"No Mens Lavatories on the maternity ward"

What I liked

I would very much commend the excellent care my wife received whilst recently giving birth to my son at St Marys. The level of customer care was excellent, and the midwives and medical staff were very attentive and caring.

What could be improved

The birth of my child has been some of the happiest times of my life, and I cannot fault the care that my wife and son received on the momentous day of his birth.

Before my son was born and as part of our ‘birthing plan’ my wife asked that I as the father should accompany her in the ward whilst delivering. I spent a good few hours in the maternity ward on the second floor at St Marys, and during this time needed to often use the lavatory. On the maternity ward (second floor) I counted around maybe 5 lavatories, not ONE was for the use of men! I asked the attendant at the desk where the men’s was told that I needed to exit the ward to find one. Consequently I had to go down 2 flights of stairs to find a men’s lavatory. I personally found the inconvenience of exiting the security door, and going down to flights of stairs anti fathers. I made the point that if I was a soon to be father who had a tenuous relationship with my partner, I would of exited the ward and made an excuse that I could not get through the security door.

Children need their dads and encouragement and provisions should be made for those fathers who want to have an active involvement in their children’s lives.

Anything else?

Please could someone contact me about this as I would like to know what the policy is on men’s lavatories on the maternity wards, I would also like to discuss this face to face if possible?