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"maternity care"

About: Russells Hall Hospital / Maternity

(as the patient),

i am currently pregnant and have been booked into russells hall to have my baby , i was told that i woud have a letter come throught the post at around 18 weeks pregnant for an appointment for my 20 week scan. i got to 19 weeks and still no appointment i phoned the hospital who said it was my midwife at my gp surgery that had to book the scan. so i contacted my midwife who then said no it was russells hall that had to book it. after around ten phones calls i finally booked my own scan,

then to top it all off i had an appointment to have my anti d injection at the hospital. i have 2 children under the age of 5 , and had arranged for them to be looked after whilst i had my injection. when i arrived at the hospital i was told that i was given the wrong date and that i would have to return the following day yet again arranging someone to look after my children ,

I have since been for my routine midwifes appointment and have made it clear how stressed out the whole experience has been from the start , i have now been told that Russels hall have sent my midwife a letter saying that i cannot have my baby there as they are too busy and that i need to find another hospital to go to , which by this point i was in tears , russells hall in the closest hospital to me but i can no longer go there it makes me sick that i have been booked there from day one and im so far into my pregnancy only to be told i will have to go elsewhere. i dont know what i'm going to do now. it feels as if the whole russells hall thing has been a nightmare from the start. it doesn't seem right that they are just kicking patients out !!

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Responses

Response from The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 12 years ago
The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 13/01/2012 at 12:26
Published on Care Opinion at 14:33


Thank you for taking the time to post your feedback. We are sorry for the confusion about your 20-week scan appointment and that your experience of our maternity services was negative.

Regarding the transfer of maternity care, our maternity unit remains a popular choice and our unit has seen a dramatic increase in the number of women choosing to have their babies at Russells Hall Hospital.

In order to be able to offer safe and effective care, we have taken the reluctant decision to transfer low risk women who are registered with a Sandwell GP to the care of our colleagues at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals.

We have been working for some time to seek appropriate agreement from Primary Care Trust commissioners to temporarily reduce the numbers of women coming to Russells Hall Hospital while we look into ways of increasing capacity and staffing within our Maternity Department.

We understand this decision is not a popular one and we regret any distress caused. However, if we do not temporarily restrict the numbers of women choosing our maternity services, we will not be able to guarantee the optimal care all women giving birth in our unit deserve. Our proactive decision means we should not have to divert women to another unit in the very late stages of pregnancy or when in labour.

We would like to assure you that the clinical care you receive will in no way be affected by the transfer.

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