What appalling behaviour by people who never ought to have been allowed on the wards. I think that the existance of commercial sales people (including photographers, for the avoidence of doubt) on wards of women who have just undergone labour and/or surgery needs to be challenged. As do the commercial relationships with the NHS when distributing materials during pregnancy.
The harassment from sales reps and their unprofessional behaviour is something that people ought to be able to address with the hospital, the trust and Bounty. I do hope some parents feel up to it (I understand why they often aren't). The NHS may believe it is a Bounty training issue, but it is them giving the reps access to the wards and the patients are under their care. If they find Bounty is a hassle to work with because they need supervising and policing then maybe they will begin to see them as less beneficial.
I do feel for all the new mums who have such bad experiences. For those that feel that if they are 'nice' its no big deal, they might like to reflect on how irritating it is to be cold called at an inconvient time and then on how private and personal those first few hours and days are with a new baby, how emotionally fragile and physically exhausted you may be.
Companies seem to be delibrately targetting women with branded whilst their oxytocin levels are high to bond with their babies, presumably hoping that they will get warm fuzzy feelings about their products too. Especially if they feel the product is endorsed by medical authority... its sickening, clever but sickening.
What I don't really understand is why someone would think that harvesting data from women was ever providing them with a service, let alone one they need when they are vulnerable. They would have to be pretty naive if they thought that handing out a paultry gift bag was something their company did out of kindness and the data sharing merely an add on that could be easily opted out of.
I didn't meet a bounty lady. I gave birth at a (baby friendly) Scottish hospital and then transfered to a MLU after 6 hours for postnatal care. I don't know if they don't operate in Scotland, or whether they just don't have an arrangement with my local NHS. But we never got any branded items either during pregnancy or after birth. I did get stuff... a pack of NHS leaflets (can't remember which ones I got when but I got ones on breastfeeding, PND, postnatal exercises, immunisations, diet & exercise during pregnancy etc) along with SIDS guidelines, a card with symptoms of Menigitus(sorry spelling!) and Septicemia, Car seats (seemed to be supplied by local police force), Financial stuff about benefits, where to get help etc, a letter for dad about how to support mum. We also got the 'Ready, Steady Baby' book, a chunky up to date book with official advice and useful info on pregnancy, birth and the first year. Handheld maternity notes were a stapled book given in a A4 brown envelope.
We also got our CB form (possibly with the info on financial planning and where to get help) at some point, can't remember if it was during an antenatal class or after.
Sorry, that's a lot more detail than I really needed to give. My point was, some maternity services manage to distribute factual information and maternity notes without Bounty, so it really isn't an onerous request. The idea that the only pregnancy info someone recieves being something they need to sell their personal details for as someone said about why women sign up to Emma's diary is despicable.
Yes, mums (and the rest of humanity) like a smile, a kind word and some freebies. They might be less happy to see the bounty lady if she was able to tell them what will be done with her personal details and how difficult it is to withdraw consent later.