Review of childbirth practices in London NHS hospitals More than half of maternity units use outmoded practices, survey discovers

[ScottishMummy]

Guardian 27/11/07Review of London NHS maternity service provision. dire reading. i had mine in a poorly rated NHS London hosp, and yes it was grim
wonder what people think reading this, is it accurate of your experience

I hope B99 does not see this.

Not your fault SM, but unfortunate timing to say the least.

Doesn't surprise me at all - Kings was filthy!

Tech - should this be moved to In the News? There must be loads of pregnant London Mums on here.

Certainly consistent with my experience in a London hospital, from filthy showers to legs in stirrups! Grim from start to finish.

57% gave birth on their backs? and Ow! Why on earth would you have a woman do that unless you were performing a CS on her?

I had about 20mins on my back for monitoring with my first DD and it was the worst 20mins of the entire labour.

This has all been known for years. I really despair sometimes.

post natal ward i was on was filty, urine on toilet floor, dirty floors, cleaner who used same mop for WC, showers and sluice and pt area (you are supposed to use color coded mop/bucket to prevent cross infection). mw's bred and disengaged by it all

my mw's were bored disengaged, cranky and seemed oblivious to their filthy environment. disgraceful in a 1st world country we are expected to labour in such inadequate insanitary surroundings

ScottishMummy - Were you in the same postnatal ward I was in??

Yep also n. london.

Hospital seemed pretty clean, but that was about all that was positive!
I was admitted as waters broke a month early - when i went into labour, they strapped me to montior, and left me to it in the antenatal ward, saying do your breathing exercises (didn't know any), brought me a empty gas&air canister, never came back with a full one, only popped in to look at the monitor, said oh, need to keep it on longer as maybe some distress. Finally got taken to a room, and then had to have ventouse as dd was distressed. Anyway - she had brain bleeding / convulsions / infection, and was in scbu - they were mainly great, but the postnatal ward staff were so rubbish - elusive, disinterested. My friend who'd given birth to her prem baby at same time was in a room with me, and she had to show me how to work the expressing machine because the only mw around didn't know how, and couldn't be bothered to find anyone who did. So I certainly wouldn't have been saying my care was anything like good. And I'm quite surprised that the percentage of people happy with their care is so high, frankly.

Yes also Royal Free!

oh gawd almighty the royal free was horrible i cied daily to go home, had to stay post op after C-Section. hated the post natal ward

Anyone got a link to a league table of results? Is there such a thing?

The Healthcare Commission is the independent watchdog for healthcare in England. We promote continuous improvement in the services provided by the NHS and independent healthcare organisations.this link

Health care commision maternity review here

Thank you, SM!

all nhs trusts must collate, gather, abd submit clinical data, and participate in audits/inspections etc. many are also hoping for foundation status also foundation hospitals"

sad that i'm sittin surfing BMJ, Health care commision, and DoH...when i have a glass o wine calling my name. cheerio

just did a quck wee anecdotal show of hands, about who had baby and where and how it went....all stories quite appalling

The Healthcare commission is a wonderful organisation IMO, Scottishmummy. It really sorted out Maidstone Hospital and has got rid of the really dreadful trust there.

yes the are independent and v thorough

How long ago did you deliver at the Free SM?
I had my DD as a LSCS 4 years ago there( i had worked there so at least thought i would get good care as they 'knew me'
We had the hottest room in the whole world. It was so so so hot, and the heating had broken , they couldn't turn it down.
I had my second in the provinces and a much cleaner more relaxed experience.
The labour ward was a bit more sparkly though than when I had worked there, as it had just been refurbished.
Post natal wards were still dire. And the food was so salty.
I had to have extra provisions of water shipped in.

I spotted the female consultant who i had worked for on the post natal ward, and hid behind a curtain
I managed to avoid all the consultants.
Nice re seeing all the Docs you had worked with previous.