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

Not too good so far as I was told some wrong information which would have been devastating, luckily after speaking to someone else about it they confirmed I was given incorrect results.

midwife wanted me to have baby at home, as 1st one been very straightforward - very glad I didn't agree, as, as my husband put it - he thought she was a goner after an extremely quick birth, but cord tightly round neck twice - but luckily in best place and everything was fine with resusitation etc and she's now a healthy 14 year old. Not sure result would have been the same if we had had her at home

I had a vaginal birth at the isis birth centre at Wexham park, Slough at the end of 2015.

The antenatal care was really good and the midwife during labour, Tanya, was brilliant.

Unfortunately the post natal care was awful. Some examples:

• breastfeeding support: every member of staff had a different view from 'it doesn't matter if a baby doesn't feed for the first 24hrs' to 'if your baby doesn't wake up and feed in the next 30mins (only a few hours after birth) then I'm going to bring formula and give it to her. Often the only help was for someone to come and stick boob in my newborns mouth and when she didn't latch they said keep trying. I later paid over £200 to get a 70% tongue tie treated privately which greatly improved feeding, this wasn't even looked at by anyone at Wexham.
• overnight support: my newborn was crying, I'm a first time mum. I was doing all I could do look after her such as changing nappy, rocking her etc when a health care assistant stuck her head in and said 'you need to look after your baby'. It's probably a good thing I am unlikely to ever see her again!
• food: when it did arrive it looked and tasted awful. Trays were often not cleared for 4-5hrs later - one evening tray wasn't taken until next day. I didn't receive breakfast one of the two days I was there.
• linen and towels: no one offered any fresh sheets and towels which with a newborn and post natal bleeding wasn't great.

I felt the midwives were simply too busy to help and the health care assistance were busy but also had a poor attitude.

I have had very good experiences with all of my children, the only negative was when I was induced with my 3rd, hubby had been sent home and I ended up doing most of the labour alone behind a curtain as it was after 9pm on the ward and they wouldn't let hubby come back til I was on delivery suite.

Very interesting reading. My children are now over 18, so I cannot remember that much about the standard of care now.

My first experience was awful, induced and given diamorphine and left alone for ages. Had to go and fetch a midwife to help and was too drugged up to be coherent to push. Aftercare was appalling too and was desperate to leave hospital. The 2nd and 3rd were much better with no pain relief other than gas and air and more supportive midwives and very short aftercare stays.

I had consultant led care and saw medics and midwives in clinic. My prenatal and antenatal care was great.

In labour I felt communication was poor. Things weren't explained, and advice given during pregnancy was over-ridden. It was disappointing.

I have 2DC, 4 and 3 months. My first birth experience was terrible - awful labour experience ending in a crash section and terrible after care. I had very severe SPD and some of the staff thought I was putting it on. After a couple of days they just stopped bringing the food to my bed so I had nothing to eat. I was also left in terrible pain because I couldn't take the usual painkillers due to allergy and no one could be bothered to sort out an alternative.

In my second pregnancy I was very anxious and I had great ante natal care. I saw the anaesthetist twice to agree a pain relief plan, and the consultant midwife wrote my birth plan. The care in labour was very good, but aftercare again terrible. The staff were too stretched and didn't give my pain relief on time so again I was in awful pain. The midwives were uncaring and told me off for asking for help to get my baby out of the cot to feed - this was 24hrs after a forceps delivery without proper pain relief - I was a complete mess crying uncontrollably. They threatened that I would not be allowed to go home unless I did everything myself.

Breast feeding support was rubbish in hospital - no one picked up my baby's severe tongue tie and I was in too much pain to walk to the breast feeding support session at the other end of the floor.

Once I was in the community there was much better breast feeding support but still everyone had different opinions and pushed me to do whatever they believed in (natural nurture, cranial osteopathy etc). Very caring though and staff have lots of time for you.

I had DS last April, after a fairly horrendous birth with DD 4 years earlier.

