"Great maternity service"

Anything else?

I, on behalf of both myself and my wife, would like to feed back our sincere thanks and gratitude to all of the staff in the neonatal unit, delivery suite and Lexden wards for the maternity departments at Colchester Hospital.

My wife was admitted for induction on Friday 8th February and kept in Lexden ward until she was sent down to the delivery suite on Sunday 10th Feb – the day our daughter was born. The care she received was brilliant, with the only slight complaint being that the staff seemed very pushed for time and short staffed (although I understand the dept was very busy at that time).

My wife had complications with the delivery of the placenta, resulting in blood transfusions, fluid drips & antibiotic drips but at all times the care she received was attentive, timely and caring. All of the staff involved in the safe delivery of our daughter were amazing and we cannot thank them enough for their help.

Our daughter was born with a cleft lip & palate (of which we were already aware) and also had the added complication that my wife suffered with gestational diabetes so was rushed off to special care in the neonatal unit for observations and nasal tube feeding. In total she stayed in the ward for 1 week – firstly being in special care, then nursery care and finally our care as we were given access to a family room within the unit; something that was massively appreciated. At all times during this difficult time the nurses were brilliant with both us and her; always willing to help and offer advice, while at the same time trusting & encouraging us to understand her and care for her. There is not one member of staff in this team that we could have any fault with, including the housekeeping staff – all were courteous, willing to help, friendly, encouraging and warm to us all.

It was daunting leaving the care of the neonatal unit staff, however we feel indebted to them all for giving us the best possible training and start to caring for our daughter