What would you do if you were pregnant and lived in Shropshire?

Our niece had a dreadful first labour experience at that hospital, she was 36 hours in labour with very little help or encouragement , she was just told to be patient as they were busy ! , she refused to go back there for her second child’s birth and had community midwives at home who were amazing , fortunately her second time was 5 hours and a more relaxed atmosphere with her mum and husband present at the birth . She sent letters of complaint about her treatment , got a standard acknowledgment letter back .. but these poor families who had such dreadful outcomes with their babies have at last been heard and hopefully no one else will suffer the way they still are .

I worked on a NHS Maternity unit for 17 years. The hospital where I worked was on a list of shame for regularly breaching the new guidelines on Caesarean sections and going over the recommended number carried out each month. Fortunately our doctors and matrons carried on regardless, despite the threats of fines. If a section was the safest option then that is what they did. Result - healthy Mums and babies.

Whitewavemark2. I am sure that your comment about it being deliberate is accurate. The American health care companies would love to get their hands on even more of our NHS to make profits for American shareholders.

My daughter in law had a still born girl when the midwives missed the signs that the placenta wasn't working properly. Her little girl died the moment she went into labour and it was just the most awful time. Initially they tried to cover it up and told her it was one of those things but her GP friend got her to get her notes and went through them. She found the pattern which should have alerted them. I was all for suing the NHS uphill and down dale but my son and DIL just wanted closure. They did put in a complaint and they agreed not to sue if the Trust implemented a proper reporting procedure which is used in many Trusts up and down the country which means that any patterns immediately show up. They felt that it was more important to affect change rather than take money from an already struggling NHS.
They have since had 2 children with the same Trust and they get first class service because of their history but every woman should be getting it.

I am amazed the hospital still has staff for maternity care. There will be many staff who tried to provide an excellent service, they though will be lumped in with all those who didn't. Think I'd move from the area or demand, as I am sure you can, to be cared for at another hospital.

Every government since the NHS was formed has reviewed it, tinkered with it, restructured it, set goals (often with no understanding of what they meant) blah blah blah. The last ten years have seen underfunding to an unprecedented level - and some of you still labour under the misapprehension that this is all the fault of the staff within the system.

It’s not about structure. What will make it work, as proved during the Blair Government, is adequate funding and allowing professional staff who know how services should be run lead the reforms. All the figures on performance from that period are there to prove it. Any alternative model will remove the key tenet of equality of access. Is that what you really want?

Dickens
Your last sentence sums it up. ?

MerylStreep

So the majority of us are saying the same thing: it’s not fit for purpose. And let’s not forget, we payed for this service.
Before anyone says but we didn’t pay enough I paid what the government of the day dictated. If they needed, wanted more they should have asked.
I think another conversation that needs to be had is, what exactly can the country afford to do on the NHS.

The problem is that no government wants to talk about raising taxes - because it's not a vote-winner. That's why no party ever asked you to pay more.

We've been conditioned to believe that tax = bad. The benefits of what it might provide or enable have been deliberately ignored.

So we're never going to have an honest discussion about the NHS on a political / economic level.

A husband comment here. My wife was in maternity in an NHS hospital far from Shropshire and the epidural needle fell out unbeknown to the staff so she began to experience enough pain that she couldn't manage a natural birth. She was taken to theatre and gave birth via Caesarian. I shall always be grateful to the staff and duty surgeon as I think they saved her life. She would, in my opinion, have died in the maternity suite otherwise. Fortunately, at that time they were not fuddled by dogmatic ideas and targets. Although the Shropshire Trust have a lot to answer for I think the Royal College of Midwives should not be allowed to remain in the background in this issue.

Shortage of staff..we (as a nation) generally do not value professional staff and that is reflected in pay & conditions so why would people want to work as a medical practitioner particularly at lower levels? We want everything on the cheap.
Add to that Covid rates, rise in anti immigrant attitudes / laws and it is no wonder there are staff shortages.

It’s not confined to Shrewsbury.

My neice. 26. Miscarriage 2020. Second pregnancy difficult. Big baby, lots of scans, high BP. Due 4th April but due to impending pre eclampsia, they took her in to induce on Monday this week. Started her off then stopped after two pessaries as “we have no staff”. Seriously, she was told that they’d look at it on Tuesday. On Tuesday, she had her BP checked only when she waddled to the nurse station because her feet and fingers were very swollen and she had a banging headache with flashing lights. Given paracetamol and told to rest.

Proceed to Wednesday, told she’d need a caesarean that day IF A MORE URGENT CASE DIDN'T COME IN as again, lack of staff. Waited all day Wednesday… didn’t happen. Thursday, given caesarean.

