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

Previous problems in pregnancy including DS with Edwards syndrome, although mostly good never saw the same midwife twice appointments were few and far between as 'I already had a child '
Started having issues towards the end of pregnancy big baby, reduced movement, high blood pressure.
After nearly two weeks of going to QE every day due to reduced movements finally agreed to induce.
Induction day arrived was plonked on the ward and ignored for 5 hours before a doctor even spoke to me!
Change of shift and a doctor stuck me on a monitor to discover that baby was having decreased heart rate and was finally taken to labour ward.
From there the care was alot better except one particular midwife who quite frankly was an arsehole.
Aftercare on the ward was great except partners were allowed to stay over meaning being kept away by people waffling away at 2 in the morning.

Thank you all for your comments. The winner of the prize draw is Dormouse1940 :)

Throughout both of my pregnancies I had multiple midwives, during my first pregnancy my very first midwife failed to tell me she was retiring/had retired and didnt give me a new contact number! All the other midwives I had were lovely but it would have been nice to have one continuously.

I was never offered the NHS antenatal course with either of my pregnancies. Luckily I've had two fantastic births (and was an antenatal teacher for 2 years due to this).... Both were water births. The midwives in the hospital were again lovely, the only issue i had was the that midwife who was there when i gave birth to my youngest said once the checks were over after the initial 6 hours we were free to go home.... when in actual fact we had a shit load of paperwork to fill in.

Ive never made it onto any ward in hospital, I gave birth in an active birthing room both times and stayed in there until we went home which was after 6 hours both times.

currently receiving brill care at LWH , excellent docs and midwifes.

My experience giving birth in hospital was good and I felt supported and cared for throughout.

The post natal care I received I have to say was variable. I didn't see the same midwife twice and their opinions really varied - some were quite dismissive of my concerns about my baby. I struggled to breastfeed at first and one particular midwife made me feel like a failure and told me to bottle feed despite me wanting to continue to BF. That said, I eventually got referred to a specialist breastfeeding midwife at the hospital who was nothing short of brilliant. She sat with me for an hour or more watching and making suggestions on position and basically just being really encouraging. After that, we had no more problems BF at all. I can't help but think that this service should be offered to all new mum's prior to leaving hospital as it would have saved me a lot of tears and heartache and I'm sure it would others as well.

Talking to my sister in law in Sheffield, this is a service that is routinely offered there - I therefore think it a shame that it depends wherein the country you live as to what kind of support you receive.

I had a really good experience with my actual birth in a midwife led unit. All the staff were brilliant!

My regular midwife however was a bit difficult to get hold of and not always available for appointments.