To think that some women have an awful time on the postnatal ward

[elliejjtiny]

This isn't a slag off the midwives thread. In my case the midwives were perfectly lovely and kind, just very overworked.

My 2 experiences on the postnatal ward with DS4 (now 18m) and DS5 (now 6m) were horrible. I had caesareans both times and both babies were in NICU, although DS5 came and joined me on the ward for the last 3 days. Once my catheter was out I had to make my own breakfast, fetch other meals and drinks from the ward kitchen, take expressed milk down what felt like endless corridors to NICU every 4 hours and sterilize all the bottles, pump bits etc. I didn't have DH with me as he was looking after the DC's or any visitors who stayed more than 5 minutes. I could have really done with some tlc in my vulnerable and hormonal state. And some decent painkillers. I wasn't allowed morphine after the catheter came out because it made me wobbly, just paracetamol and ibubrofen. I take more than that for period pains.

But when I talk about it I get told that it didn't happen or that I'm being negative or exaggerating. It makes me feel like I'm going mad. So come and tell me your awful postnatal ward stories so that I know I'm not alone.

I'm intrigued by the repeated mentions of St Thomas's on this thread. Is it just that other hospitals have been mentioned various times without being named (perhaps one person naming it encourages others to do the same) or that St Thomas's is particularly large so gets multiple mentions? Or is St Thomas's just awful - beyond the routinely poor care found across the country?

I don't have an agenda with St Thomas's - I'm no where near it and have no experience of it, but I did notice that it was mentioned with unusual frequency on this thread.

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So who would like to email them with questions about their awful post natal experiences on their crappy ward? Or perhaps even a link to this thread?

I had normal births so no mobility problems but hated that you had to go and queue for meals. If you were trying to BF at a mealtime you ended up missing a meal. Every other ward you get your food delivered to your bed, why not on maternity?

Most of us on our ward are dual nurse and midwife trained, delivery mainly consists of only midwife trained midwives. In answer to humpty I don't know if putting things back on junior drs would work either as you would then need more of them. There's usually, especially on nights and weekends, just one junior Dr and senior one, with a consultant on call. We struggle getting the drs down to prescribe pain relief, and can sometimes be bleeping them four or five times, but if they are caught up in another part of the unit they can't come. If they had more jobs to do, the care would be further delayed.
Nurses wouldn't be able to work fully on a post natal ward, as it's more specialised. We need to be able to spot obstetric deviations, deal with obstetric emergencies aswell as medical ones, help with breastfeeding and deal with the newborns aswell, including high risk ones.

pullthecracker, sounds like it would be good for postnatal wards to develop a Nurse Practitioner Pain Management type post?

Wow that is some really interesting data -- not surprised St T's scores so low!

Pico I'm not sure St Thomas is actually so much worse than other places, it's just a very large hospital and gets loads of people. Especially if you live in south london and your other option is someplace like Lewisham, which is hell on earth, you go to St Thomas. And they do have a good reputation generally so you assume the postnatal will be fine.

My first indication it might not be was when I had to see a consultant at 6 months, at St Thomas, and he told me he would never let one of his family members give birth there. Um, gee, thanks? Then I started doing some research and well that's why I brought an insane amount of stuff with me to the hospital, thank god too.

This thread is actually quite upsetting now, I had always assumed/hoped that the awful, damaging experience that I had at St Thomas's in 2004 must have been a terrible aberration because of the time of year (though the layers, and layers of dust and filth under the bed had obviously been there a long time - I bought new slippers for the birth and threw them in the bin on the way out). The consistent horror stories about the PN ward there, still going on recently, are quite shocking. From a random sample of women on mumsnet.

The mirror stories are almost hard to believe. My SIL also gave birth there shortly after me and was allowed on the home birth unit, had a lovely birth, own clean and quiet room, partner stayed throughout. Next day were shown how to bathe and care for the baby. She can't fault the place. Compare that with my experience. Bit of high blood pressure before the birth so they wouldn't let me in the unit. Terrible, mismanaged birth (hungover midwife did not check progress and didn't realise the baby was getting stuck, didn't get me in optimum position, no advice or assistance). Then stuck in hideous PN ward on my own overnight for 5 days of hell. Partner not allowed to stay. Literally no sleep for 5 nights. No room in special care, apparently, I think that's what they grunted at me, so I had to take him down there myself every 4 hours. Then got shouted at for carrying him after blood loss, though there was no one around to tell me not too or to tell me to wheel him there.

I am not a princess or a diva, I promise you. I would happily have paid to get out of their - in fact I tried repeatedly by asking for a private room. They said they'd send the person round for me to book it, but of course they never turned up. Just like the bf counsellor.

What a start to new motherhood! I arrived home exhausted, shocked and depressed and feeling like I'd already failed my son. Out of all the horrible things that happened, the image of the HCA, midwife assistant or whatever they're called grumpily grabbing him and dangling him by his arm and shoving a vest over his head while shouting at me incomprehensibly stays with me to this day. He was recently resuitated after a shoulder dystocia, not yet given the all clear for shoulder injuries. I shouldn't have let that bitch touch him.

If DPs were there there would be no opportunity for theft whilst in loo/ shower or of baby. And maybe it would have helped the poor woman in bristol. As mw didnt notice jer leaving but partner probably would have.

Yeah! I can see how that works. Would that not make women with no DP overnight, or DP at home with kids, feel more vulnerable in effectively a unit with a slew of men wandering about willy nilly?

No, it happens already on the home birth units as everyone has their own small room. Even in a bay all that would be needed would be to draw the curtains and have a chair by the bed. It would have helped me enormously to have had my DP there that first awful night.

