"Largely positive"

What I liked

The midwives who I came into contact with both ante-natally & at birth were excellent, polite, reassuring and kept me involved.

Ante-natally, one particular midwife went out of her way to reassure my husband & I that our daughter was healthy by fitting us in for an appointment on the spot & palpated me.

My labour was traumatic and I had to visit the maternity triage in the early stages, the staff there were superb, calming, reassuring and explained everything clearly and concisely. At this point I had to be admitted to the delivery suite, with the exception of one midwife (who refused to top up my epidural) every member of staff - approximately 6 midwives, 2 aestheticists, 5 obstetricians and numerous other auxiliary staff - were superb, caring, respectful and had an excellent bedside manner and I couldn't thank them enough for bringing my daughter into the world safely and for caring for me so effectively.

What could be improved

The Edith Dare (post natal ward) was the antithesis of the Delivery Suite and Ante-Natal. The admin staff & midwives were rude, unhelpful and arrogant.

I was supposed to be observed because I had a catheter and was ignored for over 8 hours, my mother a former nurse had to deal with the catheter herself and give me a bed bath when she came to visit.

Not one of the midwives bothered to read my notes when I was taken to the ward, I was only treated with some dignity when the night midwife came on duty and I explained what treatment I was told I would expect. She promptly read my notes and attending to all the things that her colleagues should've done over the course of 8 hours!

On the day of my discharge the shower broke and flooded the room with myself and two other new mothers. The cleaning staff were not provided with adequate equipment to clean up the water and used towels and dirty bed sheets to mop up!!

Further the auxiliary staff taking care of catering were extremely rude and their command of the English language was found wanting.

Anything else?

The car parking system could be improved, my husband missed the birth of our daughter because he was waiting for a member of security staff to provide him with a parking permit.