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Original poster

Hospital complaints

11 replies

ellenjames · 11/02/2007 15:14

sorry new to this so dont know if right sec. I am currently in the process of complaining to local hospital where i gave birth to ds(2nd child). Basically it wasnt believed i was in labour (midwife actually laughed when i asked to go to labour ward) they rang my husbands phone once (3am)told me they had rung loads,then when i got to the labour ward i was told thati couldnt have a vaginal exam upright ( only pos that was comfy)was left on my own for majority of time wasmt told when the midwife left(was stood behind me, so baby born on own and hit floor as i didnt know i was on own.He had bruised head and umbilical hernia but otherwise fine,just wondered if anyone else had similar experience and what happened if they complained. sorry about punctuation!

OP posts:
TheBlonde · 11/02/2007 18:12

Bumping for you

I complained about my labour experience althought it wasn't like yours. Got a copy of my notes then wrote a long letter. Got a reply back which was pretty rubbish but kinda what I expected

DimpledThighs · 11/02/2007 18:16

I complained about my mum's treatment when she had a hysterectomy. I got a letter of explanation / apology back but that was all.

Am glad I did though, otherwise would have regretted it.

Bucketsofdynomite · 12/02/2007 08:56

Oh your poor old sasusage, pleeeeease have a look here . There ought to be a Patient Liaison Service you would write to, you can get them to visit you if you can't face the hospital again.

Bucketsofdynomite · 12/02/2007 08:58

Oops, here

thethirdwisemonkey · 12/02/2007 22:50

Hi
My birth experience with ds was bloody awful. I complained and me and dh had ameeting with head of local OCT, hospital manager, manager of maternity ward etc. It turned out that hey had received 5 complaints about the same members of staff at the same time. New procedures had been put into place, the memers of staff had been disciplined and one of them had left the hospital. I finally felt I could put it to rest after this and for the first time after a year I could speak about my birth experience without crying.
It still ticks me off that me and ds will never have that tmie again and our aftercare was total shite but at least I feel better for doing all I could.
Go for it, is my advice. I got in touch with PALS initially. Good luck.

thethirdwisemonkey · 12/02/2007 22:50

sorry that should read local PCT

Original poster
ellenjames · 13/02/2007 10:03

thanks for your replies bloody computer not worked so couldnt respond before cheers much appreciated.

OP posts:
bakedpotato · 13/02/2007 10:17

Bypass the maternity unity and write to the Chief Exec of the hospital concerned. I complained about my antenatal treatment (not as appalling as yours), and my complaint was taken quite seriously; ie they changed some protocols so hopefully no one else will be treated the way I was.
Give as much info as possible, dates, names, times etc.
Try to keep the tone of the letter quite calm and factual.
I think there's a 14 or 28 day period during which receipt of your letter must be acknowledged... if you ring the CE's office, you should be told this.
HTH.

glitterfairy · 13/02/2007 10:25

If you want a really speedy response also inform your local MP and get them to write in for you. The NHS complaints process fast tracks complaints from MPs. I think you should have a good think about what you want out of this. What result do you want from your complaint?

The process is very clear. You should get a written reply from your complaint within a few days and then there is a timescale for the investigation and response. I agree write direct to the Chief Executive. I used to be a complaints manager in the NHS but it was some time ago and only for three months.

Original poster
ellenjames · 13/02/2007 20:35

cheers thats the prob dont know what i want. I just rem that my antenatal care was crap as well and they also said they would change things (was told ds was likely to have downs yet they had given comm midwife wrong info!!)Then when i got to hospital for scan was told they thought ds had died! luckily after all this everything finein the end!have complained once recieved poor response so have meeting in hospital in 3 weeks to further my complaint. Was really shocked by all this as had dd there and that was fine. thankyou all for advice.

OP posts:
brandy7 · 13/02/2007 20:40

im in the middle of this process at the moment, ive written to the chief executive at our local hospital about my sons treatment at hospital and they have started an investigation.

this was a month ago, ive phoned them again and said all i want is for my son to be referred to a competent paed who knows what hes talking about. the answer was that the old terrible paed had (apparently) asked a paed in london to take my ds on and he said "no" as his problems were too complex. WTF

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