AIBU to think that all mothers should have food and water on postnatal wards?

[JustineMumsnet]

Hello,

Today, we at MNHQ are launching a new campaign called Better Postnatal Care: Aftercare, not Afterthought.

Over the years, we’ve been struck by how many MNers have related pretty horrible experiences on postnatal wards. We’ve also seen lots of discussions about longer term aspects of postnatal care: help with breast or bottle feeding, mental health care for new mothers, wound care after difficult births, and physio for women who feel they need it (but rarely feel able to ask for it) - among other things.

So, towards the end of last year we decided to see if we could do something about it. We ran a big survey of Mumsnet users’ experiences of postnatal care, and some of the results were striking. (You can see more here.) Among those who stayed in hospital after giving birth - which was most new mums - many reported that it was sometimes difficult to access food, pain relief, drinking water and washing facilities. 61% had been unable to access food when they needed it; 45% had been unable to access pain relief when they needed it; 22% had been unable to access water when they needed it; and 19% had been unable to access washing facilities when they needed them.

So today, we are asking the major UK political parties to commit, in their manifestos for the general election, to making sure that women on postnatal wards always have access to the absolute basics: food, water, pain relief and washing facilities.

We’re also asking everyone (this means you!) to contribute ideas about how we can make postnatal wards ‘fit for purpose’. More midwives? A fridge full of sandwiches, fruit and water on every ward? Asking all visitors and patients to turn off noises on their phones and personal devices? Maternity support assistants? Welcome cards by every bed explaining how the ward works? Making sure that inpatients and their visitors use headphones if they’re watching TV? We’re after all your suggestions, no matter how small. We’ll also be asking for input from healthcare workers with frontline experience - so if you’re one of those, please do chip in.

This isn’t about going into battle with people who work in maternity services in the NHS. Most of you feel that overall, over the year or so post-birth, standards of postnatal care are good or OK. When asked what needs to change, many of you say you think there should be more staff. Some of you had very good experiences: if you look at the ‘Good Stuff’ heading on this page you’ll see some shout-outs to hospitals and services that MNers say are getting things right. So we know that it can be done. What we want to do is find out how these hospitals are managing to get it right, and see if the lessons can be transferred.

In the months to come, the campaign will look in more detail at things like infant feeding, traumatic births, postnatal mental health, and follow-up care for birth injuries.

Please get involved with the campaign. Here are some ways you can help.

And as ever - do let us know what you think!

Thanks

Some privacy! I had people pushing the curtains open all the time, just looking in and going away, collecting crockery, emptying the bin- all without knocking or asking etc.
Someone to help you clean up after a section. I was treated like a massive nuisance when I asked if anyone could give me a hand anytime- my legs were numb for ages and there was so much blood all over the bed. The whole place reeked. They grudgingly helped a couple of hours later. It was a pretty humiliating experience.

So we all think that basically postnatal care and possibly the NHS is in dire need of more funds? And that more funding should go to training midwives and nurses?

And how much is this going to influence how we vote at the general election then?

this is great. some hot coffee, bottled water and a packet sandwich is all i required, but my dp had to bring this in for me. i love the nhs it's fucking brilliant but the food in my hospital is .... beyond bad

The bounty lady should ask before visiting.. I had one turn up at least 20minutes after birth... some people are not interested in photo taking esp if they have been unwell. Food should be available always.. as a bf mum I found I was always hungry and how many bannanas can one eat... sandwiches or porridge should be available... something filling. I had to survive on tea and dry toast and I had not eaten the night before the birth so it was coming up to 12hours no food.. and no mercy from staff. Its like once baby is safely out then the mum can do one and fend for herself. I couldnt even lie down I was told its best to stay upright...clotting etc. And had to ask a few times for blankets as i couldnt keep warm at one point I used my dhs coat.. another time my dms coat. Appaling actually when i think of the minor details.

Sunset no, the Bounty Woman should be BANNED. A postnatal ward is NO place for sales pitches. Mine tried to convince me SHE was the only place I could get Child Benefit forms from!

More midwives to watch babies while you have a shower. I struggled with this to the point that I left the hospital early. Also effective pain relief as soon as the woman requests it. I saw many women in agony being refused pain relief. They used excuse that the women were "Not ready yet" for pain relief (WTF)!! They tried that with me but I insisted and as a result had a lovely memorable pain free birth.

Here comes the sun, that's a good point...

