Talk to CQC about your maternity care experiences and you could win a £200 Love2Shop voucher. NOW CLOSED!

[AngelieMumsnet]

We’re working with CQC (Care Quality Commission), who would like to encourage more women to share their experiences of maternity care.

Here’s a video of a few Mumsnetters talking about their experiences of maternity care:

CQC say "We are the independent health and social care regulator in England. CQC inspect and rate maternity services, including antenatal services, pregnancy units, maternity assessment centres, labour wards, postnatal services and neonatal services.

There are nearly 700,000 live births each year in England, and having a baby is the most common reason for a hospital admission. Our 2015 Maternity Survey found that most expectant and new mothers are experiencing better maternity care when compared to the results from previous years, however, we know that know women will have had varied personal experiences.

If you are pregnant or recently used maternity services, we want you to tell us about the care you are receiving, good or bad. Our inspectors can’t be everywhere at once and your information will help us decide when, where and what service to inspect. By telling us about your experiences, you could stop poor care happening to someone else.

We want to hear whether you think your care is safe, effective, and caring. For example:

• You should feel that you are fully supported by staff to make informed decisions
• You should be able to ask questions if you don’t understand what is happening
• Staff should take all practical steps to make sure you receive the support you need to cope emotionally with your care"

Please share your stories of maternity care on this thread. Whatever your experience, CQC would love to hear about it

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered in to a prize draw where one winner will receive a £200 Love2shop voucher*.

Thanks & good luck,
MNHQ

PS: CQC will also be asking women to share their maternity care feedback on Twitter (@carequalitycomm) from the 15 February using the hashtag #YourMaternityCare. CQC want to hear about your experiences, so please tweet them using the hashtag.

• provided by MNHQ

Apart from the hospital not knowing anything about me which I can only presume was the Surgerys fault, my care was excellent. I had an extremely lengthy labour which ended in an emergency c section but was dealt with professionally and kindness throughout.
Once on the ward with my son the care was ok although my son was taken to a nursery so I could have a nights sleep having just had surgery. When I woke I could hear screaming and then found it wasmy son. I am unsure how long this had been going on!

I was really lucky and didn't have any complications during my pregnancy or birth. I really liked my community midwife and got all the information about classes, breastfeeding etc. During my birth I was really happy with the care I received and got to have a water birth as planned.

My midwife who i visited at the GP practice ended up delivering my son which just made the whole experience so nice. The only downside was my husband caught the Norovirus whilst i was being induced & ended up in another hospital 10 miles away!

I had a wonderful midwife who actually delivered me when I was born, she delivered one of my children and was with me with the other, and then had 10 days of care with her after,

My midwife was great - would not have coped well without her, she really put me at ease and I felt I was in good hands. Whenever I see her walking along the road I say hi and smile. Forever grateful

Dd1: great anti natal care and a lovely water birth. My husband was allowed to stay with me at the discretion of the midwives because i was a scared first time mum.

Dd2: I had her on the sofa at home by mistake! The midwives who came after I gave birth were lovely. Went to the same hospital and stayed in the same bed as with dd1 which I loved. Excellent care. I had strep b so that's why I went to hospital after birth. They never made me feel like a burden when I was requesting blood tests for my daughter to check for infection and to ease my mind. A doctor came to see me and I was reassured. When they let us go home, they said I could go straight to them rather than a&e if there was a problem with my baby for the next 48 hours.

Had my last child at home and it was better as the nurses at the hospital are good but they are always busy

I had all 3 DCs in hospital normal deliveries and care was alright. I got better care for 1 and 2. However there was a staff shortage and no room in delivery for number 3. If I had a fourth it would definitely be a home birth.

Currently 34 weeks pregnant with my first. Because this has been my first pregnancy and midwife experience I've never known what to expect, question or be concerned about. I found the NHS guidelines online for what should be done at each midwife appt and found they have never matched up. I have seen three different midwives so far which makes getting comfortable and familliar difficult - though they have all been very friendly. I had a letter from a health visitor posted four days before they wanted to do a home visit, I had to ring the day before the planned visit to say I'm still at work! (Last day tomorrow though!) that was a by bizzare as I wasn't expecting a pre baby visit and am now a bit nervous.
A really good point of my pregnancy has been going to a water birth talk at the hospital where we will be having our baby, these talks are very informative, calm and friendly.
Will post an after baby update if this thread is still here!

