Anyone given birth recently in an NHS hospital? What’s this experience

[Janch13]

Currently pregnant with my 2nd child and feeling a bit anxious about the reported dire state of maternity care in NHS hospitals and looking for real life experiences as I am half considering a home birth (pregnancy is low risk and last birth was without complications or interventions).

What has triggered me to post is a TikTok I just watched, will share the link below but really not looking to scaremonger or make anyone else feel worried.

If you have given birth recently in an NHS hospital please share your experience and details of the care you received, was it adequate etc.

Thanks

vm.tiktok.com/ZMYL9g1dM/

Also interested to hear. Also very worried.

I had DD1 in private hospital in Hong Kong and had a great experience. Back home in London now and wondering about going private here too. My sister who is a doctor said to go private if you can afford, they're massively under resourced. She said she would have recommended NHS previously but things have headed south.

They kept both me and my baby safe and well. Couldn’t possibly ever thank them enough.

I'll be honest. Firstly it was actually this time last year my baby just turned 1. It wasn't great up on the ward. The midwives weren't atall interested and that was after an emergency section. The Labour suite and theatre staff however were brilliant. It's mainly up on the ward in my experience that was awful. Got sent home with post dural headache and had to go back, blood on the floor for the 2 days I was in and absolutely no help or guidance, FTM.

As i understand it though, unlike other types of private treatment, private births are only better if all goes smoothly and you are having a low risk pregnancies. I heard that if there are any kind of issues beforehand or emergencies during the delivery, you are effectively bounced back into the NHS as an emergency, where you end up on the same ward as everyone else? I'd be interested if anyone knows if this is accurate?

I had one baby 10 years ago in an extremely highly rated hospital and it was horrendous.

I had another before Christmas in a different hospital and it was amazing. The staff were so supportive throughout, everyone had clearly been briefed on my notes & preferences before I met them. I couldn't fault a thing!

I had ds 19 years ago this week, the hospital at the time was rated as one of the best maternity hospitals in the country, it was only 5 years old. My experience was awful, there was a big lack of care, I had am emcs & was in HDU due to how ill I was, 48 hours later I was still in my theatre gown & sat in a pool of blood because nobody had thought to help me put on pants & a maternity pad (I was unable to move as I still had the epidural to try & bring my dangerously high BP down. My mum went mad, washed & changed me herself. It was also things like the drugs rounds weren't done, I was supposed to have meds 4 times a day, some days I was lucky if I got 3 lots, the whole place was grimy, when I came out of HDU I was put in a room & there was a blood soaked puppy pad on the floor, it was still there the day I discharged myself. 19 years on that hospital is under special measures, in the last year there have been several reports in the local paper where babies have died, been stillborn or disabled due to the lack of care.

High risk birth so was consultant led. I knew my birth would would be very medically managed because of previous birth. Things got complicated but was dealt with by an amazing team of consultants and midwives.
The aftercare on the ward however was shocking. Just like the first time. This is the bit I hate and wish to avoid, however if I was to have another I would have to deal with that as would need to be an ELCS.

If you have a straightforward birth and don't need to stay in you'll probably have a really great experience. Or you could have a great experience if you do have to stay in its impossible to say

To be fair, I think at every hospital you are going to have a slightly different experience. I gave birth at an NHS hospital six years ago, amazing experience. I'm due to give birth again in a couple of months. I've had great care so far also. Have a look on the CQC website for the hospital where you are having your baby. You'll be able to get a sense of how it till be. There's always going to be some bad experiences, but if overwhelming they are good. Then you shouldn't worry too much. If the majority are bad, I would consider switching the care to another hospital.

I think this depends so much on where you are and whether it's especially busy that day. My recent experience of a low risk hospital birth was absolutely fine, didn't feel rushed, not enough staff. The postnatal ward felt busy not not unsafe.

I had a baby in Oct last year. I was induced but ended up with an EMCS due to hyperstimulation. It was clear they were short staffed and it took a while for the midwives to realise what was happening with me, but once they discovered things weren't happening quite as expected, they monitored me really closely and I felt very well taken care of. The team in labour & delivery and then theatre were all amazing and my little boy was born safely.

As others have said though, it was definitely different on the ward afterwards when the staffing issues were more obvious. I felt I was pretty much left to just get on with it, even though I didn't have a clue what I was doing and had had major surgery with significant blood loss so obviously had some mobility issues. Even thought it felt a bit soon, I was so glad to be released home less than 36 hours later so at least I would have my husband to help me 24 hours a day (he wasn't allowed on the ward overnight).

Gave birth 5 months ago. Triage and Labour ward were amazing. Cannot fault them. Complications during labour were incredibly well monitored and managed. Had a paediatric team on standby for DS as his heart rate was very unstable due to cord compression (he was fine which I credit to the amazing midwives and doctors).
Like PP have said the ward after giving birth was a different story. They were clearly stretched and overworked, long response times. I think it was worse as apparently Aug-Sep are peak for people giving birth so the ward was rammed. Couldn't wait to get home after 3 nights away! Overall pretty good care though, and very grateful for their efforts to deliver DS safely.

I had my ds on the 17th. I was induced with a drip and it was honestly really good. Midwife was on it. The ward afterwards was OK too. I was only in with 3 others. Everyone was as quiet as they could be. I'm very fortunate that I didn't need any help after delivery so couldn't comment on wait times for help

Had a baby in November, was in hospital 5 days due to a post dural puncture headache and I needed 2 blood patches before I could get up and out of bed. I cannot fault any of the midwives, nurses or doctors. They were blooming brilliant! They bent over backwards to help me and the baby. I need to write to the hospital to give my compliments
The staff made an incredibly difficult and painful situation a bit more bearable through their kindness and professionalism.

