Are you going to watch Panorama : Midwives Undercover tomorrow ??

[Summerfruit]

Message withdrawn

I want to but am scared that I will get frightened and not want to give birth anywhere. I can believe what happens on this (from the clips I have watched) as when I had dd2 I was left alone for hours on end, even though I was in preterm labour.

Yes, bizarrely I did complain about one aspect of my care, but didn't mention the most extreme thing that I could have sued over! Just felt quite vulnerable when ds was a baby, a bit less confident that usual and couldn't do it. Even worded my letter as 'feedback' rather than a complaint. And I'm a journalist, being bolshy is part of the job!

My deliveries were so quick I hardly had chance to notice the midwives, but all went well and must be a very stressful job.
Surely a journalist working undercover as a midwife assistant and filming it is a bit unethical. I hope no poor women in labour find themselves on the telly.

i was at kingston - my experience of their MLU was very good

i met someone recently who had her dd at the tooting birth centre and was raving about it - hth

just watched it earlier. to tell the truth, i only watched some of it, couldn't watch all of it. horrific.shouldn't have watched.

it's not just money, it's attitude. the bit near the end where the midwives were chatting about another hospital where deaths had occurred, they were saying how that's the only way to get any extra resources. up to that point i was agreeing with them, then they go on to say something about 'if a baby died we can cover it up, if a baby gets damaged, it's more expensive. what 's needed is for a mother to die, then we'll get what we need'
another mw then chipped in 'pity the poor midwife who's involved in that'
as a mother of one of those inconvenient, expensive damaged babies:
pardon? no love, i think you mean, pity the poor mother and/or baby who's involved in that
yeah,whenever i look at my dd1 struggling through life, i always pity the poor mw and all the others who neglected us and let it happen to her. not.

should have added:

sorry to any good-hearted, competent nhs staff out there, i know you do exist. i just wish you had seen me during my dd1 pregnancy then i wouldn't be so bitter and twisted.

shouldn't have watched the damn programme should i. it's dredged those feelings up.

So glad I didn't watch it - although sort-of wish I had done as my Mum has been v upset by it on my behalf (?!).

Birth of DD was such a fiasco that I DID put in a formal complaint and ended up having a conference with the head of midwifery (who just wanted to fob me off as she was due to change jobs shortly) and just reading about this programme is making me feel sick with anger about it all again .

Hmm. Glad people are making programmes about it though and getting it out in the open. Appalling.

hk78 - dreadful dreadful dreadful. What can I say? God - I can hardly believe what you're saying about those mw's comments - but then again, sadly, I can.

I didn't watch it. Couldn't bear to. But I suspect that if there were any examples of good care, positive birth stories and happy mums and healthy babies, they wouldn't broadcast them. Not to say that poor care isn't a disgrace but sometimes I think sensationalist journalism doesn't really help the cause of improving conditions for mothers, babies and midwives.

Sorry, NKF, I disagree. In what way does publicising what goes on NOT help? Should we keep quiet just because it's 'women's issues' and therefore not important?

I know that sensationalism for sensationalism's sake can be counterproductive, but if people are unaware of what goes on in midwifery and postnatal care, how can anyone feel the need to lobby for change?

No, of course we shouldn't just keep quiet. And when I read reports/statements from the Royal College of Midwives I sit up and take notice. Similarly if the Royal College of Obstetricians has something to say, I listen hard. But Panorama? I mistrust their agenda and their lack of real knowledge and I think it could easily be a media flash-in-the-pan with no long lasting results. I think documentary makers (if Panorama can seriously be called a documentary strand any more) like to create shock and fear and I don't watch programmes that make me feel emotionally manipulated.

But better care for mothers and babies, absolutely.

Fair point - the nature of the source does indeed affect how one evaluates published material.

I was just thinking that anything that publicises what goes on is probably more of a good thing on balance than a detrimental thing, as most people (unless they experience it themselves or know someone who has) probably haven't the slightest idea what passes for care in maternity wards in the UK. It's only by more people being shocked and concerned that anything will ever get done...

(discuss! lol)

Sorry to chip in very very late, but NFK is right in a way. Panorama is misinformed in some ways, e.g. criticising the mws for letting the volunteer hold the transducer of the CTG monitor really does not count as operating the machine. Many mothers/partners will know that they have had to do the same because baby wasn't playing/hiding/lying in a funny angle. As long as the mw comes back to check and answers the buzzer when the mum is worried then asking them to hold the transducer in place is OK. So my own critisism there would have been the mw not answering the buzzer rather than asking the volunteer to hold the transducer. Hmm , OK, not that was a bit of a ramble, sorry.