St Michael's Maternity Unit

Amazing ....both my daughters were delivered here. The staff were fantastic. We had two completely different births so feel we had a good sample of different staff and approaches. Parking is really simple, if you park opposite of under the entrance you will be provided with a permit by the reception staff on the ward, of course you will need to pay for the first hour whilst you obtain your permit. Despite an aging building the ward and rooms were in very good condition and very clean. Once again the staff were unbelievable.

Beware ward 73. Although I had a traumatic birth in the delivery suite, the staff and care were exemplary. I felt so looked after. I was then transferred to ward 73. The difference was night and day. I was given very little information on anything, such as what support I could expect from the staff there, when food might arrive or facilities available such as mother and baby rooms (Only discovered these days later as helpful for happy changes). After visiting hours, I felt completely alone. Having a catheter meant I was limited in my movement so I rang for help with my first dirty nappy. It took quite some time to get anyone and when someone came around they begrudgingly helped. No smiles, and their attitude was as if they shouldn’t be helping me - I later learnt that is EXACTLY what they should be doing amongst other things. Another time I rang for help with feeding, as I was having issues latching but got minimal help - not only were there huge delays on response times but I was made feel like a nuisance. This meant my baby was left under fed for 5 hours - which prompted a midwife to abruptly point out that I should be feeding every 3 hours. I cannot explain how stupid this made me feel.
I was later transferred to ward 76 and the level of care was absolutely amazing - this is where I learnt that I can and should ring for help every single time I needed it.
Ward 73 staff - sort yourselves out, you’re a disgrace