I had great maternity care while in hospital. I spent 9 days there because my baby had an infection and was in SCBU. They arranged for me to have my own room on the ward which I was really grateful for. I had so much help with breastfeeding but sometimes had conflicting advice with staff changeovers e.g. Dont express because it will interfere with the milk supply. Then someone else would say do express a little when needed because it relieves you of feeling too uncomfortable.

oh my gosh, when I went in to hospital to have my son, as I went into the room, there were blood splatters on the floor and the belt that they pout on your tummy to monitor the babies heart beta there were also blood splatters. I remember asking the nurse @could you please clean these belts and she walked away blaise, apart from that it was ok.!!!!

With my first baby I could not fault the care I was given and I was so confident that I would receive the same care with my second baby but unfortunately this was not the case. They where extremely short staffed so We where left massive periods of time on our own,my hubby kept having to go and find a midwife when things started to rapidly progress. All in all the labour was super fast and once again after my baby was born the midwife disappeared leaving the placenta and all the mess everywhere ,we where left then for what seemed like a age until another midwife started her shift,she was horrified by the state I and the room had been left in and very concerned about the lack of hygiene. By this point I had no energy to complain and my husband is not the type of man to make any fuss.

I don't think I can praise them highly enough- and I feel so sorry for some of the ladies who have commented so far- what horrible experiences for some of you!
From my initial 'I'm pregnant and excited but also bloody terrified I don't know what to do/how do babies even work' appointment with a GP- I'd never met him before that appointment but he couldn't have been kinder, very patient and supportive.

I was lucky that I got to see the same midwife at all my regular appointments throughout. Scans were straightforward and the staff were great at answering my questions.
I decided I'd like to go to the local birth centre for delivery- I called them at around 7 months I guess and they invited me to have a look around their facilities and get a feel for the place (and again, were great at answering my questions- can you tell I'm a first timer?!).
Towards the end of my pregnancy they also ran a weekend 'active birth class' which invited expectant parents to come in and have a look around as well as giving good advice, offering practical tips and yes, answering the inevitable questions.
My birth was mercifully quite straightforward- not the most fun I've ever had in my life, but manageable (bar an unfortunate episiotomy followed by more stitches than the Bayeux tapestry). Staff again were good throughout and brought us tea and toast. I thought the birth centre was a wonderful place, we had a big, private en-suite room and my partner was able to stay over the night too (we decided to go home the same day but we could have stayed as long as we needed to I think).

The stand-out moment for me was about 3 days post-birth- I was knackered, hadn't slept, was having real difficulty breastfeeding my very hungry baby and felt like I was having a hysterical breakdown. I gave the birth centre a call for some advice- they invited me straight in (thankfully they were quiet that night), ushered me into their staffroom and within 10 minutes they'd got me calmed down, my latch sorted and they even offered me and my fiancé a cup of tea while my newborn got steadily milk-drunk. It's probably something they deal with every day but for me, their calm kindness when I was really, really struggling made such a huge difference to me in my early days of motherhood. I still get a little emotional thinking about it now. I will never forget that evening- I hope they know what stars they are.

THIS is the side of the NHS that isn't reported by the politicians or the papers- and it's a real shame!

My initial antenatal care was fabulous, I couldn't have been happier, but my labour care was not so good, horrific at some points. It's very detailed story, but the worst part was contracting MRSA! Yikes! My care at home by the community midwives and health visitor and GP was great!

I found that my community midwife was okay, but generally a bit scatty and I didn't feel entirely confident in her abilities, for example she struggled to take blood at routine appointments. However, I also had an appointment with a hospital consultant who I felt really listened to what I was saying which left me feeling empowered and like I had a real say in my care.

During both of my labours and births I had the most amazing hospital midwife (I was lucky enough to have her with me for both of my children's deliveries). She made me feel confident and positive and explained things clearly.

Post delivery with my eldest I found breastfeeding support to be a bit hit and miss and felt that this could have been dealt with more sensitively and in a more caring manner than it was.

Cramlington hospital - I had my first baby there and couldn't have asked for more support and care from staff. Facilities were excellent. My aftercare with midwives and especially my wonderful health visitor continue to offer support and advise.

Really good, the local hospital in tunbridge wells was fantastic and looked after us really well. Very clean and good facilities. The midwives were excellent at birth and afterwards x

My antenatal care was okay, no more or no less than I would have expected (second child so not as many midwife appointments).

