"Fantastic experience - treated with..."

What I liked

Overall I had a fantastic experience of the LGI and I am very grateful that we live in Leeds Teaching Hospital's catchment area.

I sustained a serious pelvic fracture whilst 34 weeks pregnant, and was brought to the LGI Ward 49. I was unable to have much pain relief and was very frightened and distressed, and the team on W49 looked after me and were supportive, caring and reassuring.

Ultimately I had a c-section and surgery to repair the fracture, spending 2 days in the High Dependency Unit - my family and I were astonished by how well I was cared for. My son was taken to special care, and I spent two weeks on Ward 22 where the fantastic team supported me through my recovery.

Every single staff member I dealt with was incredible. It is the little details which are so important - the care shown to me whilst being washed, having my hand held when I was afraid; when I was moved between wards after surgery, staff came to visit me.

The food was generally very good, the facilities were spotless, and my whole family felt that the LGI teams made a frightening situation feel controlled and manageable.

The Special Care Baby Unit did a wonderful job of looking after our son. They were very sympathetic to our situation. They went above and beyond, including coming to collect me from my ward and push me to the other side of the hospital and back in my wheelchair.

The physiotherapy team got me back on my feet - working at my pace but pushing me to reach my goals. Together with the nursing team on Ward 22, and the occupational therapists, they were able to get me home with my son.

It goes without saying that my Consultants and the surgical teams were truly amazing and highly skilled, and also friendly and compassionate.

Overall I was treated with reassurance, dignity, care and professionalism

What could be improved

The transitional post-natal ward wasn't well adapted for wheelchair users, so we were unable to be moved there - as a consequence my son had to remain in SCBU whilst I was on a ward at the other end of the hospital. (That said, we were grateful to all be in the same hospital together!)

Because we were on separate wards, coordinating breastfeeding was hard. However the SCBU and Ward 22 teams did their very best to support me in expressing and also to enable my son and I to be brought together as often as possible.

Anything else?

We truly feel incredibly fortunate to have been treated at the LGI.