"Awful maternity experience"

I started writing this whilst staying in ward 48 (maternity unit) at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH). My experience at this hospital has been absolutely shocking and is frankly not what I would expect from NHS GG&C as the largest health board in Scotland.

I cannot fault any of the staff in ward 48. Every midwife I have been seen by has been exceptional and cannot do enough to support expectant mothers. I can see the dedication and the passion they have for their jobs. In particular there was one member of staff who was great. She was absolutely amazing and really helped me through this particularly tough experience.

1 - I had been brought in to ward 48 to be induced on the Sunday. I had started mechanical induction and had progressed enough to get to the stage where my waters could be broken and proceed to have my baby. It was not until the Thursday that I was taken to a labour suite. There is no communication to tell us what the waiting time is, there’s no clear direction on where anyone is going. The atmosphere in the ward amongst other patients is very tense, almost like a prison. I do not think holding approx 20 heavily pregnant women in a ward and not being transparent and keeping them updated is a wise decision anyone should make. I think the mismanagement of time and staff is abysmal.

2 - The conditions of the QUEH are absolutely not fit for purpose. The main building was purpose built, at the time no decision was made to update the maternity building. As a health board, NHS GG&C have completely overlooked women and expectant mothers. It just highlights the underlying systemic misogyny in the NHS. If this was a service used by mainly men, it would have been prioritised to be updated and adequately maintained. The facilities are obviously dated because the maternity building was built in 1970! The room I am staying in does not have a properly working toilet flush. The flooring is peeling back in the bathrooms. Overall it is not the standard you would expect from healthcare in Scotland. I’m shocked at these conditions, as an average citizen I do feel I have a right to evacuate my bowels in an acceptable environment. No one is asking for a golden throne to defecate, but adequately maintained and updated facilities are surely a bare minimum for a healthcare facility.

3 - The new open visitation policy. Whilst a brilliant idea in the new main hospital building where everyone has their own private room. Which again I feel is more necessary for new and expectant mothers to have such privilege and privacy, but alas we are thought of. There’s nothing I enjoy more than trying to express colostrum whilst my room mate (separated by a paper curtain) has a fiery conversation with their family members. It really sets the mood for me and really facilitates my breastfeeding journey better than anything else!

I am shocked that during such a crucial and vulnerable time in a woman’s life, we have to deal with so many people in such close quarters. Partners and family members of other patients are lying sprawled out at all hours of the night in the day room, in the rooms on the ward. Loud chatter and profanity and domestic disputes are happening at all hours of the day. Every single woman on this ward has a different story, has their own history and the least we can expect is some privacy and consideration when we are evacuating a human from our body?

4 - I started my labour in ward 48 at 2am, I was contracting 3 times in 10 minutes. I was going through all of this in a ward with just a paper curtain for privacy between myself and the other patients. This continued until approx 1pm when they were able to fit me in to a labour suite. I’m genuinely shocked at this, I have never felt so vulnerable and humiliated in my entire life. It’s disgusting that these conditions are the norm here at the QEUH and nothing seems to be being done to rectify this. There are not enough midwives on the wards to ensure the safety of women and their babies. I really fail to understand why this is happening since maternity services aren’t exactly phasing out? If anything the demand is increasing, yet NHSGGC don't seem to be hiring additional maternity staff to make this a safer environment. 

Thank you to all of the midwives and supporting staff on ward 48. You are amazing at your jobs and do not deserve the conditions that you work in.

To the management, those who have created these conditions and those who are seemingly doing nothing to fix them. I feel my birth experience has been ruined and I have been traumatised for life.

Thank you for being the focus of my therapy sessions for the foreseeable future.