NHS Labour Wards - recent experiences

[LillianFullStop]

With all the media about the recent strain on the NHS - increased waiting times in A&E, waiting times for surgeries, cancer treatment etc, I am wondering if the NHS maternity wards have been similarly impacted.

Has anyone had recent experience on the wards and have any feedback on understaffing on the labour or postnatal wards, or having an anaesthetic or doctor available when required/requested.

I'm due in June and am starting to be concerned!

I was in treliske cornwall. They are stretched as I asked midwives about this in general chit chat while I was there

However during being induced I was always able to call a midwife over with the button on my bed.

Consultants were available within less than 5 mins.

My epidural was administered within 20mins of request.

The area I personally saw struggling the most was aftercare whilst I stayed.

I got painkillers late every time and some were completely missed.

I waited 2 days for my sons tongue tie to be corrected

I cannot fault the midwives individually. They were so supportive and kind.

However i noticed they had to try to do hourly checks on some women or babies including my jaundiced boy.
They sometime were needed for extended time to offer breastfeeding support, emotional support, sort out other problems such as bed swaps, food issues, cleanliness issues. This ate into their tight schedules. I think they just needed more midwives on the ward at any time so they can do compassionate jobs without time pressure

I'd have to agree with PP that my experience was great until I reached the postnatal ward after my baby was born.
The midwives were great but there seemed to only be around 4 of them, caring for around 22 mothers and babies.
I found a real lack of breastfeeding support, they would come and help reposition my baby but leave immediately and then my baby would be hysterical again 🤷‍♀️
It was a healthcare assistant who found me crying through the night and helped me express a little.
I was also discharged less than 36 hours after my emergency section and common opinion appears to be that was too soon?! Not sure if that was due to pressures to free up beds or not?
I ended up readmitted the following day anyway seriously ill and my extended stay definitely highlighted that postnatally, staff were massively under pressure and under resourced.

I gave birth about a year ago. Pre-birth and during was fine - there were about 9 people who suddenly appeared when i was about 9cm and ready to push. However postnatally there are only enough midwives to do the basic aftercare of checks, pain meds, updating notes, checking your urine. After 24 hours I was basically told they couldn't handle the breastfeeding support I needed and I transferred to a midwife led unit where I had much more emotional support.

I have birth less than 3 months ago in a Kent hospital. My experience was very similar to others in that had a quick response from staff whilst in labour but slow to respond to calls after. I felt deflated at breastfeeding support and advice offered as my baby struggled and I didn't feel midwives were helping much but I think they just don't have the same skills (or time) as a lactation consultant. If your planning on breastfeeding I would recommend attending a local breast feeding group as they have been amazing and you get to meet other mums.

@Surfskatefamily I'm due in early June and will be delivering in Treliske so I'm glad to have read your recent fairly positive/neutral opinion.

I gave birth in an area where there were no private birthing options and a lot of new builds. They kept turning me away because they obviously didn’t have room.

I am nervous about post natal care, but after my last I know what to expect. Hoping the breastfeeding comes easily this time after 3 years experience. I'll be having an elective c-section if my plans go ahead. So it's the postnatal I'm mostly concerned about, but don't have the highest expectations anyway. - sorry not particularly related.

Thanks for all the feedback - I guess we can all hope we only need a very short stay in postnatal before being discharged as it sounds like we would be more comfortable and supported at home rather than in a busy and understaffed postnatal ward.

I might look into the option of a postnatal stay in a private ward but not sure how easy/feasible that would be. Being home would be best really!

Maternity services are at breaking point. Staff burn out, rising birth rate, increase maternal co-morbidities, more inductions, lack of funding... it is not in a great place right now.
However, midwives try their best with what they have, go without breaks, generally try to make it the best and safe experience they can.

Private postnatal ward is occasionally an option but sometimes not staffed by midwives but general nurses.

I requested my maternity notes and my babys heart rate was continually noted as 'suspicious'. She has then written 'no doctor available at current time, will continue to chase and monitor'.
She then advised an epidural and I reluctantly agreed and she said nobody was available and I had my baby before it happened (which i was glad about really as I didn't know what to expect).

It will surely depend on the area and then also what else was going on at the time. For what it's worth for an alternative perspective, I'd rate our experience earlier this year in SW London (ante and post natal) to be really positive. There was so much support for breast feeding (they had specialist staff whose sole job was going from room to room to help with latching etc), they took our baby in the night for a few hours so we could get some sleep and just generally were so much more in depth/on the ball than either of us had expected. They asked us if we wanted to stay another night, so we did, as I was just in complete shock that I was now a mum as I was quite early and it was a fast labour. The care I got during pregnancy was also great, I got lots of extra appointments and was also diagnosed with OC/ICP in the latter stages so needed even more.

When we were in the delivery area we had two midwifes with us throughout (although granted we were only there a few hours!) with doctors coming in and out as required. I had a high risk pregnancy due to epilepsy, if that makes a difference but didn't have any pain relief beyond gas and air. The main lack of resources we saw was that they didn't answer the phone for over an hour when I was calling to come in, they really tried to put me off coming in and then the triage was full when I arrived so we "waited" in a little room with just seats until they assessed me and said I was already 7cm. At that point we were prioritised over those in triage and whisked off to the labour ward then it was mostly positive.