Haven't read the full thread but I think women should be in charge of their own pain relief if it's just paracetamol and ibuprofen. After my first section I was left for hours without analgesia as they were busy so the drug round was late. I wasn't in much pain to be fair but asked for some at midnight as the baby was asleep and I thought I might like to be too! Why not just give me a box of tablets with instructions as to when I can take them? Would get rid of a job for the staff and it's nothing I wasn't doing two days later at home anyway.

Other than that my care was pretty good. First time I had my own room (which was bliss!) but second time on a four-bed ward and apart from the noise from other patients (including someone ordering pizza at 1am ) it was okay. Saw a physio before discharge, food and water brought to my bed, lots of pillows. Still couldn't wait to get home though...

Inadequate staffing levels and resources are a reality in the NHS, but it's not just that.

I had, and witnessed, multiple experiences of women being treated as though they were an inconvenience to the staff's protracted gossip breaks around the nurses station.

Not being offered any food, couldn't work out where to fill my water bottle up, filthy, blood stained shower, women pressing buzzers repeatedly because they couldn't walk and no-one one responded.

But the nurses station always had a group of staff standing round chatting

It really changed my view. My impulse is to defend the staff as they're 'busy', but that wasn't the case.

Another negative experience here too! I ended up getting tea & toast for a lady in my bay who'd had a c section.. we were both starving & no sign of a tea lady! No idea what to do so I pushed my Baby's cot up to her bed & hobbled down the corridor in search of food!

I had a screaming baby all night & was pacing the corridors as I felt bad about keeping the rest of the women & babies awake.. was told very rudely by a HCA to 'go back & give him boob'.. then when at 4am I fell asleep exhausted with him on my chest she shouted at me saying I could've killed him. I cried the entire next day until I was discharged.. when the paediatrician told me that baby's who are born as fast as mine was are often crabby for the first 12 hours or so because they get a headache ... oh how I wished I'd known that at 4am when I was wondering how I'd deal with my toddler plus psycho screaming baby!

Onto no 3 now & although we can't afford it our local hospital offers private rooms where partners can stay too (£150 per night), we are saving up because I think it's necessary for my own sanity! And you get your own tea & coffee making facilities!

Get people to look at your notes, before they come and give you a lecture on contraception after the birth! They might then wonder how you got from the age of 16 to 27, without getting pregnant!

The cleaner took pity on me, on blood stained sheets for several days - she showed me where the linen cupboard was, so I could get a clean sheet and change the bed myself! IMO, I should not have had to do that, after losing weight over my twin pregnancy, cos I was sick so much, and could not eat the last 6 weeks!

Three nights running, I got no dinner as I had to take my twins for injections in SCBU - when I got back there was no food left, even though I specifically asked them to save me a dinner, as I was breastfeeding twins!

It's not just because the NHS has no money - my twins are in their 20s!

Instead of having that bloody bounty woman hounding you, could we not have a small start up business of a sandwich trolley that does rounds? They can do it in aeroplanes and trains, why not a ward?

I'm currently on a postnatal ward and the single thing that would make my experience better (post c-section) is being given pain relief reliably at regular times and not having to ring buzzer / hobble to reception to beg tearfully for it. Very demeaning! When I had my first c-section I remember "looking forward" to the regular intervals at which painkillers would come, but this time there appears to be only a vague schedule, so had afternoon painkillers at 3, evening painkillers at 6, night painkillers at 10pm and then nothing until 7am, by which point I was seeing stars (but not wanting to ask for Oramorph because I want to go home today).

Also easy access to cold and warm (wind!) drinking water and some simple meals would be good. I don't need a fancy menu to choose from, but would have been nice to be offered a cup or tea or slice of toast this morning (now just after 8, no sign of anything). This is especially true for women without partners to out and fetch things; but unaccompanied women don't seem to be prioritised.

Appreciate wards are wildly understaffed but would also be good for staff not to make promises they can't keep. Over last 48 hours have repeatedly been told "the doctor will be coming in 10 mins" or "the midwife will give you pain relief / a Clexane injection/ take out your catheter" in ten minutes, only for hours to pass with no one arriving. Very little point having buzzers if no one answers them.

Also a policy to ask people to keep their voices down! Crying babies are what they are but would be GREAT not to have fathers chatting away on mobiles all night, loud arguments between parents etc.

