Thanks, everyone! :)
For those who like to hear all the details, here goes:
I went into hospital on Sunday to be induced as the consultant wanted to avoid the shoulder dystocia that ds1 and ds2 both had. Very little happened on the 1st day so my waters were broken on Monday morning. The twinges got stronger and eventually I went to the labour room at 2pm where I was found to be 3cm dilated. So far so good.
The nice MW and student MW who'd been looking after me were called away elsewhere and that's when things started to go wrong.
I was hooked up to the syntocin drip as, despite being very painful, my contractions were apparently weak and irregular. The MW wouldn't let me have an epidural as she said it would slow things down. By now it was 4.30pm and I was in real pain. It didn't help that the MW kept going off and leaving me alone without either checking my progress or monitoring the syntocin drip. Instead she relied entirely on the monitor and ignored me when I said that it was excruciatingly painful. 
Very Little Britain - "Monitor says no!" 
Instead she just moaned about her paperwork.
At 6pm she finally agreed to get me some pethidine. It still wasn't enough IMO and she reluctantly agreed to me having some gas & air, telling me that the contractions were still weak and irregular. Dh (who had to look after our 2 boys) phoned to ask how I was doing at 6.45pm and was told that I was having "a few twinges but nothing much". At 7pm I insisted on an epidural but was told I'd have to wait until the shift handover at 7.15pm-7.30pm. I was ready to throttle her.
There was a sudden panic and the MW started shrieking for help - and no I hadn't throttled her. :o The room filled with people just as dd's head crowned. There was a big rush to manoeuvre the shoulders - while the MW just kept repeating that the monitor hadn't shown anything happening. She left very shortly after.
The other MWs were lovely. I got the feeling that they were not happy about what had happened. They weren't the only ones!
Dd is happy and well, and enjoying the attentions of her two big brothers. :)