"Mixed experience"

My wife gave birth here over the festive period after undergoing induction of labour. Overall I'd say the experience was fairly mixed.

We attended the ward for induction of labour 3 days before. In general the midwives and doctors were friendly and knowledgeable. However, there was at times a frustrating lack of communication. The induction of labour did not progress as quickly as we would have liked and at one point we were waiting for an obstetrician to attend and discuss next steps. Unfortunately they were busy in theatre with emergencies, which we totally understood; the frustrating thing, however, was the lack of communication and attention during this period. I think my wife went for at least 6 hours without anyone having the courtesy to pop their head around the curtain and explain the situation, or even ask her if she needed painkillers. This was made doubly frustrating by the fact that staff could be frequently seen sitting on their phones at the nurses station. She also spent long periods of time on the CTG and it seemed as though she was often forgotten about (although I am sure that isn't the case); this was extremely uncomfortable for her and interrupted her sleep. An obstetrician attended to review her on Christmas Day; although clearly knowledgeable, I felt he was quite dismissive of me when I raised an opinion/concern (which I had previously discussed with my wife and she was happy for me to mention).

Thankfully labour got started and we went down to the labour suite. I cannot speak highly enough of our midwife. She was attentive, kind and clearly extremely good at her job. Labour happened very quickly and my wife needed an episiotomy and manual removal of her placenta; this was carried out by a senior and junior obstetrician; again, I cannot thank them enough for how well they looked after my wife and son.

The staff on the postnatal ward were great and I want to particularly highlight one of the healthcare assistants; I can't remember her name unfortunately, but she was incredibly kind and helpful in the first couple of days. 

After discharge, my wife experienced a superficial dehiscence of her episiotomy. She phoned maternity triage, who were able to arrange next-day review which was extremely reassuring.

After three weeks of gradually improving bleeding, my wife began to notice that the bleeding was becoming more fresh red in colour. She again phoned maternity triage a few weeks later. I don't really feel much of an effort was made to establish the potential cause of this bleed. They only seemed concerned whether it was soaking through her pads; I don't feel as though the bleeding should need to be this heavy for someone to take it seriously. They didn't ask whether she was feverish or had any unusual discharge. They didn't note the presence of risk factors for endometritis (manual removal of placenta and anaemia). They advised her this was probably a period (which to me seemed unlikely) and she should follow-up with her Gp if the bleeding continues (which seems unhelpful and suggests unwillingness to accept responsibility for maternity-related complications).

In summary, in common with much of the NHS, there are many talented and caring people working within a flawed system.