Yes there were aspects which were far from perfect (obviously!) but it was a positive experience to the extent that I'm worried that having another baby and a "worse" experience will taint my memories of childbirth.

russell19 a suspicious CTG is fairly normal in labour. Wouldn’t get too hung up on that

My DD gave birth in April this year. Her maternity care and care on delivery suite was wonderful, but postnatal care was horrific.

She had obstetric cholestasis, and was so badly managed post delivery that it's a miracle her liver is still working. She wasn't given her anti D; wasn't followed up with bloods and medication reviews. Baby was premature and not feeding well. It wasn't the happy time it should have been but thankfully they both came out the other side of it.

I'm about to have a baby so I will update the thread.

What I can say is that although I have complications I've gone through the entire pregnancy not seeing the same person once.

I had both of mine in Nottingham city hospital. My first I was in for an induction. The labour ward shut (2015 this was,) so I had to wait 28 hours from being admitted to be started off. When I went into labour quickly it was abit scary. I remember my contractions being strong and my partner had to leave the room three times on 15 minutes to get someone to actually come and stay with me. It was extremely painful and they didn't seem to realise how intense it was. Third time a midwife came in and monitored me. She checked Me and said yes your 4cm dilated. Then we got a new midwife. She stayed with me for the next six hours as much as she could, until my DD was born. She was looking after three off us though so she did keep leaving. I was off my face on gas and air so I wasn't hugely noticing this. Then I decided I wanted an epidural. It took the man ages to get my canula in. The epidural never happened because just as I was wanting one an emergency csection came in (fair enough) in the end my daughter's heart rate dropped and I had 8 or10 people in the room to deliver her. They were planning on using a suction cup but I pushed her out myself at 9cm wahoo. It was hard work. Then another emergency came in and we were left for two hours with her wrapped in a towel under a heater. It was nice though to have some time to ourselves to take care of her. The lovely midwife who had mainly been with us told me she was proud of me at the end of her shift. That's s lovely memory because I had been so out of it and panicking that I didn't get chance to chat to her or anything. I was happy I got to thank her before she went home.

With my second it was a 2 hour and 40 minute labour. I got the the hospital ward 20 minutes before he was born. I was greeted by a midwife in the corridor and wheeled down to the room (it was one of those nicer birthing suites with lights and music) just by chance! Within five minutes of being in there I needed to push. My waters broke and around 10 minutes later he was born. Really nice labour. Lovely midwife. She went home a couple of hours after he was born and we got a lovely midwife on the day shift.

There was literally only one person rude staff wise and they were a receptionist. The midwives and nurses and support staff and doctors are lovely and wonderful. One offered to take my first if I wanted to sleep. One sat with me whilst I changed my first tar nappy at 2am. They are so nice and if you ever feel worried just push your button and someone will help you. It should go absolutely smoothly with your baby. Do not fear. These things turn out absolutely fine in the end and they know how to keep you and your baby safe. Good luck and enjoy your journey to motherhood xx

My first child 2 years ago I was in a midwife led unit in a hospital and the whole experience was fantastic, this time however I was induced and therefore on labour ward and it all happened fairly quickly 2 1/2 hours in total and I wasn’t examined/checked/anything until my partner went out and told them I was pushing and this was still in the induction suite!! I can only imagine they were very short staffed..
That being said the post natal care was great though.

Echo PP's; great antenatal, terrible postnatal. SW London here.

As an aside, how do you go about requesting your maternity notes for labour / birth?

Induction here - great care all round but a long wait for a bed when first admitted and drawn out induction process due to several emergencies and no space on the delivery suite. According to the midwives the Govt targets for induction are higher so more women being induced... That being said I didn't come across a single person who was being induced for a minor issue.

On the postnatal ward there were loads of maternity assistants who were really good with the babies and breastfeeding issues and student midwives. Even the housekeeper was lovely and brought me a fan.

The main issues were with other women and the way they acted and treated staff.

@turnthebiglightoff you can contact pals at the hospital you have birth. More recently you're entitled to a debrief from your birth and a midwife can go through the notes with you.

2017 labour ward full kept in a kind of purgatory with induction but working for three nights.

Got lucky after a while and they closed the labour ward to public and starting shifting women waiting upstairs.

Woman refused a room and assessment next to me probably very near 10cm (awful)

Asked for epidural before they put in drip - rest fine pushed baby out just in time.

One tip it can take up to an hour to get an epidural so if you know you want it, ask

Oh after being kept in too long and we paid to stay in our own room after the baby arrived for the one night.

like many others, labour and delivery my care was by and large excellent, on the ward we were all but abandoned with my DH doing the looking after of us. but tbh i was so in awe and dazed i didn't even think about it at the time! i could have done with someone offering tea and kindness to remind me to eat and drink but we survived and were only there for about 18 hours, i feel no animosity for it.