I gave birth by elective section a few weeks ago and I really couldn't fault the care I got. Everyone was so lovely and attentive and while they were so very busy they never made me feel like anything was a trouble which was great because I was really worried about not being able to lift or walk etc after surgery. I did opt for elective section as I was concerned about ending up with an emergency one but I was also a high risk pregnancy. Everything went so smoothly for us I couldn't fault it. I would say that the follow up care we got from our community midwives was less attentive, they weren't doing housecalls so I had to transport myself and baby 2 days post section to see them, two referrals I needed weren't made and I didn't know to chase them (just put the length of time down to covid backlog until my hv questioned it) and when I developed an infection in my wound they wouldn't see me and the gp struggled to get it under control. (Took 3.5 weeks and 2x courses of antibiotics until a gp took a look at it and realised I was on the wrong meds.) So I'd say don't worry about the hospital part and stop watching/ reading anything related to it because you'll worry yourself sick. But when it comes to aftercare make sure you push for what you need.

Thats partially true but not completely. If you are in a fully private hospital in the UK (of which there are very few who deal with maternity), there is a small chance that if things went wrong, you would need to be transferred to an NHS hospital. The Portland is a fully private hospital and has its own ICU and NICU so they are well equipt to deal with problems. All other private maternity units in the UK are private wings within NHS hospitals. The surgical staff work in both the private at the NHS wards. If you were actively receiving treatment you would likely receive this in the NHS side but unless you required to be hooked up to specialist machinery, your recovery would be in the private wing in your own room. The private wing nursing staff operate at significantly lower patient ratios than the main nhs wards.

There's always been shit care on ward. I had mine over 20yrs ago and the post birth wards were horrendous. Made worse by the fact that my legs were still fully anaesthetised and I couldn't stand. The nurses were brusque/non existent. I had some shitty midwives too but not all were. I went through 8 shift changes.

I had my baby 13 months ago
In NHS hospital
They were brilliant and saved my life and my baby's life
I've had 4 other babies at home

I delivered on the 19th so 10 days ago (in the south West) and I can't praise the staff or hospital enough. I felt supported and like the only patient on delivery suite. The hospital only had one water pool room which I was lucky enough to get, I delivered at 11pm and didn't leave the room till 4 am to go to the ward after I felt comfortable enough and had been able to have a bath and sort myself out. I was never made to feel rushed. After the birth the midwife nipped out to grab a piece of equipment and didn't come back for about 30 minutes - I never thought anything of it but when she returned she explained a lady had just delivered in the lift.. So I know they were very busy but they never gave that impression.

I only stayed on the ward from 4am to 4pm so didn't fully experience an overnight but from what I did see the care was great. The staff were always happy to greet people they showed me how to latch and feed my baby, the lady opposite me had a section and so couldn't get to her baby as easy and had to press her call bell a lot for support but I never saw or heard a staff member moan and they were so attentive. I was told I was free to go home if I'd like or to stay an extra night that morning which again made me feel I was in control and not a burden to them or 'bed hogging'... I chose to go home so I could be with my partner but if I stayed I would have felt supported and happy there.

I too was very concerned about the care I may receive and although they were obviously busy that never negatively affected my care or experience. The community care afterwards I also cannot fault, they have been empowering, supportive and reassuring for a FTM.

Everyone will have a different experiences as I read in this thread but I wanted to bring a positive one too.

I gave birth in October, ended up having an emergency c section and the hospital was absolutely fantastic in that situation and situation and couldn't have done more to keep us safe. I will be honest outside of that, there were no frills and it seemed pretty short staffed. My hospital was a big London trauma centre but isn't well rated for maternity care- Royal London. Others in my antenatal class went to midwife led units in that and nearby hospitals and had lovely straight forward births so the general consensus is that it wasn't all doom and gloom. Goodluck!

Pembury hospital in Tunbridge Wells is dire for maternity. Really hope you're not going there if so, speak up if something isn't right! And don't stop!

I appreciate it’ll be area specific, but I had my first 3 weeks ago and that certainly wasn’t my experience! I have nothing but praise for the staff looking after me, nothing was too much trouble and even when they were busy it never felt like my care was compromised in any way. I had a difficult induction leading to me being in hospital for 4 days before I finally went into labour and they were all so supportive, in fact a couple of the girls came to visit me in the delivery suite after their shifts had ended when they heard I’d finally progressed to full blown labour which was really sweet of them.

In the end the birth was fairly straightforward aside from a significant bleed after I passed the placenta, but I felt in safe hands throughout and never had any cause for concern.

Not given birth yet but second pregnancy and high risk this time so had quite a few overnight stays on the ward with labouring (induction) and post natal women and care has been excellent. Had my first in 2019 so precovid and level of care feels the same

I've just had my second after having my first during Covid.

It was a million times better this time round!! Care was soo much better! Although it could have been because I didn't need as much from them!

I agree with a pp that it will depend on area/hospital I guess (mine in London). My experience was lovely, although it was a 2 hour wait until a midwife appeared on shift for me to be moved onto the ward. But I was only 2 cm dialated at this point and they still let me stay as the contractions were awfully painful. The midwives were amazing and so caring, I had two of them accompany me to the postnatal ward and stay with me until I learnt how to get baby to latch/breastfeed properly.

It really does depend where you are. My maternity experiences were shit and that was pre Covid. Nurses trying to convince me that a c section was a bad idea and I could still cancel it and try for a natural birth. Lack of support afterwards too, nurses refused to help me because “the rules are you have to look after your own baby”.