Also clean the bathrooms occasionally! Midwife very sulky when I pointed out that the main patient loo was blocked and overflowing, but not easy for all patients to walk a long way down a corridor to another one.

I'd like to see individual rooms for all mums on a maternity ward/block rather than bays of six or eight beds. Each room should have a fridge stocked with fresh fruit and bottles water. Meals should be brought in as and when required, and each room should have private washing and toilet facilities for both baby and mum. Plus a named nurse for every room or one nurse per up to three rooms at the most to help 'on demand'.

Would solve practically every problem listed.

The biggest challenge that faced my partner and I post birth was consistency of information regarding breast feeding. We were discharged after 1 night in hospital - too soon in my opinion. My son was delivered with forceps and I had first and second degree tearing and an episiotomy. My post birth ops were 'scarce' and no one thoroughly examined me prior to discharge. My son was re-hospitalised with jaundice. We wound up spending an additional 5 days in the post-labour ward. I had to be resutured and re-catheterised. During those 5 days, tired, emotional and in huge amounts of pain, I got a different opinion on what I should and shouldn't be doing with every shift change. I became frightened and lost my confidence entirely. To top it off a breastfeeding mother, IMO, needs to be well nourished. One slice of white bread and strawberry jam for breakfast is not enough to sustain a women who has just given birth, isn't sleeping and is breast feeding her baby. I would like to see two things which could have significantly improved my care on the ward. The first is a written treatment/action plan covering all aspects of care consistently communicated to all staff AND the mother and father, including aspects of feeding. I know shift handovers take place but it does not seem to prevent opinion-based care to be dolled out. The second is I think every woman should be provided the option of being catered for. Many will decline, preferring to bring their own food in, and the general quality of the meals could then be improved with less waste. I saw so many meals just left because they were inedible. Providing nourishing food isn't difficult. A small pot of yoghurt and a banana with breakfast. Porridge instead of white bread. Finally, just to say the staff truly did their best for me but funding cuts and a system whoefully understaffed was evident.

I would have liked just a bit more space and temperature that wasn't so hot it made me dehydrated and dizzy. When I had DD four years ago the post natal ward (when I finally got a bed after.half a day in a temporary ward with virtually no care and no access.to water or food) there were six of us crammed in to a sweltering tiny ward with barely enough space between the curtained cubicles for the cot. I had a minor infection and was hooked up with a drip, which they placed on the opposite side of the bed.to the cot. I couldn't reach.my baby or get.out of bed.to move the drip stand so had.to ring the buzzer to get someone to help lift the baby so I could feed.or change her. I asked them.to.move the drip, but they said it couldn't be in the way of the.cot so I was stuck. Food was intermittent at best and asking for any help either resulted in no response.or a begrudgingly slow one as if I was an inconvenience. The whole experience made me utterly miserable and.after a two.day labour it was unbearable not.to be able to even sleep for a few hours due to the constant noise, invasive conversations about baby photos from the 3rd party people the NHS seem to allow to enter anti natal wards without any permission from those of us in them. I am about to have my second baby and.i am utterly dreading it based on my previous experience, which I am.sure contributed toy post natal depression. Feeling worthless, an inconvenience and uncared for when in.that vulnerable state is unacceptable. I really really hope this campaign can.make a difference.

I'm a Healthcare worker and have been on the other side as a patient in the maternity wards more times than I can remember (miscarriages etc). I have very little good to say about the general maternity ward I was in in Birmingham. Staff were stressed, maybe due to shortages, they could be heard talking about each other and did very little to support new mums. After I had him via a difficult birth I was unconscious for 12 hours. My son was left beside me and no one came to check on us. I know this as thankfully my cousin was in the bed opposite me having had her baby the night before. She related how my son cried all night and she had to (post ceasearan) change and feed my son and her daughter during the night as the midwives paid no attention. I wanted to breast feed, I was told good for you, and left to it. Needless to say I failed to manage it as I couldn't get him to latch on properly. I had no clue if he was properly fed or not. No one offered any support when I asked. Solutions? More better trained midwives and assistants whose mantra is the 6c's, caring, compassion, communication, competence, commitment and courage. However, funding this is a problem maybe looking into well trained volunteers who can help with non clinical mother/baby duties may be the answer? You can not get blood out of a stone if staff are underpaid, undervalued and over worked, and the environment limit your scope to practice autonomously, we will continue to get what we always got, poor value care.

