Alder's Tone

Well, here I go, I dare to speak out and criticise the NHS not just as a body but also, despite the taboo, at individuals too. The midwifery care we got in the labour suite was faultless, the two midwives and student midwife we had for the 28 hours we had under the LDPR care worked so hard and were there constantly for us.

Then, on arrival at the ward, there was a marked difference. Granted, most of this was down to need, MOTS didn't need the constant care so it wasn't there. But what was there in its place was a "team" of midwives looking after a large number of mums, with no dedicated relationship management. Downstairs we knew WHO our midwife was, and she was responsible for us. Upstairs, any midwife could come along. And that caused problems.

Throughout the stay MOTS got conflicting advice on how the baby should be fed, techniques, increasing milk supply etc etc, even from midwives on the same shift. There was little accounting for being a week early and it was taking time for the milk supply to come along, that much was consistent. A lack of information resulted from the absence of a hierarchical care structure, the blue folder at the bottom of the bed, usually reserved for medics to add notes, contained forms that MOTS should have been filling in, but was never told.

Sara, our downstairs dayshift midwife popped in to see us. The star she is, she stomped off and got MOTS's notes and for the first time we found out what Iain's blood group was, and that MOTS had been medically discharged. Again, none of the ward staff had told her.

So Friday morning comes along, and I walk in proud as punch with the car seat and a couple of new purchases. MOTS was distraught rather than overjoyed. It all came down to a midwife who had not been on shift earlier in the week who wanted to keep them in until Saturday at the earliest to keep an eye on feeding. After a heated discussion MOTS made her position clear - if it was feeding alone that was keeping them in she was, from that moment on, going 100% formula and going home.

The midwife backed down and started the discharge papers, but wanted to see us feeding still. During a feed I went in search of her to be told she'd gone home to do a nightshift. She hadn't popped in to say she was going, nor had told anyone else we were expecting to see her. NOT impressed at all.

By 5pm the discharge papers had been completed, the checks were down, leaflets handed over, birth card completed, and name bands checked by two midwives in two directions (baby then mother, mother then baby). So with one tearful wife and one sleeping child, we left like it was a convict getting parole rather than a family starting out of life's big journey.

One person ruined the experience. Nothing to do with the NHS as a body, under resourced, staff excellent and whatever other politically correct clichés you fancy. One person ruined the experience.

MOTS had to do what was best for her baby, and getting him out of that ward with the constant pressure to keep him quiet and to keep on the breast was the best thing.

What the ward needs is a named midwife who has primary care for the mums and babies, so if a mum needs a midwife then she gets the same one throughout a shift where possible. That alone would reduce the conflicting advice that was so much of a problem for MOTS, and make it more like downstairs in the LDPR.