"Maternity Services"

Anything else?

I chose Kings Mill for the birth of my twins in June 2012 over Chesterfield Royal, although my mid wife said there was 'little to choose' between the two. After waving the 'NICE' guidelines at my consultant, he agreed to a planned C-section at 37 weeks, by which time I had so much oedema I could hardly move. On the day of delivery my bloods were doing strange things and after the C-section I developed post-partum pre-eclampsia, for the first 24 hours I was monitored every 15 minutes, my blood pressure was so high that I was considered at risk or pre-eclamptic seaizures, I stayed overnight in the delivery bit, then was moved to a private room in the maternity unit, this is where my care deteriorated drastically. I had cannulas in both hands, a catheter in, a C-section wound and newborn twins (both 6lb plus), and I was left on my own for hours. I rang the buzzer for help and sometimes someone came, sometimes it took ages. There were I think 3 staff on at one point for the whole ward. My husband had to come back to the hospital one night to help me feed the twins as no one was available (at this point I shouldn't have even been lifting them). My catheter bag was full to overflowing before anyone came to empty it. What should have been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life was marred by the very poor standards of care I received. There was one midwife who was fantastic and went out of her way to help me, as is the case in many aspects of the NHS there are some staff who are superb, but it is luck of the draw if you happen to get them. The unit does not have enough staff, and some of the ones that are there are not as helpful as they could be, in my opinion. I was lucky enough to have a student midwife with me for my ante-natal care who was wonderful, otherwise I would be writing a critical report of that aspect of my pregnancy too. If you go into labour in Kings Mill car park I would strongly recommend calling a taxi and asking for transportation elsewhere. Thankfully I, and my babies, suffered no long term problems from our experience.