This time I was impressed with how staff seemed inclined to trust my judgement more after the birth but that wasn't the case during my maternity care. I was called in four times for a diabetes test (initially for being slightly over-weight and because DD was big) and each time the blood test was clear. Nobody would talk through things with me though so we never found out why my urine had sugar in it most afternoons. I also needed care for SPD and was fobbed off with a two hour group physio session. Absolutely useless and I went private. Fascinating as finding out about the inner workings of the the pelvis was, it was not helpful at all to my pain. Everyone else in the group was having back pain and I was having very specific groin pain. So the physio focused on the back pain. Waste of time.

Too much generalisation in my experience is what I am saying.

My experiences (in the same hospital, with the same GP service) could not have been more different. My first pregnancy was terrible, I was in & out of hospital, over 3 days in labour, an emergency section followed by days in ICU - the staff were amazing and the support I received was brilliant. Fast forward 3 years and a straight forward pregnancy followed by a planned c section recommended by my consultant due to previous issues & I was treated very differently. Midwives made horrible comments about me having a planned C-section "too posh to push?" I was asked, despite having nearly died the first time. Another midwife woke me and my baby up in the middle of the night demanding I feed him at exactly 4 hour intervals. I was made to feel so uncomfortable I discharged myself after 48 hours in hospital. It really put me off having another baby in an NHS hospital & I can't afford a private birth.

I have been incredibly lucky with both my children, I had straight forward pregnancies and labours. The midwives were lovely and I was given loads of help with breastfeeding. I honestly can't fault anything or anyone, I have had wonderful health visitors over the years too.

It was a long time ago, I found everyone great from Doctors to hospital staff to health visitors. The only thing I didn't care for was the cattle market approach to some appointments where everyone appeared to be summoned at the same time and then have to wait for ages. But I can't imagine the pressure that the NHS is under now to try and cope with everything, it must be very difficult!

The maternity care I was given from finding our I was expecting to having my son was exceptional.
I have a thin cervix so they always saw me when I was worried about anything and in the later pregnancy I was diagnosed with SPD so had a back brace and crutches.
The support they gave me was amazing even coming out to my house instead of me going to the doctors as they knew I was in lots of pain.

My labour was very long but the midwifes were amazing and made my labour as enjoyable as it could be.

After I had my son we were looked after and any questions I had they answered, They never pushed me into breastfeeding etc and just let me be mum which was lovely.

I was very happy with the care I was given and the care my son was given after was a great 9 months and he is the most perfect little boy now x

My midwife and GP care was great throughout pregnancy. I was diagnosed with SPD at around 30 wks and this was treated appropriately with advice and a physio referral, eventually leading to me being signed off work at 32 weeks.
At a routine midwife appt at 34 wks, It was noted that my usually very steady bp had rocketed and I was sent to our local midwife led unit to be monitored. 5 hours of increasing bp and I was sent to the 'big' hospital, all dreams of a natural, midwife-led birth scuppered! Pre-eclampsia diagnosed and I was told I'd not be leaving until my baby had arrived.
I was in the antenatal ward for 2 weeks being monitored and although it wasn't a pleasant experience, the team looked after me well.
I was induced at 37 weeks and the labour was long and traumatic but the midwives were absolutely superb and the vast number of people who had to be involved towards the end were really great.
Unfortunately, the care and support after that was pretty dreadful- hardly any staff meant that I was neglected quite significantly. I fell out of bed whilst holding DS shortly after giving birth and spent several hours on the floor, both of us crying, until someone discovered us. We both had significant complications in the following days, none of which was picked up on. I asked for support with breastfeeding and was given very little except told to use an electric pump. That pumped milk never made it to DS- no idea why. After 3 days I requested a transfer to the midwife led unit as I knew neither of us were ready to go home. At that point, I was told that I was 'starving' DS and that they'd only discharge me to the unit if I gave him formula. I reluctantly did so that we could leave but was so upset.
The midwife led unit was completely different. They realised immediately that DS and I were not doing well and put plans into place to deal with those issues straight away. They couldn't have helped me more with breastfeeding issues and were totally kind and supportive in all other ways so that when it was time to go home a few days later, DS and I were both ready. Once home, the midwife and then health visitor care were again, excellent.

