"Overall great maternity services."

Anything else?

All antenatal care was excellent - saw the same midwife every time except once and the waiting times for the consultant clinics (antenatal & haematology) were generally not too bad at all. The consultants/registrars were personable and respectful of my decisions. They explained everything fully at all times. MAU care was also excellent. My (brief) time on Labour ward was also excellent, apart from the first midwife I saw. I was in a lot of pain and very anxious and she did nothing to reassure me, left me in a tiny triage room with no pain relief and disappeared for 25 minutes before even examining me to see how far along I was. It later took her 30 seconds to set up gas & air which I felt could have been done immediately so that she could get on with seeing to anyone else that needed her more urgently than I did. Fortunately the midwife & student assigned to my delivery were excellent, very reassuring & encouraging as were the doctors who attended in the final stages. The weak link was probably the post-natal ward. Other patients/relatives were on their phones or listening to loud TV/radio at all hours and nothing was done. The staff were all very nice but often difficult to find when you needed them. I received completely conflicting advice from every member of staff regarding feeding which was incredibly stressful and at times I felt quite man-handled when being shown how to do it. However when I complained it was dealt with promptly by the midwife in charge and things improved. The only other complaint was regarding discharge. Although my discharge date had been agreed the previous day, we did not leave until 5pm due to delays that could have been avoided. Overall however I was very happy with my experience and would have any future children at Kings. My complaints are not serious but hopefully are easy things to improve to make your service even better. Many thanks.