dehydrated.

Ok so don't shoot me, I'm a midwife. I try my best no matter which ward I'm working on. To address a few points. The heat, yes it's awful, we have to work in it, often not stopping for food or drink, dehydration headaches are par for the course as a midwife. The temp needs to be kept up as newborns are so poor at regulating their own temp. Fans should be available though although I know they're not always. Private rooms, we only have 4 where I work, they are always reserved for someone who needs them, clinical need, even then, sometimes women with complex problems are kept deliberately on a main ward as it is easier to keep an eye on them. Where I work you will not get a private room because you make a fuss but we will endeavour to get you one if you need it. Being left overnight, it's a difficult one, many women don't wish to be disturbed and even here on this thread both points have been brought up about midwives being in and out, disturbing sleep or being left alone. I'd never ignore a buzzer and would hope no one else would either, use them if you require assistance. Getting you out of bed post section, evidence shows that being up and about post section is beneficial, however you should always be given assistance and assessed individually. The sad fact is space and beds are at a premium. We have 24 post section / high risk beds, we do on average 4 electives plus a couple of emergency sections every single day, the pressure to get you up and out is horrifying but what else can we do? Management aren't interested because in the main hardly anyone complains, therefore what they are pressurising us to do must be ok. 2 staff between 24 women? Well no one complains so it must be ok. It's not ok, I don't think it's ok and I hate going into work, I'm disillusioned and burnt out because I know I can't give you the care you require. I can't look after 12 women with complex medical needs, post surgery and their babies, some of whom require tube feeding or extra support. It can't physically be done, throw in the woman who has breadtfeeding problems, the three who are demanding to go home everytime I scurry past their bay on my way to someone else and the woman who collapses because she has an Hb of 6. It's impossible yet that's the kind of thing we're expected to deal with. I don't want sympathy and expect I won't get it and rudeness is never ok but staff hate the care we're forced to give as well, more staff is the answer but the fact is, patient satisfaction doesn't really matter to the big chiefs, so long as you make it out of there alive. So complain complain complain. It'll probAbly not make a difference but it will stop them thinking that everything is ok.

DS1- The post natal ward was full so they put me in a side room on the ante natal ward instead, I had 2 volunteers popping in on me all night and went home at lunchtime (gave Birth at midnight) was a pretty good experience and the only downside was the fact that I wasnt given the oppotunity to bath him.

DD and DS2 (twins)- Given a side room as had twins and left to it! I had been induced with a drip so had to be hooked up to the drip till it ran its course and as I only had a 47 minute labour it took hours it was plugged into the wall and hard to move which didnt make the constant toilet trips I needed easy! When I buzzed and asked for help feeding as they were both crying I was told I needed to learn how to dea with it and then it was made worse when I witnessed 3 midwives looking after a baby so "Mum could get some sleep"! I left at about 11am but wished it could have been sooner! I had to stand at the desk for nearly half an hour with DH and DS1 and the twins in their carseats waiting for a midwife to find a pair of scissors to cut off their security tags which they ended up doing wth nal scissors and while I was waiting 5 mums from the ward came out to see the "mum who had twins" and they couldnt believe I was going home voluntarily as they had been there for days and still didnt feel up to it! I honestly would have gone mad if I stayed a minute longer!

Different hospitals but I must admit that both of my labours were handle fantastically.

Queen Elizabeth hospital kings lynn, norfolk. Although not as bad as some stories on here, still pretty dire. Horrible birth with a cow of a midwife leading to ds being in Scbu for 10 days and an fairly callous Oby who called me a stupid kid because they hadn't bothered to read my notes and realise i was intolerant to most local anesthetics and had an extreme needle phobia for which i was undergoing treatment whilst trying to give me an espisotomy. I panicked and they didn't like it. Also didn't bother to tell me or dp the babies sex. Said they hadn't thought to look.
Post natal ward was a dignity at the door experience. Tea and coffee ladies would come round and just open the curtains wide to serve you. At one point i was topless trying to hand express milk for ds. Midwives whole attitude to me was ' your babies not here you're taking up room and wasting your time' one midwife reduced me to tears when she implied i was being selfish because i wanted to stay in until ds was well enough to come home. Food was okay but found the ward too noisy and hot but not overcrowded. Finally, despite being Uber keen to get shot of me, they screwed up my discharge papers and ya waiting six hours to go home after they asked me to. Going to west suffolk hospital in bury st Edmunds this time. I think the extra twenty mins travel is worth it for piece of mind

I think it's also important to remember that not all the bad stuff is caused by staff, but by other patients.

I am confident that nobody would expect the ward staff to check the bathrooms after every use, and to clean them if necessary. Yet it is reported that bathrooms are often left in a terrible state. Of course a lot of the time that is because the person using them was told to have a bath or shower and felt too weak to clean up after themselves, but surely some of the time it is because they just can't be bothered?

MIne was great. Princess Royal in Glasgow. DS was taken to SCBU about 12 hours after he was born, the MW was brilliant and supportive. They got me a private room as I was a little emotional not an understatement, honest for the duration I was there.
The wards were clean, not too noisy and the MW were friendly and on the ball.