I had a very traumatic birth with my ds, no support was given at all postnatally, I suffered terrible post natal depression which I believe to be because of his birth.

Blimey I've not read all the thread but I can't believe some of the things people are saying. It's shocking!

I work on an extremely busy postnatal ward. Sometimes we have to look after 10 women each. However....every woman has water, 3 meals a day bought to their bedsides. Tea/coffee trolley twice a day. A lite bite menu available 24 hrs for in between these times.

Visiting times are 9-9 for partners (doesn't have to be 'fathers'). Can be mother, aunt, sister but only one person at a time. Open visiting between 3-4 and 6-8 but nobody else's dc except those of the mother. This is adhered to as strictly as possible. Exception is those in early labour who generally have a side room and partners can stay all the time. Or those with really sick babies.

I get really cross with loudness at night (even from other members of staff) because I get very grumpy when sleep deprived so can appreciate this point well. It does annoy me that our drugs room is just outside a 4 bedded bay and the door is on a spring thing so is loud when shutting. Drug room is just about to be moved though so problem solved.

It does get hot though. We have some fans but not one each. We try and do drugs rounds so people get their medication when they need it and we have fab MSW's who do everything Housekeepers ask every woman every day if they want their bed changed.

It's not perfect by any means and when one midwife is sick it has such a knock on affect. But it doesn't sound as horrific as lots.

This has brought up some difficult memories of my stay on the postnatal ward (thankfully only 1 night)
I had a c section and had to repeatedly ask for pain relief. I was starving and my DH had to bring me bags full of food from Sainsbury's to get me through the night before he was booted out at 10pm. Got no sleep and was barked at constantly not to fall asleep holding bsby and told 'we do not allow co-sleeping'
Asked for help cleaning myself up as was sat in blood stained sheets and just wanted to put some underwear and a pad on. No-one came to help so I gave up and took myself to the bathroom catheter in hand. I left a trail of blood across the bay and felt very degraded. A kind HCA saw this and helped me clean myself up.
I'm still shocked that you're expected to just get on with it after having major surgery.

Yes, we had to have it done privately - the tongue tie - twice! As the first one didn't work! It feels like there's a great hush hush about tongue tie; they don't want to treat it quickly, but they push breast-feeding and make you feel bad if you can't do it. Midwives always seem to look for a problem in the mother, not check for any physical signs in the baby. Surely, that would be the most logical thing to do??

The best thing you can do is not vote Tory. They have plans to sell off the nhs England to the Americans. It will get spook much worse.

*So

I was left all night after a c-section with a screaming child who couldn't breastfeed with no way to get him food or comfort him, and all the midwives to busy to help. Telling me 'just put him on your breast' wasn't exactly great when I'd been trying for hours and was near tears. I felt so bad for the other mums in the ward.

Then, like I always do after an op, I got massive gas and was in huge pain from constipation pushing against the new scar, but could get neither constipation medicine or pain relief. I got told to eat a banana and that would make it ok. By this point I was writhing in pain and could barely walk.

So my suggestions would be

• over the counter medicines for pain relief and constipation and other things they can readily predict available on the ward.
• either have people on hand to help with breastfeeding issues or have sterilised bottles and milk available
• enough staff to help women who have had a c section so they don't get left to do everything by themselves.
• let dads stay in the ward or have enough private rooms they can stay with us.

I really second what a pp said about the food. I've had 3 DC, each at a different hospital, and in each case the midwives on the post-natal ward quite rightly mentioned the importance of a good diet to support breastfeeding, and also to prevent constipation, which is obviously the last thing you need after giving birth.

They kept saying 'make sure you're getting plenty of roughage', but the food was mainly white bread: white toast at breakfast, white bread sandwiches for lunch. I had my DP bring me nice salads and fruit in, but what about women who don't have that option? This doesn't seem right.

I also think a lot more advice and support is needed regarding wound care. All 3 of my deliveries were by forceps, with the attendant episiotomies and stitches. 2 out of 3 times I developed bad infections, and I really think that this was partly down to not being helped with getting to wash on the postnatal ward. I was desperate to have a shower but struggled to walk, legs like jelly, but there didn't seem to be any help or support available. The 1 time I didn't get infected was when a kind support worker gave me a bed bath a few hours post-delivery. I was catheterised and still numb from the epidural, so couldn't have got out of bed if I'd tried.

Great idea for a campaign; good luck.