I gave birth in Derriford in Plymouth 6 months ago.

Pre labour the care was generally good, midwives were very helpful, happy to answer questions and generally very supportive. I went 8 days overdue and was seen 4 times in the last 2 weeks for sweeps and because there were problems with my blood pressure, there were no appointments available but the lovely midwives made space for me in their lunch breaks. This was wonderful of them, but I can't have been the only lady who needed appointments at short notice and the midwives I saw almost always had their breaks and lunch filled with appointments, definitely not a good situation for them. The only negative I had was that there was a reorganisation of midwives about halfway through my pregnancy, and my named midwife moved and I was never assigned another named midwife. Not really a problem except I saw 5 different midwives and the handover between them wasn't great, there were 2 non issues that needed discussion with consultants and it got very confused as to whether or not this had happened.

Labour was also a mostly positive experience, I had a hard time but the staff took fantastic care of me. I started out with a water birth, but after several hours had diamorphine, and my midwife was really good at giving me clear information, but letting me make my own decision and supporting that. I got to 10cm and my contractions stopped and the urge to push never came, ended up on syntocinon drip, but everything remained calm and I felt very supported. The midwife talked me through pushing and I did eventually get what I was supposed to be doing. Unfortunately there was then lots of meconium and DS was in distress, so I was taken to theatre to have a trial by instrument (I think that was what it was called) and failing that a caesarean. To be honest at that point I just wanted it over with and would have let them do whatever they wanted, but the lovely anaesthetist made sure I understood what was happening and went through everything with me. When I was pushing in theatre she held my hand and talked me through what was going to happen. DS came out with just the ventouse and was fine, am incredibly grateful to all the staff who took care of us. I think I could have been traumatised by the experience if I wasn't so well looked after.

However no birth is perfect and there was one issue and one thing I felt could be improved. When I had a catheter put in in theatre it turned out that my bladder was full because of the drip and this had contributed to me not being able to push DS out. The surgeon really laid into the midwife about this which was a bit awkward, and I have since been told that bladder care should have been something the midwife was ensuring. Without this perhaps I would have been able to push DS out without assistance.

The area which could have been improved was getting into labour ward, I phoned up 4 times and every time was greeted with aggression. Phrases such as "It's called labour for a reason, it's meant to be difficult" "Have you been in to have it confirmed that it was your waters? No? Well it must have been a show." And the ever helpful "You've phoned up 4 times, what do you want us to do?" This was my first labour and I was in a lot of pain as soon as the contractions started, but I felt that their main priority was keeping me away not reassuring or helping me. Plymouth is a long way from any other maternity provision and the ward was very busy, but I still don't think that was the best way to deal with people.

Post natal- care was fantastic, especially with the resources they had. The wards were extremely busy, but every member of staff was willing to give up their time and help. A MCA sat with me for over an hour and helped me express when I was having trouble feeding. I had to have the catheter back in (I assume because of bruising to full bladder during labour) and they took the initiative and gave me a valve to help me gain control. A midwife noticed I forgot to take my painkillers and came round to check I remembered every time after that. They were extremely helpful and I managed to get breastfeeding established successfully because of that support.

Negatives- they were extremely understaffed- did brilliantly with what was available but the 2 bays I was on had 1 midwife between 12 beds and she disappeared to do drug runs in NICU meaning that there could be a long wait. Main negative however was the facilities which were cramped and a little run down, I would even say a bit dirty. No space for partners to stay and extremely hot.

Overall though I am extremely grateful for the care I received. And I didn't intend for this to be this long. Whoops.

Fantastic ante-natal care with both community midwives and hospital midwives and specialist nurses (epilepsy). Very well looked after during labour, lovely midwives constantly by my side keeping an eye on me and baby from as soon as I came in to the hospital until the minute I delivered, which was almost 24 hours. Great care on post-natal ward too, I got a lot of help with breastfeeding.

I am currently pregnant with my first child, a little boy due in June. Whilst my care and midwife service has been fine this far, I have felt a little bewildered at times. I have often had to look things up myself so that I know what to expect. I basically was left to my own devices for the first 2 months with no advice on things like what i could or couldn't eat, medicines I could or couldn't take. If I hadn't looked it up I would have been none the wiser.