Today, neice crying as she was still on the blood soaked pad placed under her, post op, hadn’t had a wash and the gown she’d worn to theatre had been removed and laid over her. She was therefore naked underneath. She is utterly distraught. Partner allowed to visit. No one else.

She can’t pick the baby up. Is in pain. Was supposed to be monitored for “fragmented placenta” and hadn’t even cleaned her teeth since pre-theatre, til partner helped her.

I despair. She feels like she’s being a nuisance and is upset because she can’t cuddle her first baby. When partner goes home, she can’t lift physically him.

What the f**k is going on?

Is it me? This sounds like a disaster… a shambles.

Our daughter was due to give birth in London at the Whittington.
She was so appalled at the dreadful ante natal care they rented a property in another part of the country so she gave birth in Cambridgeshire.
The Whittington went into special measures shortly after.

As an Ex midwife,not in Shropshire, there was understaffing many years ago.There was also a culture that if you complained about the poor staffing levels it would go on your record that you ‘couldn’t cope’.
We always worked over our contracted hours and we’re told to take the time back within 2 weeks,which would have left the unit even more low staffed so we just did it as part of the job,if you went home on time it was a luxury!
I’m thankful every day I don’t have to work anymore!

I had a look at the comparable health budget figures from other countries recently and from memory we are the bottom of the G7 countries and around 20th in the western world. So those who think we are paying more than any other country, we are not. There have also been limited places to study medicine which restricts the number if doctors we have.
In Europe they have more doctors per thousand than we do.
Instead too much nhs budget money pays fir temporary staff to fill the staff gaps.

Because we don't know where we all live, cos that's the rule, it's difficult to work out if this is a hospital by hospital, or a county by county, or a country by country problem.

Also, I do believe that the NHS is over managed, and that it need a decent whistleblower facility. Anyone I know who left with payment, after a successful grievance procedure, had to sign a gagging order.

Also, I believe that, flawed as it is, it still beats the system in the USA.

So the majority of us are saying the same thing: it’s not fit for purpose. And let’s not forget, we payed for this service.
Before anyone says but we didn’t pay enough I paid what the government of the day dictated. If they needed, wanted more they should have asked.
I think another conversation that needs to be had is, what exactly can the country afford to do on the NHS.

My last experience of hospital was awful too and it is a very well regarded teaching hospital.

I think the entire NHS needs reorganising properly. It lets down many people, as I know, because of being (along with DH) a frequent user of the service.

Have a homebirth, my DD had a horrendous experience in hospital with my first GS, had emergency C section, terrible pain afterwards, not taken to see baby etc. I had to intervene to get her some attention. Had my GD at home with midwives and it was bliss, relaxed, no pain relief with a natural birth- what a difference!

Sandelf
How true. I had reason to spend 24hrs under observation a few months ago. I can’t fault the nuts and bolts of the nursing but that’s where the praise ends.
I’ve told my partner that I have to be gasping my last before I go back to Southend hospital.

A few weeks ago I had to go back to my dr as the medication proscribed wasn’t working at all. I saw a new Dr with a very abrupt manner.
She could clearly see that my breathing was poor. When I told her that I was getting worse she looked at me and said what do you want me to do about it ?
I’m getting very close to putting doctors in the same box as politicians.

I would ask for a maternity referral to outside that Trust area. Or stay with a friend or relative for the last 5 weeks.

What gets me is no remorse when hearing people interviewed who were staff, about it.

Shortage of staff doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to allow babies and women to die.

My consultant obstetrician had a joke: ‘what’s the difference between a terrorist and a midwife?
Answer - you can negotiate with a terrorist.”

if you think bad care is only for certain wards or for certain ages then you are probably wrong. it is likely that all of the care is poor for all ages.

We should scrap the 'internal market' in the NHS.

The internal market has turned our public hospitals into businesses in which, when there is a conflict between financial health and patients' health, financial health trumps. The Mid Staffs scandal was only the tip of the iceberg. All NHS hospitals are affected, as can be seen with increasing clarity in today's austerity climate, in which quality of care is sacrificed across the board on the altar of 'efficiency savings' – all too often a euphemism for budget cuts.

In England the internal market has accentuated the fragmentation between primary and secondary NHS care and between health and social care. The potential savings from scrapping the market could be invested in integrated health and social care.

British Medical Journal 2018

Yup...

I would move if the local option was Shropshire! Both my DDs had their babies in Harrogate District hospital and were both very happy with the care they had there.