To film pregnancy to ensure proper care?

[Jamjarcandlestick]

I had a fairly bad labour with DD that ended in a Csection.

We requested our notes back and there’s at least three things that were noted that didn’t happen/complete lies.

Some midwives were lovely/great, whilst a couple really seemed to be in the wrong profession.

We cannot afford to go private and I hate the idea of us playing the lottery on what kind of care we’re going to receive.

In all honesty I just don’t feel safe. There’s a part of me that I hope I safely deliver in the car so we can turn back around and go home. Home birth is out the question as it’s been disbanded in our area/I’m high risk.

What do you mean “film pregnancy”?

Sorry, multitasking!

Film labour!

Whos going to film it?
was/is your baby ok?
whats the purpose of the filming to make a complaint? To worry the staff by threatening them with this as that’s how this comes across.
would you be happy with them also filming to protect themselves against doctored recordings?

I had a very traumatic first pregnancy and birth with a Dr who was absolutely horrific. I put in a lengthy complaint after it and surprisingly a lot of midwives and other Drs backed my complaint so it was upheld against him.

My second birth I explained the history of what had happened and how I didn’t want a repeat and in all
honesty it was perfect care. With my 3rd pregnancy I had to push back on some midwives who were very dismissive however can’t fault the majority of the care I received both during and after the pregnancy. One amazing midwife went right back on my notes on my first pregnancy when there was talk of a general anaesthetic and I started to get really scared. I explained what had happened the first time and she went over it all and gave me a better debrief than I’d have previously, she settled my nerves and reassured me she would do everything she could to avoid it. She even popped into the nicu a few times over the weeks we were there to see how we were getting on.

Filming wouldn’t have changed the outcome of any of my births or the complaint and I certainly wouldn’t be happy to send away such intimate videos to a complaints department. I’d speak to them, discuss your concerns etc. And for what it’s worth, you can have misinformation taken out of your records- I had this done.

I think you will need to check with the hospital in advance as you might not be allowed to which might influence where you decide to give birth.

I can’t imagine many midwives will think very kindly of you planning to record them whilst at work with the knowledge you can do anything you like with their image and there is nothing they can do about it.

NHS staff have a right to privacy and dignity at work and can ask you to stop and delete footage.

Most likely widwives won't be happy with hours of filming.

I think it may go against hospital policies, you would have to check. The midwives may not feel comfortable being filmed doing their job and im almost sure its against the law to film people without their consent.

Most hospitals have policies about filming staff (many of us don’t want to be on film for many different reasons) so you would need to check their policy. It probably wouldn’t improve clinical decision making or care though and will probably just mean staff are distracted (which is one of the reasons we don’t routinely have filming in theatres). You may also find that communication is limited to the strictly necessary and formal rather than the more friendly chat and care most LW staff aim to provide.
Perhaps a debrief to discuss your concerns about the last delivery/think about what your preferences would be for this one might be a better option? Or perhaps changing to a different Trust?