"The receptionist was very helpful ..."

What I liked

The receptionist was very helpful and kind. They kept apologising for the wait and kept coming back to me to see if I am still ok to hold whilst they tried to get me to triage.

What could be improved

Better phone manners from the delivery department staff.

Anything else?

I wanted to speak to one of the midwives as I am 34 weeks pregnant and have been getting contraction like pains for the past week, today however they became frequent and I wanted some advice and reassurance. The receptionist tried to pass me to triage who were not answering, I was on hold for ten minutes, which was not the worst thing in the world. The receptionist came back on the line apologising and advised me they will pass me through to delivery as I needed to speak to someone. A person answered and in the middle of explaining why I am calling, they rudely cut me off and asked me why I have not called triage. I told them the receptionist has tried and I was on hold for a while so I'd been passed to this person. They then advised me with an attitude that triage were currently in the middle of hand-over, like I should be aware of this already. Then a drill started going off in the background, very very loudly and they said said "see I cant even hear you" I tried to wait until the drill had stopped but they told me I may as well wait for triage so I put the phone down.

I am absolutely discussed, I was worried anyway and this made me very upset. What if it was an emergence? What is the point of being given emergency contact numbers to speak to midwives if no one wants to bother to speak with you!? I ended up having to speak to my GP!

Every time I have been to the hospital for an antenatal appointment I have been spoken to rudely by midwives and on numerous occasions they have lost my green notes!