Unbelievably horrid. Usual story - hardly any midwives so inexperienced care assistants were given jobs they just couldn't cope with. I had a near miss where I was nearly injected with an empty syringe, then told 'aw, is oo scaredy of needles?' when I suggested that they needed to check the syringe first.
I got no sleep in four days and was begging to be allowed to leave. I'd had an EMCS but was put on the wrong ward, so had no painkillers (but lots of laxatives which I didn't need..). Terribly hot, crap food, no water or access to water, aggressive people all over the place - I wasn't expecting help, just not to be told 'You're doing it ALL WRONG! Bloody first time mothers, you haven't a clue about ANYTHING..' every five minutes.
Definitely contributed to my PND afterwards. DD cried the whole time (as did I) and miraculously cheered up the minute we got home. The labour ward were fantastic, but the post-natal experience really puts me off having another TBH..
There was one fantastic midwife on a night shift who offered to take DD for a stroll while I slept for the first time in five days - I had to write and thank her afterwards as I think she saved my life!

Mrs JRT, everything you say is true, and there are loads of MWs and hcp, who are wonderful, and struggle to work in difficult conditions - as i say my stay at Great Western, Swindon, was exemplary.

BUT...

....does that in any way excuse the abusive, rude and ignorant behaviour of so many of the hcp reported on this thread.

Mixed experience here in Scotland, first two DCs in old hospital, noisy ward with eight beds, discharged myself asap due to lack of sleep and first time round very unsupportive midwives. second time round, same ward same hospital, but I was more confident and more assertive and it was fine.

Third time round, new hospital, same area, brilliant, was given private room ensuite without asking, very good midwives, only niggle was rubbish NHS food, but that I can cope with if everything else is ok.

New hospital has a mix of single rooms, two beds and a few four bed rooms. Hoping this time to either discharge 4 hrs after or failing that get a single room again. Cleanliness was also immaculate. I don't know if this is because new hospital is PFI run as opposed to old system.

I know Ive popped in here and there on this thread but in no way have outlined the full extent of how awful my treatment was on postnatal ward.As mentioned, I am also a hcp and was apalled at the treatment by and rudeness of the staff. Women were bitched about openly (I can still remember "Oh thats mrs x in room x. what a pain in the arse" , put down, yelled at and ridiculed. I had no idea where to get food. Apparently it was off ward but no-one had bothered to tell me. Then I couldnt go and get it for two reasons- 1) I had come in rather early and unprepared so had no shoes 2) I ended up on a drip and transfusion line one on each side of me so couldnt get far. I managed to get 2 breakfasts as the only food they provided in 6 days.

I had no sleep due to having to do my own hourly obs and urine collections over 48 hrs. I was handed a jug and a chart and told to collect and record every hour. I was very familiar with the toilets (filthy) after a few hours and at around 1 am found that there was no paper left in any of them. I struggled up to tell someone and was told "I dont care, not MY job".

I was treated like a pain in the actual arse for existing. A midwive started my baby on formula whilst shouting "your baby is crying and STARVING". Given NO bf support at all...in fact I was told I couldnt , then I could, then I shouldnt all the time whists on quick temp visits rather than actually discussing breastfeeding.
Had my low Hb ignored for 4 days with "Oh, are you wearing makeup?" and was told I had an allergic reaction (which was to explain why I had swollen to look like a size 26 after delivery - previously a 12). In fact it was low Hb and albumin (hello! even I knew that), had a tear which in the first 3 hrs on ward gave me fecal incontenance for which I was made to feel SO bad :( , was had a go at for informing them I hadnt had a section.

I had no visitors to speak of as DH was os for the first 5 days, so kept the curtains closed when visiting time was on. The MD took great delight in swishing my curtains open saying no-one was allowed to keep them closed. So each visiting time I had to sit surrounded by everyone else's visitors practically backed up against my bed and gawping at me.
Had a packet of pads literally thrown at me when requested...and made to feel like scum because I had to use hospital equipment and gowns :(
God I could go on. 7 years later I still feel so upset. And thats just the postnatal. . No more babies for me.

I went to a birth centre (Huddersfield Royal Infirmary)and had amazing postnatal care (and excellent care during the delivery). I was in for five days, including Christmas. All rooms were private and en suite. My husband was allowed to stay with me. I was brought hot meals whenever I wanted them and was allowed to go and get unlimited tea/toast/cereal/fruit from the kitchen. At each shift change I was assigned a specific midwife and maternity nurse to look after me. Buzzers were answered immediately day and night. On Christmas Day they gave me a bag of Sanctuary goodies as a present. Even after I was discharged I was able to go back in for more help with breastfeeding. I didn't want to leave, in fact some days I'd like to go back!

So I meant to say, positive experiences DO exist and it's terrible that so many women have such a terrible time.

i am pretty sure i had PTSD after DD's birth - although it was of course diagnosed as PND - and i think a chunk of it was to do with the lack of postnatal care, rather than just what went wrong during the birth.

care in the HDU was okay, but i was moved to the normal ward after 4 days and put in a private room. i was to stay in the hospital because of the ongoing risk of haemmorhage, yet nobody ever came if i rang the buzzer for any reason several times i ended up wandering the corridors desperately looking for someone after 20+ mins of waiting in my room being ignored (normally i was looking for formula - DD needed top ups, and you couldn't help yourself to it). every time i couldn't stop thinking "what if this was the time i was pressing the buzzer because i was bleeding". i honestly believe i would have received better care and been safer at home...