Regarding you presenting at Ormskirk - what if you'd gone on holiday to Cornwall and presented at Treliske in Truro? It's perfectly possible. Doesn't matter a jot that they are - by the time you are in labour your face will look like this and you won't care!
(Sorry I suppose it's not the done thing - I work for the NHS and so does DH and that gives you a mixed view of (a) appreciating that it's easier when done "by the book" and (b) knowing how and when to fiddle the system!).
The midwives on the labour ward were okay, if patronising. The midwife who delivered by daughter (Gwenda) was MARVELLOUS and professional and just wonderful and I still well up when I think about how brilliant she was.
Also, the hospital was clean and modern and I felt "in good hands" most of the time.
(Can you see I'm trying to give you a more balanced view??!!)
It was the postnatal bit that was horrible - I had a 42 hour labour and was knackered and really needed to sleep. My daughter kept coughing on secretions and I was worried that she would choke and I'd be completely oblivious as I was so tired.
I asked for help, ie, I wheeled her cot down to the nursing station (I didn't feel I could ring my bell as felt I would be "bothering" them) and asked if someone could give me a couple of hours respite so I could sleep. They were eating toast and refused to take her, saying they "might take her later" if they weren't busy. As I walked away, I heard the following "If she thinks she's getting special treatment because her husband's a doctor, she can think again".
They were totally unwilling to help with anything. There was a girl in the next room crying all night and they were shouting at her. I really couldn't wait to leave.
When I left they told me to "come back if there are any problems in the next 14 days". When DD was 10 days old she developed a staph infection on her ankle, which we are convinced was hospital acquired. We rang our GP who told us to take her back to the Countess because we were within the 14 day period.
When we turned up at the Countess they were very and didn't understand why we had come back. They were really very snotty until we asked them to bleep one of our friends who was working as a doctor there. When he turned up, they completely changed tack. Our friend called the on-call paediatrician, who came immediately, examined DD and said she needed to stay in hospital. In the event they allowed us to go home with antibiotics, knowing DH was a medic and the antibiotics would be taken correctly.
I'm having my second baby elsewhere!