I had bleeding at 13weeks and had to call 111, then go to my urgent care unit as I needed an Anti-D injection. Other than the the long wait (after I had been seen initially) the lady in gynecology was lovely. Very calming and even took me for another scan to check the heart rate. She even printed me another picture to calm my nerves.

I was first pregnant 16 years ago with my eldest Son. The care I received back then was wonderful, I never felt alone or that I was abandoned. I had regular visits to the midwife, regular checks and felt cared for.

My youngest son is now 4 and my pregnancy care differed so much this time. You can see how far the NHS is stretched, no regular appointments, I felt like just a number and sometimes a nuisance.
By no way is this the midwives, nurses, medical staffs fault...this is the government, lack of funds and I think it is such a shame.

Upon going into labour however things were then different, my sons heartbeat crashed, mine followed, the staff were absolute miracle workers and cared for me and my son wonderfully.

Im glad I was lucky enough to experience both levels of care, its just a shame things arent as they were.

Ante-natal care was a complete farce during both pregnancies in N London. Midwife appts were rarely held with either the same midwife or at the same venue. More time seemed to be spent in the appts on the admin of booking my next appt with much tutting over lack of spaces and often phone calls made to other midwives to juggle diaries. I suffered from high blood pressure both times and in my second pregnancy was transferred out of midwife care to the unit at the hospital at 28 weeks where I spent 1/2 day each time waiting to be monitored and have my bp constantly checked. A consultant appt at 34 weeks reversed this decision saying my blood pressure was borderline and didn't special care and transferred me back to midwife care except all community midwife appts were then fully booked up and I was initially left without any more standard care and told to 'call the team if I felt something was wrong'. Only the intervention of the community midwife who had given me my anti-D injection
who happened to overhear the conversation reinstated my standard appointments as she took me on as an extra patient at the beginning or end of her standard booking times. The whole process felt as if I was inconveniencing a busy team and there was little 'care' given other than the basic checks.

The teams at both labours were great. Despite having met over twenty different midwives over the two pregnancies it was a different set of staff at both deliveries. Despite never having met the midwives before this was where I experienced the best care. I suffered a third degree tear on my first delivery and I received excellent care by the surgery team who calmly explained the procedure and reassured both myself and my husband. The second labour was very quick and I required an episiotomy as my DS was a big baby. Both the third degree tear and the episiotomy scar healed pretty well and I was pleased those decisions were handled efficiently by the teams on duty.

Post-natal care was poor in both cases. The staff were over-worked and very grumpy. DH and I were asked to remind the midwife about medication I needed to take post surgery as she was 'so busy she might forget' but when DH went to find her she was v defensive about being 'chased'. The next time the drugs were due he waited an hour after they were due before prompting and again got told off for reminding her. We were both v happy to leave after I was signed off to go home. Again admin and form filling appeared to get the most attention from the midwife and I was repeatedly told how overworked she was and that there wasn't enough staff to look after all patients properly so care was allocated to those mothers / babies who needed the most attention. The breastfeeding volunteers were brilliant and offered brilliant advice which helped establish good feeding practices with both children.

I have two healthy DC and despite the high blood pressure remained well
during my pregnancies and healed quickly after two fast deliveries but the ante-natal and post-natal process made me feel as if I was yet another patient an over-stretched team had to deal with. All support above the basic medical checks was provided by reading books, talking to friends and attending a private NCT weekend course.

Excellent antenatal care at Kings but the labour experience was terrible. I was left on my own for 4.5 hours with no midwife checking in until baby's head was crowning and my doula had to insist that they come. Post natal was excellent as we managed to get a private room and all the midwifes were excellent.

I loved all the community midwifes whilst I was pregnant. I loved the midwifes who delivered my three boys. All the people who have been round my house- especially my current health visitor- are just brilliant.

