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Poor organisation- awful for maternity care

Story from nhs.uk

"Poor organisation- awful for maternity care"

About: North Tyneside General Hospital

Have had two miscarriages- in that time North Tyneside have:

Lost files (twice) - In one case this meant going back through the details of our miscarriage as they did not know why we were there.

Shown a worrying lack of knowledge about a condition my wife has which may make it more difficult to have a successful pregnancy.

Have sat us with expectant mothers while we waited for the scan confirming a miscarriage.

Eventually did seem to realize that we should be seeing a specialist. They then failed to make an appointment with that specialist despite repeatedly saying that it was being done. Now we have to wait until June to see the specialist, which could lose us precious months (we are both 32).

My wife did get to see a Doctor, who admitted they were not a specialist but did say we shouldn't try again for a month or so. The reason they gave for this: because it is there "old-fashioned belief".

Just as the Nurses seemed unable to explain the data/reasoning behind the miscarriage options, this doctor was unable to refer to any facts/studies to support the suggestion. Obviously this didn't stop them giving one.

It is clear that the organisation of this department is incredibly poor and that they cannot be relied upon to provide accurate information or to carry out basic administrative tasks.

I struggle to see why the NHS should be considered sacred while providing such a terrible service.

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Responses

Response from North Tyneside General Hospital 8 years ago
North Tyneside General Hospital

Submitted on 30/03/2016 at 17:22
Published on nhs.uk on 31/03/2016 at 02:30

Dear Sir,

I am deeply sorry to hear about the loss of your baby – please accept my sincere condolences at this really difficult time for both you and your wife.

I appreciate how worrying it must have been for you when your wife’s files were lost and I can imagine how upsetting it was to have to repeat yourselves to a new member of staff – please accept my apologies for this.

With your wife’s consent please could you provide me with your wife’s information privately so I can arrange for specialist member of the team to call you so you can talk through your wife’s care. Hopefully this should help until an appointment becomes available. We will do everything we can to arrange an appointment with the specialist as soon as possible, I recognise how precious this time is to you and your wife. My email is Annie.laverty@nhct.nhs.uk.

I am sorry that you feel as though the doctor you met was unable to provide you with enough information about you and your wife’s options for the future, I would urge you to get in touch with me so we can arrange to have some of your questions answered as best we can - although, sadly, sometimes the honest answer is we just don't know why this has happened.

Thank you for sharing this with us during what must be a distressing time for you both, I hope I get the chance to speak with you both to look into your concerns in more depth.

Kind regards,

Annie

Annie Laverty - Director of Patient Experience

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