As a midwife reading this is utterly heartbreaking and goes against everything we try and strive for. We try SO hard to give every woman the care they deserve but with limited resources waaaayyyy out of our control we fail on a daily basis. When you are trying to look after up to 15-20 mums and babies many of which are on antibiotics and are high risk and there is only two people it is so hard. Mental health problem, safeguarding, high risk complications, they all add to the workload. I’m not making excuses for poor care but trying to let you know why it happens.
Breast feeding support is tough, we would LOVE to sit and spend time with mums perfecting the latch, giving support in positioning and attachment, doing feeding plans etc but we can’t as it takes the time away from someone who needs urgent care.
Yesterday I done a 12.5 shift, I went to the toilet once, I had no break and would not have eaten if I had not packed a packet of crisps in my bag before I left for work. I got home 14 hours after I left and cried on my sofa when I realised I forgot to take someone’s cannula out as they requested.
Please if you experience bad care, disturbances, or lack of empathy contact PALS, ask them to come to the ward and see it for themselves. We don’t deserve to be bashed, we need change so we can do our jobs, we WANT to be “with woman” not tied to our computer furiously documenting defensively in case someone dies because we have not got the resources available.
From a midwife to a mother please be assured we are as angry as you about the inconsiderate patients, the partners who walk around in their pants and the baby grabby “visitors” but there is literally nothing we can do.