I've only had one experience which has tainted it all for me.
A health care worker, i think she was- who i will never forget the name of- verbally bashing the name I had picked for my baby boy. So much so he's not now named that! She told me I couldn't name him "Milo". It's a dogs name and a "bloody tweenie"! Apparently. It still makes me really sad to think about how she was.
I really wish I'd made a formal complaint about her. As she was trying to take blood from me (she did it 11 times and couldn't do it), in full blown labour and I sat there sobbing. Not because of the pain and I'm sure she knew this.

Crikes! Don't really know where this has all come from. Anyway- it just goes to show how one person can have such a negative impact.

My first pregnancy around two years ago was amazing. Fab antenatal care, no nct round here but amazing Nhs antenatal and postnatal classes which gave me confidence and new friends. Baby born on midwife led unit in the water and no problems all felt very safe and caring, my husband stopped overnight and I stated for a further two. Those extra nights were fantastic, they meant feeding could be established with someone checking each feed if I wanted, caring midwives offered to look after baby or make tea and toast at 2am, visitors could come and go without me feeling I had to host. This time funding has been cut and post natal care is no longer offered as an inpatient. This not only saddens me but I honestly think those first few days in hospital with care and support from fantastic staff prevented post natal depression...I went home knowing what I was doing (ish!) and more importantly, had developed a relationship and trust in system so it was easy for me ask later on for help without feeling I've failed. So my request would be to offer post natal impatient again as standard please!

As I'm moving to think about having a second DC the thought of being in hospital after scares me so much I'm not convinced I want one. I had a breech baby and my waters went at 37+3 at 3am so we went into hospital and I had a section at 12pm. My section was very good I felt very cared for although I wish I'd had skin to skin with DD but they whisked her off and wrapped her up and my DH held her (which was fine) but knowing what I know now I'd liked to have held her straight away just us two and DH for a bit. We had a very good experience in recovery though and she latched straight away for a feed.

On the ward I hated every second of it the HCA and midwives basically just push and pull at your boobs to get the baby to latch which meant I didn't really understand what I was doing so when she unlatched I had to call them again and start the manhandling over again (is that really how you teach bf?) I got the feeling they were pissed off at me so started to dread calling them which meant I didn't drink for hours as the midwife put my drink out of my reach.

Anyway by 10pm they noticed my DH was still there and sent him off and I was on my own with this baby I'd not slept since 3am and didn't have a clue what I was meant to do, with hindsight I was a bit in shock. I know it's a contentious issue and not all mums want men on the ward but I wanted my DH I felt extremely alone and powerless. The next day I'd still not slept (too noisy on the ward etc...) and DD wouldn't feed the midwife said 'oh she mustn't be hungry' and I trusted her. I wish I'd known about skin to skin etc... 8pm came and they kicked DH out. Then a doctor had apparently noticed DD was 'jittery' and decreed she was to have formula. I wasn't consulted this was now 1am and I'd not slept for approx 48 hours. I was extremely upset and the midwife told me this was the doctor's ruling but I had to ask for the doctor to see me (I'm getting upset writing this and we're talking 18m ago) to tell me this himself. He sent a more junior doctor who was about 12 and couldn't do up the baby grow. I had to let them cup feed some formula in DD while I used a pump (the HCA rolled her eyes at me for not knowing how it worked) and got nothing out. It was humiliating (except I know now that the piffling stuff that came out was actually what was supposed to come out) they said they'd give it to DD on a syringe but they never did. She was formula fed twice and my confidence hit rock bottom.

The next day I had a really good midwife who sat down and said 'what's going on here? The night midwife had told the tale obviously. I explained how I felt and she offered to ask the Lactation Consultant to come in so we agreed. She came in later and I was feeding DD quite well and she was lovely and gave me a real boost. The nice midwife then said to me 'do you want to go home and go for it?' And I jumped at the chance. I just needed my own space and to sleep I was on 72 hours with about 2 hours by this point.

My Health Visitor was fantastic and I credit her support that despite the undermining of the hospital I am still feeding DD at 18m and for 6m I fed her exclusively she had no formula apart from in hospital.

I dread going back in to hospital for a DC2 as it was just an awful lonely experience.