Community Midwives

Things were going well with my pregnancy but then I was told I had pre-eclampsia so I have now been asked to come to the clinic weekly so that they keep a closer eye on me. The staff are supportive and caring, they have given me a direct phone number that I can call should I ever need to talk or to get advice. If I needed support out of hours I would just contact West Suffolk hospital. I am very happy with the care I am receiving.

I think having the consistency of same midwife is key, the last time I was pregnant in 2017 it was not so good, this time seems to be much better so far. The attitude of the staff here is lovely, they are kind and caring. I am so busy with my work and because its not my first time I don't think about it too much but some things do matter.

The community midwife team in Felixstowe are amazing. This was my second pregnancy and I was hoping that the same midwife was still the midwife at Haven Health and she was - I was thrilled. The midwife remembered me from 4 years prior and asked kind questions about my son when we first met again. I am a nervous patient and her kind and compassionate manner is amazing. She has a way of putting you at ease which I haven’t experienced before. I benefit from things being explained eg what will happen when I go to this appointment at the hospital etc and she is happy to explain anything - I understand her time is precious but you never feel rushed or that she hasn’t got time for you. I was required to be consultant led in pregnancy due to my age and previous small baby however I was keen to be able to have midwife led care. She was always explaining to me how this could be facilitated if safe and in the end it was.
I had a bit of a meltdown one appointment because I was worried about the birth in a couple of months and she was so kind and saw me a couple of extra times to help me manage my worries. Following the birth of my daughter the midwife wasn't on shift so we were visited by a different midwife who again gave us great care and explained everything so well. She made time to see us for our final appointment. I feel like my words here aren’t doing justice for how good she actually is. She feels like a second mum when she is looking after you. She is so kind, respectful, experienced and had such a wonderful way with you as an expectant mother. I trusted her fully throughout every appointment and experience and felt like she really cared about me. She is such a credit to the midwifery team in Felixstowe and wider (the rest of the team that I saw were great too) but she is just amazing. Thank you NHS for the wonderful midwifery care I received.

The midwives from Maple House have been very good, I've seen two different midwives and each has been approachable, friendly and supportive, answering any questions I've had.

My past experience with the community midwives was very good and I have appointments planned. The only issue last time was that the midwives in the Stowmarket are were more of how Ipswich hospital operates rather than West Suffolk but that's not been a big issue.

Even asking those silly questions I've never felt dismissed or stupid as the midwives have been lovely and so supportive. It's great that they've put on a variety of training for first aid and feeding as it has been really helpful. They have covered everything and have been so flexible around appointments.

I've been very happy with the midwives, they've been very friendly. I've seen a couple of midwives and both were lovely. They have explained everything very well and have been very reassuring. I like having the online access for information and appointments its much easier, as I always know where to get information.

Everyone I have seen in the community midwifery team have been lovely and caring and this has been very positive for me having had a difficult experience at the West Suffolk Hospital 5 years ago when having my first baby. I do feel that having the consistency of the same midwife all the way through is important to build trust. I think the only thing I would mention is that the on line NHS portal which has my notes and leaflets on is not that quick to use and if needed in a hurry it would be difficult to access especially if my husband needed to find something, 5 years ago I had a physical book with this information in and I would have preferred to have had the option to have had a proper book again.

After having numerous midwife’s not even sure who my midwife was in the end. The last midwife we had was amazing so friendly and easy to talk to and answered any concerns we had. We actually looked forward to our midwife appointments after dreading them for ages.

It was lovely to see the same midwife each time but it felt like there was a real disconnect between having an Ipswich based midwife but being under WSH. I also struggled to get hold of the midwives. All I had was an email address. I emailed asking for advice when I had covid in the 3rd trimester and received no reply, and then I emailed again at 38 weeks to request that colostrum syringes be made available for me to collect, but didn’t get a reply. I have therefore run out and only have 5 syringes to take to hospital. The midwife was always lovely but the lack of ability to get in touch other than an email that doesn’t get answered is really unhelpful. My GP surgery uses an excellent online system for getting advice or asking for an appointment, so the email address that doesn’t get answered feels very antiquated and not patient-centered. My notes also always had a tick about my mental health but I never was specifically asked about my mental health, so I’ve never mentioned my anxiety about my upcoming section or fear that the baby won’t survive.