Post-natal experience at KCH?

[froglegs]

Hello
I was just wondering what people's post-natal experience at Kings College Hosp was like?
I had my baby a few weeks ago and feel quiet upset by my experience there. I wanted to know if it was just by bad luck or a common thing?

I wont go into to much detail here as it would be a very long post! but I to sum up I come out ( after pretty much begging to be discharged) feeling bullied, fightened, helpless, degraded - not to mention having a nasty infection.

Weeks on I can't stop thinking about it and I am sure it has contributed to my PND. I have been advised to write to the person in charge to try and help me get over it and to maybe stop it happening again.

I should add that my labour and antenatal care was fairly good and i saw some lovely midwives during my post-natal home visits.

Has anyone get any stories to share?

(ps i don't want to scare anyone who is due to have a baby there, i am hoping my experience was a one off!)

Oh, poor you, how very upsetting.

I had DS in King's, though it was 8 years ago no - and I had hoped that the opening of the new maternity wing would have led to overall improvement.

The care I received for DS (who needed to be on IV anti-biotics and also see the orthopaedic consultant) was second to none, and I think that knowledge saw me thrugh my own upsets. Which included:
MWs too busy / too pre-occupied to help me get DS to latch on
MWs too busy moaning about holiday rota loudly overnight to see me weeping with tiredness hours overnight in the TV oom because Ds would not settle
Filthy bathrooms - a blood soaked towel stayed on the floor fo the 5 days I was there
An extremely rude paediatrician who took one ook at DS and said 'this baby is far more than 6 days over due. This is a baby that is two weeks AT LEAST post due date. I said he wasn't, he insisted that he knew his job and he was. I know exactly when DS was conceived and had he been as late as this man said, he couldn't have been DPs child, as I had been working overseas until the jight I came home and DS was conceived. he said this in front of DP, by the way.
The food was inedible
I was desparate to be discharged and they had a duty registrara who just wlould not talk to me as if i had any intlligence whatsoever. Sai blod pressure was a little high - i asked him to explain to me the possible causes, how staying in hospital would help it, and what would be the risks if it stayed high, and the signs of rising pressur. he wouldn't answer any q's, he just said 'If you discharge yourself I will take no responsibility' as if I was a dim and naughty child.

DS has been in and out of King's ever since, and I have been so impressed with the ckinical care, and the care and attention of the orthopaedic dept.

I'm sorry you had such a bad time.

have you written to them, or contacted PALS, or asked to meet and debrief with them?

sorry for my terrible typing!

Hi
Your experience sounds similar to mine. I also had (still have) high blood pressure and I was never quite sure how being in hospial would help me - in fact I felt safer at home as in hosp as i was just stuck behind a curtain all day and no-one really checked on me. I could have had a stroke and I dont think anyone would have noticed!

I remember sobbing very loudly in the middle of the night and the only one who even commented on it was the lady in the bed next to me - gosh- anyway! I will defo write to someone about it soon.

Thanks for your post - sorry you had a bad time too

I felt sure that being in hospital was raising my blood pressure!

After 36 hours I burst into tears and they gave me a room on my own, and DP stayed every night with me after that - so I was OK, but before that I felt utterley abandoned behind that curtain. When I woke up afer my post-delivery sleep (having been awake for 2 nights in labour) I was unable to move as fixed up to a monitor, drip and catheter, the curtains were closed so I couldn't attract attention, and the buzzer for calling a mw didn't work I was absolutely marooned. Then a woman thrust her head through the curtain, plonked some horrible looking dinner on a tray at the end of the bed - where I couldn't reach it, and disappeared.

Definitley write to them.

Are you getting help with PND? Have you got a circle of friends with new babies - NCT tea group or midwives post natal baby group, or anything?

And congratulations on your new baby.

So sorry you had a bad experience. I was kept in at King's for a few days after my first was born, and also ended up discharging myself. King's is an outstanding hospital in many ways, but I wouldn't include postnatal care in that. I know how things can stick with you, and I would suggest you do the debrief thing, whenever you feel you want to do it (I did it just before I had my second, also at KCH, and it did really help.) Good luck, and I hope you feel better soon.

And there's no need for it: I have stayed on the children's wards many times with DS and despite obvious overwork, the nurses were kind, attentive, and cleaning was done attentively. And Drs have always explained everything in enormous detail. Totally different experience with differnt teams in the same hospital.

Sarimillie - who did you do a de-brief with?

Blu - one of the senior midwives- can't remember her name, but she was great. I was a bit sceptical re. whether there was any point, but she was fab - honest, kind and really good at explaining things. She wasn't afraid to acknowledge where they'd got things wrong, which was reassuring. I think we know instinctively when things haven't been handled well - even when we don't have the experience to know what should have happened - and it restores your faith in your instincts to have this confirmed. Really, even quite serious things can be forgiven when you get a proper apology.

I'm sorry you had such problems there

My postnatal care at Kings after having ds two years ago was horrid too. I hate every second of being there, I didn't eat for two days, the 'help' with breastfeeding meant I had problems for 12 weeks. I can totally sympathize with feeling abandoned behind the curtains, I felt the same. The whole experience was dreadful, nobody seemed to care at all. I also threatened to self discharge before they let me go, bizarre when they acted as if my presence was an inconvenience.

Its the main reason I had a homebirth with dd this time, the idea of being stuck in hospital again was tbh, terrifying. My antenatal care and care in labour was great both times btw.

I have, like others, found all the other services to be great. Such a shame about PN care. I hope you can get some closure and hopefully an apology from them.

Congratulations on your new baby!