"When I found out I was pregnant ..."

What I liked

When I found out I was pregnant last October I decided to register with the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as not only it was a right decision to do (as I am staying in the South Kensington area) but I also heard that it is one of the good hospitals. As a foreigner, I would say my experience with the antenatal clinic was good and I had almost all the appropriate and necessary treatments and check ups by the staff.

The antenatal classes provided were good too as they helped my husband and I prepare for the labour and what to expect before, during and after the delivery.

What could be improved

On my last appointment at the antenatal clinic a day after my EDD (my EDD was on 21st April 2009) I was made to wait for more than an hour after I check in at the reception counter. When I went to check with the lady staff at the counter, all she can say was she doesn’t know why I still wasn’t being called. As far as annoying I was waiting for more than an hour I was more irritated because nobody seems to care that I was still waiting to see the midwife on duty until my husband talked to one of the ladies standing near the reception area and she then asked another midwife from another team whether she could see me and she agreed. But the check up wasn’t thorough and I could only assume that happened because I wasn’t under her team (why spend time doing other people works, right?) I was so stressed and upset with everything that I couldn’t help crying and she was startled by that and she apologized on the behalf of the clinic for what I've been through. I still think that none of these would have happened if the midwife from my team is aware of my appointment time.

Anything else?

Another thing that made me upset was the follow-up by the community midwife after my delivery. A midwife came around to my flat the day after I got home from the hospital and she checked on the baby and me and explained that a heel prick test will be done for the baby. She then scheduled another visit on Monday (4th May 2009) but told me that another community midwife will come to see us as she was leaving for a break for Bank Holiday. When no community midwife came on Monday I assume that was because it was a Bank Holiday. By Tuesday my husband called the pager number left to us to inform that a visit is overdue but we get no reply. Again on Wednesday, he called the pager number and we got a called from the community midwife to arrange for another visit which will be next Monday. When I told her about the overdue visit she then said she will come tomorrow to check on us. But this morning, I received a call from another community midwife asking me all sorts of question relating to my delivery which I think she should have known (didn’t she have my record from the hospital?) and as one has visited me before. She explains to me that she is from another community midwife team and that my case has been transferred to them and that is why she is asking me all those questions. She then asked me whether my baby has had the heel prick test yet and when I reply no, she told me that the test should have been done in 5-6 days after the baby was born - and my baby is now 10 days old!! I just don’t understand how irresponsible anyone could be - I don’t know exactly what went wrong or who is wrong here or whether there was a miscommunication but one thing is sure the post-delivery care service provided is very poor. And lucky enough, as far as I am aware of, my baby girl is healthy!!