Could we have a MN campaign for improved Postnatal care?

[AtYourCervix]

Reading the many threads on here it appears that Postnatal care is the most frequently complained about area of the maternity service.

In-patient stays in hospital - Women feel neglected, ignored and unsupported and Postnatal visits at home are rushed and women are 'lucky' to see a midwife 3 times.

I strongly suspect that with NHS cutbacks ths is only going to get worse and I think it is not good enough.

Ideas and opinions please.

[dreamingbohemian]

AtYourCervix you should be very proud! Thank you for starting this!!

It would indeed have to be specific to every hospital but I imagine we could put together a template, that just has to be filled in?

Fun that was indeed very mind-boggling for me, after my CS, there seemed to be no allowance made for it at all. It was night and day compared to how my DH was treated after a hernia op (also abdominal surgery).

[Bonsoir]

I had absolutely fantastic post-natal care on the NHS and, IMO, post-natal care in the UK is among the very best in the world...

[dreamingbohemian]

Bonsoir, do you mean postnatal care generally or the postnatal wards?

I think a lot of the things we are talking about are focused on the wards.

[strandednomore]

Sorry haven't had time to read the whole thread so this might have already been suggested but this would have a lot more impact if done in conjunction with eg the NCT.

I think it's a great thing to campaign on though. I had a similar experience to many here - great care antenatally and during my CS's but terrible post-natal care. The first time in particular was shocking. We weren't allowed to take our babies to the place where the food was, but if your partner wasn't around you had no-one to leave your baby with. They weren't going to bring you food so I just went without sometimes. Great way to recover! Couldn't wait to get out of there, when in fact I should have been using that time to recover and learn about things like breastfeeding.

[CMOTdibbler]

My PN care was awful. I appreciate that they were very busy, but I'd had a prem labour,a PPH, and a baby in SCBU and just the teeniest bit of care would have been nice (clean sheets not covered in my blood and food might have been a start). And the Bounty lady would charge in through drawn curtains where I was hand expressing and ask where my baby was.

There were outright lies in my notes too, and if I'd planned to ever go back to that hospital I would have complained - but having done a formal complaint about my mc 'care' and not got anywhere, I didn't expect anything

[Dnomaid]

I fully support your campaign even though I feel priveledged to have received the most excellent care during labour and delivery, and brilliant postnatal care at Worthing Hospital. Even with 2 babies in SCBU the staff couldn't have been more helpful, caring and exemplary (for me at least).
This hospital already produces a laminated information card/ folder that is kept with each bed and has posters asking you to check ID if you're unsure and one midwife told me they were in the process of reorganising the uniforms to make it clearer who everyone is. Maybe examples of " best practice " should be collated to show that what women are asking for is not unattainable - if it can happen in some hospitals for some women it can happen in all hospitals for all women!

[mousymouse]

reg meals, I was also left without. first time because I was transfered from the labour to post natal ward just after dinner. and then another time during my 2 day stay because I was bf baby and by the time we were finished the dinner trolley was gone...
also discharge was late as the paed who was doing his round was called to an emergency just before it was my turn. which resulted in me staying a second night.

it is just so unneccessary

to be fair the lady on the ward who prepared the empty beds etc. was lovely and kept my jug of water filled up all the time.

[tigana]

Fairly certain there is an obligation to provide info in whatever format is requested.
What trusts usually do is print lots in english and several in the other frequently occurring/commonly understood languages in their area (which they should know) and then have a page on the back with the words "please ask if you need this information translating" repeated in every other language.

Any info re BF support can link into the (I think) national target around bfing - about numbers who start and numbers who continue as 6-8 weeks.

[dreamingbohemian]

Dnomaid that's very interesting! (Where is Worthing Hospital?)

How can we steal borrow from what they're doing?

[duffybeatmetoit]

I thought the response was just an easy way of getting out of doing it. Think Tigana is right.

