Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 5 5 0

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 4 5 0

Every one is very freindly

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 4 5 0

Every one is very freindly

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 4 5 0

It was amazing when I cam I got plenty of things.

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 4 5 0

It was amazing when I cam I got plenty of things.

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 3 5 0

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 2 5 0

CoBblers

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-09 Person 4 5 0

Amazing ♥️♦️♠️♣️

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-06 Person 4 5 0

Good stuff first: The majority of the midwives and support workers at Royal Lancaster Infirmary are fantastic. The staff is compassionate, caring, and understanding of the needs and worries of new parents. Our home visits with the midwives (Lisa Metcalfe-Jones and Steph Lowe) have been great. Our Day 4 visit (first day home) was fantastic and the midwives were great at helping my baby and I figure out breast-feeding. It made a huge difference. On the maternity ward, Jane Stevenson, in particular, was amazing. She helped with the two major issues detailed below that arose while we were still in hospital. While the majority of our care was good, there were two major issues that occurred and some improvements could be made. Both issues stem from a lack of cover in maternity care. One midwife per patient is a great concept for creating patient / carer relationships, but there needs to be a process implemented for when staff go home early or are transferred off the maternity ward. My two major incidents were: 1) Tuesday 18 April: My baby's bloodwork went missing between the maternity ward and the lab. My baby had blood drawn at 17:30 to check her jaundice levels and determine whether she needed further phototherapy. After the blood was drawn, I did not see a midwife again until the night shift started after 21:00. I started asking for the results of the blood test at 18:30 and was told by the community support worker that nothing was in the computer yet. Further requests were met with the same reply until I was informed at ~20:00 that the night shift would have to look into it. It wasn't until I asked Jane (on night shift) to check on the results that we learned that the blood had not made it to the lab and that more blood would need to be drawn. This was an extremely distressing situation. Jaundice treatment is not pleasant for the baby and requires a naked baby, which wasn't ideal for my 4.5 weeks premature infant. I suspect that the reason for this information gap was that my primary day-shift midwife went home at 17:00. My care was transferred to another midwife who did not come in again after drawing the baby's blood at 17:30. Further observations during that day shift were performed by community support workers and all questions were channeled through the community support workers. Some continuity / redundancy in midwife care would assist with this. 2) Wednesday 19 April: We were approved to go home at ~13:30, but told that we'd need to wait for our discharge papers. Shortly after, my assigned midwife was sent to help with C-Sections. No one took over my care, nor the care of the other mothers in the room. At 17:30, after not seeing any staff for hours, I requested more painkillers for my stitches and inquired about our discharge status. I was told "I don't know who you are or where you are" by the midwife at the desk (Cynthia). I was then informed that everyone had their own patients and they don't automatically cover for others. Fortunately, the community support worker helped provide the midwife of my details so that I at least got a dose of paracetamol. This is a major flaw in care. We didn't get discharged until the night shift came in (Jane again - she really is amazing). There needs to be some redundancy built into patient care so that if a midwife is transferred off the maternity ward or leaves before the night shift comes on, her patients aren't abandoned and care is continuous. In addition to waiting from 13:30 until 21:45 to go home, I was denied pain relief from 19:30 as my prescriptions had been sent to the pharmacy. My husband, child, and I were in a state of limbo. It was an unnecessary situation that could be easily correct. Minor issues: Wednesday 19 April: The same midwife from above (Cynthia) bellowed constantly down the ward throughout the day, "Keys! Lisa!" etc. This was quite irritating and while it may be an effective way to find the keys to the medicine chest or Lisa, it is disruptive to tired women who've just given birth. Throughout: There needs to be some consistency in information. We were told that our baby would need repeat jaundice bloodwork after 6 hours by one doctor and then after 12 hours by another doctor. Jane double-checked the protocol for us and confirmed that it was 12 hours for a baby with our gestation time. Such glitches are understandable to some extent but add stress to an already stressful time.

Community Services - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust 2017-05-04 Person 3 5 0

Midwives in the delivery ward were brilliant. They kept me informed about what was going on and what would happen next. The staff on ward 17 were less helpful. I don't feel I was checked on enough post birth. Tests were not always explained to me e.g. Saturation test for the baby. They were not very helpful despite me being a first time mum. I was only helped to feed my baby when I requested help and this was limited. I was told the breastfeeding support team had left the ward.