Hi everyone. I work in a maternity ward. I will give you all some information for any women who are having babies in future. So the antenatal/postnatal ward is usually 4 women in a bay and minimum 4 babies if postnatal. Also one birth partner 24hrs and can stay the night. They are also allowed another visitor during visiting times however these rules are always broken and the staff do not care. Most beds have 4 visitors and children running around. When you try to explain about the visiting times you get abused verbally and they actually refuse to leave. Im not allowed to call security the midwife in charge would go mad at me so it’s better to report it to the the midwife of that bed, however they do nothing about it. They are too busy to care how many visitors there are. I could call security 100 times a week over small things. But we rarely do. We are 99.9% women staff on the ward and the men love to intimidate us. So if the visitors don’t want to leave we can’t force them.
Il be honest there are a handful of staff who are very good with visitors and really do follow the rules however it depends who is on shift that day. You have husbands who are very threatening and get in your face and follow you around trying to continue the abuse. You have to try and remain professional because the bosses only really care about the patient when it comes to complaints. The only time you will see the head of midwifery or the matron is when something serious happens and they get off their lazy arses out of their office. The CQC visits are fabricated to make the ward look perfect. We are told in advance when they are visiting so we have time to prepare. When questioned by the inspectors the head of department is there so you can’t exactly tell the inspector the truth, she is expecting you to give positive feedback about working there. We all would like to tell the truth about how the patients and staff are being let down but there is no one to complain to.
So in regards to staffing and food and supplying formula etc... one midwife has 8 women minimum and 8 babies. She works 13 hour shifts. You are expected to collect your own food. Ive petitioned for this to be changed and I’ve been told that these women aren’t ill. But that doesn’t explain how they have c sections, numb legs, baby feeding, vagina in pieces, dizzy, bleeding... not allowed to bring the baby up to get food but if you leave the baby alone you are scared it will cry and cry. Each staff member has their own view. Some staff try to help and try to deliver food to the women especially if they cannot move then obviously we have to deliver. Some staff have an awful attitude. Complain complain complain trust me we probably agree with you about that member of staff.
Staff complain about other staff and bullying constantly but nothing is ever done however if a patient complains especially to the head or to pals they will listen.
The portions are very small however most staff order extra food so they can give a bit more. Sometimes the catering get it wrong and patients are left with shit options and the ward staff get the blame. Toast and cereal is always available and biscuits tea coffee etc. Ask a staff member to get you some! Demand, say you know it’s in the kitchen so get me something or I want to speak to the midwife in charge, not the ward midwife but the matron or who ever is in charge over night they will bleep them.
Supplies- this is probably the worst issue as each ward has a certain amount of stuff they are allowed. If there is a theatre or a&e or icu then they will have loads. But the maternity ward doesn’t get enough supplies. We have to borrow from other wards however they don’t like to share. So we argue constantly with the supply team who are selfish nasty people. They do not care if a patient goes without! They think they are paying for it out of their own money. Im referring to medical stock and lifesaving items. We basically take from other wards to tide us over.
Bullying has become a daily thing. I come home from work crying and so do my colleagues. People in the nhs are very controlling and power hungry. Everyone thinks they are a manager. Cleaners shout at senior staff and are very territorial. They argue in the corridors. Healthcare assistants are the same and they will not be told what to do by anyone. No matter how many official complaints you put in they think they are untouchable. Nurses and midwives are a bit more professional however some of them are bully's. The ones on my ward are responsible for patients say 8 per shift. If you alert a midwife that her patient is having a problem they genuinely don’t respond. You can’t help because you have your own 8 women to deal with. Managers see things and ignore because they don’t want to confront a bully. A band 8 midwife will brush things under the carpet because a band 2 member of staff is intimidating. The band 8 is senior management and has authority over everything and is too scared to manage their staff.
Staff eat all the food in the ward! This is a big problem and they are selfish when it comes to it. I’ve seen this behaviour for years. The place isn’t clean also...
The reason they let partners stay is because then the staff don’t have to do as much work. I feel sorry for my colleagues as they have so much to juggle including medications and making sure they haven’t made life changing mistakes. Doctors only come around in the morning for rounds. We never know what time unfortunately we only know that it’s after handover.
A positive: when we have a lovely patient it helps us go the extra mile. I’ve done things that I really didn’t have to do for mums because I genuinely wanted to help them and I could see that the ward was so busy they were being left alone crying etc. We do love our jobs I promise and we love mums and babies. The issues I've highlighted above are due to the staff we have to endure and the lack of management and funding and staff levels. The other issue is men on the ward they are very intimidating. The actual patients are fine, they are very sweet and they are looking at you for help support and trust. They are in an environment totally new some of them and they are tired and in pain. They don’t want to ask for a lot usually. They are genuinely lovely patients most of the time. But we do find that the partners are the ones who are demanding and rude.
This is all of our opinions that we chat about daily at work during our lunch breaks. Im voicing it down so that it might hopefully change something...
IMPORTANT: We will sometimes look after your babies 👶🏼😀 just explain that you need to have sleep or head somewhere important and we will try to keep the baby with us by the computer while we do our documentation. Fingers crossed you get a new or student midwife who loves cuddles. Our students are so lovely honestly. They are positive and want to learn. They don’t have as much responsibility so they tend to have a bit more patience and understanding. We have a specialist feeding midwife as well and she is hands down the best thing about the ward. She is lovely! Genuinely caring and will give you her time. Ask for one of them and she has volunteers to help too. Also if you find your neighbors are being noisy ask if the ward isn’t busy can one of you be moved to a different bay. It shouldn’t be a problem if there are empty beds around your area.
If you have any problems during your stay ask for the person in charge immediately. I guarantee if my manager saw a woman asking for something she would tell us to do it. The staff are banking on the fact that you don’t know that. They think you won’t ask for the manager but if you do I promise the attitude will change. Also leave all feedback on the forms, website and pals. We read all of them!! 😊😊 thank you for reading