Yes, because everyone's husband/partner/man whatever is respectful and considerate of other patients and their babies. NOT. The solution is definitely NOT for non-patients to crowd already crowded facilities.

dreaming is right. Lewisham is apparently famous for its totally fucking shit PN ward. Wish I'd known that a year ago...
Apparently when it was threatened with closure, the good midwives mainly transferred elsewhere, leaving them with a high % of agency staff.
My community midwife, HVs and NCT teacher all said its well known for being completely horrendous.
So, not just St Thomas'.

Agree with pp who pointed out that MLU are bloody hard to get into, but so much BETTER. I wasn't eligible as induced (much as I didn't want to be - 16 days over), and won't be in future due to haemorrhaging this time. Perhaps MLUs need to have lower criteria? The Lewisham one was empty during my labour - I wandered in there on and off about four times while I was in the induction/early labour phase, and had a bath down there (they offered!) when further along.

Anyone have experience of King's? I have to spend a minimum of 3 days on PN ward due to psychosis risk. They're going to try and get me a sideroom which should help but I'm scared.

This thread has stirred up so many bad memories for me. I had DD1 in 1989 and had such an awful time on the ward it took me months, if not years, to get over it. We were in for a week and it was the longest week of my life. One mw had an official reprimand for her treatment of me but it didn't make help me to mentally recover from all that had happened. :(

Two years later I was in the same hospital having a mc in the middle of the night laying bleeding heavily in a bed in one of those old fashioned very long wards when I was told if I didn't go to sleep they would selotape my eyes shut. I wasn't causing a fuss or disturbing anyone else I was just laying there in the dark silently distraught and falling apart. I ended up losing my baby down the toilet, and they had the nerve to tell me when I came round from my d&c that maybe I hadn't been pg in the first place. :(

My DD1 is pg herself, and due today. I'm worried silly for her. I expect the actual birth to be handled okay but I dread to think what it is going to be like on the ward at this time of the year. Way back at her booking in appt her community mw was rolling her eyes and sighing heavily at the inconvenience a Christmas baby was going to cause 'as no one will be around to look after you', and sure enough the same mw disappeared last week for a three week holiday without there being adequate cover in place. :(

This thread makes me want to weep. It should be joy and tiredness. Not fear, worry and anguish

These threads are always the same.

And it's pot luck sometimes as to the care you receive depending on the midwife you get assigned. I don't know how this is allowed to happen in this day and age, we've moved backwards in some respects, allowing people to recover from birth in these conditions

All I can say is ditto... Atrocious PN care at Homerton, 13 months later I'm still traumatised (surgical team were amazing btw). I complained to the Quality Care Commission afterwards.

I really wish you could all come to my ward,and see that it's not all like this. We have domestics on from 7am-10pm, and it is spotless. We have a file on each locker giving you all the information about the ward, where to find things, who is in what uniform, what to expect from your baby, how often he/she might want to feed, dirty nappies etc. we have a kitchen for patients to make breakfast, cups of tea etc, but if they choose not to, we make it for them. We have a toast round mid morning where we go round and give toast out. One person goes round every woman every single hour to see if they need anything,and then feeds back to the midwife for whatever they need, pain relief, help feeding etc.
We give them an electronic pad for feedback when they are leaving, and I know that 90% of the time it is good, we have comments such as 'the midwives couldn't do enough for us' . We had a spot inspection yesterday, where managers went round asking the patients how they were finding the care, and how the ward was, and we passed with flying colours, all the women were happy, the ward was clean, tidy and well organised, and buzzers were answered promptly.
Please please don't tar us all with the same brush, the stories of some midwives on here are appalling, but most of us came into the job wanting to help women and give them a happy experience, and that is our ultimate aim when we walk through the doors in the morning, and we try our best to do that. I can't remember the last time I sat and chatted to a colleague at work.

I had both my babies in Dublin so not relevant so not relevant to the NHS discussion but I can relate to so many of the stories here.

And very much the feeling that you can't talk about it. There seems to be the attitude that if you've come out with a healthy baby and mostly in one piece yourself you can't really complain.

Thing is, it really is traumatising, isn't it? I still think about my experiences a lot and it still upsets me, especially the night of hell I had after DD1 (though that was nothing compared to some here).

Thank you for this threat and making me realise that I don't need to just get over it. Its okay to struggle with the memories of the experience.

Bigcatface kings are brilliant. But let them know you are worried. I also heard fathers can stay too. I have glenn to kings in lots of different wards and staff are busy but kind. Also has a good rep as a very good hospital.

Thread, not threat, obviously. Thank the reason for my second PN ward stay for that slip up. (Up all night as she's cutting a molar, not as sharp as I like to be!)

BCF I know a former consultant at Kings, who says it's excellent - I told him about my experiences, and he was horrified, and told me to use Kings next time.

fish I'm sure you will be able to stand up for your daughter, and that with your help, she'll be fine.

pull I'd love to give birth in your hospital. It sounds lovely, and it's so nice to hear from a kind, caring, compassionate midwife! I bet your mothers love you - don't suppose you work in London/SE, by any chance? thinking ahead to no. 2

Yes Humoty I too know lots of staff at kings who have had their babies there and that says something.

I got into kings because I refused lewisham and now am grateful for the women who shared their awful postnatal experiences with me. Have heard some horror storied about QE one friend was left in bloodied sheets with her baby unable to change her babies nappie so her beautiful new baby was crying covered in shit she was crying covered in blood and still bleeding -the mw just came in and said why have you not changed your baby but refused to help and she was like that for hours until her partner came back and helped her.

pullthecracker sounds like you work on a good ward. What is it though with delayed pain relief - surely most women have due dates and their births typically fall two weeks either side and they are registered with that hospital. Why on earth are women denied pain relief if they request it during labour?