The basic format should be something that could be done nationally/regionally and then a lot of the translation costs could be shared reducing the cost dramatically. As we've all said, producing that kind of information would save so much staff time wasted on answering questions which aren't specifically medical but are procedural/practical.

[tigana]

There are (or were a year or so ago...pre-Lansley )...national ratios around the number of midwives to patients. I seem to recall they aren't exactly generous, but I wonder how many Trusts are hitting them?

We def need to frame this around outcomes and evidence. It's all about evidence based practice and patient outcomes (and underlying it all...and probably what is the actual selling point for Trusts - productivity).

More info that would be useful to add to list (really basic stuff, but it' s the stuff that went through my mind when I was on PN ward as an inexperienced and self-conscious new mum):

Can I leave my baby alone in order to get food/have pee/change mat pad?
Can I close my curtains/ask for them to be closed?
Reassuring words about it being ok if your baby cries at 2am ( and 3am and 3.30 am etc) even though yes it probably does disturb the other mothers, they are all in same boat.

[Dnomaid]

Worthing is in West Sussex. Link here www.westernsussexhospitals.nhs.uk/services-and-treatments/maternity/worthing/

[BagofHolly]

Funtimewincies you've just put your finger on it - cs women not being treated as a post operative patient! I wonder could RCOG make a comment about that?

[BagofHolly]

Strandednomore, I think we should stay a million miles away from Nct. they have had years and ample to exert their influence in acute maternity care but have failed, miserably. Their agenda isn't about postnatal care either.

[twinklegreen]

I personally feel that it should be essential for midwives and health visitors to have an 'expert' level of training on breastfeeding, it is unacceptable that new mothers trust them and they quite often give very bad, unhelpful information. :(

[marriedinwhite]

Here here BagofHolly - well said.

[aseriouslyblondemoment]

atyourcervix great campaign and well overdue
ok ,my experiences are slightly different as my pfb was born at a cottage hospital with v few births a year.cannot fault the mw's in their care or professionalism but lack of food was a huge factor (not their doing the nhs catering co's),sarnies at 5 don't help a new mum, albeit a bf one!
my gripe was serious hunger!
my other dcs were homebirths.
however friends have had their and subsequent babies in hospital and their comments have related to the lack of privacy and inflexibility of how the wards are run.one of these had her baby in scbu

[happywheezer]

Can somebody please forward this to mr Lansley?
I don't think the NCT speak for me either.
I wonder whether SamCam had the same for her post natal section in Truro hospital?

[aseriouslyblondemoment]

agree totally with you hw!
sadly i don't think mr l gives a toss....it's left as usual to the dedication and good will of the nhs who are all in the profession because they care about people unlike him and his cronies

[MrsJRT]

Oh bugger i knew I had something else to post! I suspect it wasn't entirely accidental that SamCam happened to be on holiday when she 'went into labour'. Perhaps I'm being far too cynical but there was no way Cameron could have gone private, which I'm sure they'd have preferred but I bet equally they didn't wish to be subjected to the NHS 'service' in a busy understaffed overworked London hospital.

[dreamingbohemian]

Oooooooh, do you reckon MrsJRT? Scandalous!

I believe it

[BagofHolly]

I reckon SamCam really did labour early, and could have done what Cherie Blair did, and get a private room at St.mary's paddington.

[MrsJRT]

Pffft why let the truth get in the way of a good conspiracy theory! I am genuinely quite dubious about the SamCam thing though. All seemed a little too perfect to me. I mean, who goes on holiday that close to their due date?

[spout]

just wanted to add my support to the campaign.


All I'd ask for is for postnatal staff to be encouraged to show a little kindness and empathy. I was treated like the shit on their shoe and I truly believe that their disparaging attitude was the trigger for my PND. It still makes me very sad to think of how cruel they were :(

[VivaLeBeaver]

There's no way that Sam cam would have been subjected to normal standards in a busy London hospital. She would have had one to one care even if the head of midwifery had Medes to be brought in to look after her. Shame really, it would have been good for them to realise how dire things can be at times.