Community Services - East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust 2013-10-23 Person 5 5 0

I was both fortunate and unfortunate in my time under this ward as the midwife I was originally assigned to was leaving a week later and the new one I got ended up on long term leave. Whilst this wasn't ideal as it meant I saw a different midwife at almost every appointment (I only saw two of them twice!) it DID mean I got a chance to get different midwives opinions on various pregnancy questions which was invaluable. It also meant that having met all of the team none of them would be strangers to me when it came to the birth if I had it at home. My only feedback on an area for improvement would be that because of seeing so many different midwives some important information didn't always get passed on to me as each midwife tends to tell people about things at certain stages and this lead to each thinking another would have covered it. An example is the vaccination for Whooping Cough which I wasn't told I needed until I was 37 weeks by which point it was nearly too late and a rush to get the doctors to fit it in. Or the appointment so the health visitor could come round prior to the baby’s birth that I found out about today (at 38 weeks and 2 days) which there now won't be time for. Happily neither of these things is serious and missing them has no detrimental effect really but it might be an idea to standardise either when people are told of these things or (god forbid we add to the already unnecessary amounts of paperwork but.....) put a checklist in the maternity notes? Overall though I have to say that ALL of the midwives I met were wonderful, knowledgeable women who worked tirelessly to help all of their ladies and i wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them!