However the staff when I gave birth (in the Midwifery Led Unit) were brilliant. I gave birth at 12.05 am and whilst they said that I could go home later that day if I wished, they were more than happy for me to stay another night to ensure breastfeeding was established as I struggled a lot with DS1.

The midwives were all extremely helpful and offered support, whilst at the same time leaving me to alone to bond with the baby.

I had a PPH after the birth and the team that dealt with me were all very good too, even though I was quite 'spaced out' during it I was aware of both the doctor and anaesthetist explaining what was going on and what was going to happen.

My midwife was really down to earth and made even the simplest question sound like the most important thing to ask, when I found out I had to have a section, she completely put me at ease and was on duty the day I went in and came out of her way to reassure me that everything would be great and I'd be home in no time.Really put me at ease and sometimes I forgot she wasn't a lifelong friend.

I think that my care before baby was fine, at the hospital it was awful. I acquired pylonephritis because no one listened to me about my pains, one midwife even said that some of my symptoms were all in my head. I had my first daughter at 1am and then I was taken to recovery, I was there for quite some time, when they finally got me to the ward they told my husband to go, no one had asked me to try and feed my DD and she was crying I did not know whether she was hungry/nappy, I had no clue and I could not get up out of bed and my DD was out of reach.

Someone finally came to me after their handover 8.30am! I had been sat post op in this position for this long! Lets still shaky she told me to have some toast, I was so angry I said I didn't want anything and the HCA pushed me and said have one slice, you'll need it. So I ate a slice and then rang my husband, I just started crying but didn't know what to say to him. They finally got me up and out of bed at probably 9am and I had a shower and when I came back, I had the ward manager there ready to have a go at me for ringing my husband because he had rang back to the ward manager wanting to come in out of visiting times. She then said if I had trouble breastfeeding then they could get someone to help me, I just started getting upset and in the end all they did was send the breast feeding nurse.

The whole experience was horrid, it drove a bit of a wedge between myself and my husband and I think if I had not found his support I was on my way to PND. The care was bad, they were marking that I was self administrating various medicines which I was not, they under-dosed my antibiotics. The cleaners had no respect for privacy, barging in whenever, one midwife opened my curtains and said we need to get some daylight in here, she did not even ask me. Bad, bad, bad!

My pre-natal care was amazing. I went in with reduced movements at 32 weeks and was well looked after and closely monitored until I was induced at 34 weeks.
I was also well looked after during labour and the birth itself.
DD2 was taken a nicu straight after birth ( I had a cuddle for a couple of mins until nicu arrived, I made them run to get nicu as me being fully dialted was very unexpected so quickly)
They were all very supportive and I sent just under 24 hrs on maternity. I was with dd2 in nicu and only returning to maternity for meals. After I was discharged, for the first few days, they arranged for me to be checked etc in maternity, rather then under the community midwife, so I could spent more time with my daughter.
The nicu staff were also amazing.
This all made such a difference to me as a single mum doing it all without a partner, and as someone who suffers with bipolar. I had such an awful time after my c-section with dd1, I couldnt fault the care I had the 2nd time round.

So far my midwife has been very informative and has a practical but understanding approach which suits me :)

I was so well cared for during my pregnancy with my youngest child (now 17 months old). I had a relatively normal pregnancy. Due to having high blood pressure 1st time round, I was consultant led and they ensured I had baby aspirin to help prevent this again. I was also told very late on that a recent urine test has shown strep b which worried me so much especially after reading up on it! I was overdue and talked to my consultant about my concerns. My first labour was quick and I worried that my second could be quicker meaning I wouldn't have enough time for intravenous antibiotics. I felt that I was listened to and the consultant did his best for me by booking me an induction and ensuring the antibiotics were given immediately. Good job they were as 4 hours later my baby boy arrived! As I didn't have time for both doses, midwives kept us in an extra night just to keep a check on everything. Luckily we were both fine and I'll be forever grateful.

Had a very good experience, a little scarey at times but in all the staff were nice and the midwives were brilliant

My midwife was brilliant, honestly couldn't have wished for better. She was knowledgeable, kind and supportive and made me feel as much at ease as possible. I definitely trusted her with me and my baby!
The hospital was great too, clean friendly and a nice ward set up so there was privacy but also other new mums around for company and support