mummalish - were you in my NCT class recently?
I gave birth at Georges earlier this month. Summary: care up to delivery and recovery room, in MLU, del suite, theatre and SCBU - impeccable. Totally faultless, and I must have interacted with over 50 staff.
Postnatal night time care - terrible, especially one bonkers midwife who said if I didn't breastfeed 30 min on each side it didn't count, but no even though I couldn't sit up, no-one was allowed to help me or pass me the baby - wtf? Add being tied to the bed via drip and catheter and having diarrhoea... Luckily I had a friend to do communication support with me, who ended up making use of her experience working in a nursing home. And the pair of cleaners who changed my bed 4 times in the night were fantastic, telling me I was doing fine, and yes I could take codiene, etc.
Postnatal daytime (we had to stay 3 days as A was on antibiotics) - staff overworked and prone to saying 'back in 5 min' and not, but all lovely and helpful. I got the impression I was the only person in the ward trying to bf, given the amount of help I was offered and having the bf room to myself.
I was planning to write to Gloria Green, head of maternity services, who authorised me to have companions all the time and came and checked on me a few times. From readingsome minutes online, it looks like she has the authority to kick arse, but no budget. And copy in PALS. Would be happy to refer to your experiences.
Have to admit that the place was near-spotless and the food quite good when I was there, except the sunday lunch. My complaints would be only the lack of appropriate pain relief as no-onechecked what I was taking before labour, lack of info on the ward (there's a sheet with everything just outside the ward, but that's not much help), lack of night staff, and the one midwife who led my friend to say "What's her problem? Right, what special needs can I acquire to make sure I can have a companion after birth?"