James Paget Hospital

Time between appointments is now more stretched than it used to be but I can call the department for advice if I have problems.

We came to A&E and the service received at A&E was shambolic, left the hospital in complete uncertainty and worry. We should of been given a scan straight away and it would of given us far less stress and worry, the EAPU were fantastic and were able to reassure us and the lady scanning was amazing and really informative, putting us at complete ease.

My father-in-law has been "blocking" a bed for the past 10 days while waiting for the result of a heart monitor to be looked at by a Doctor. Having taken the best part of a week to look at it and pass him medically fit to be discharged he has spent a further 2 days sitting at his bed waiting for the ward to send a message to the Discharge Team advising he is fit to go and to organise a care package.
I chased this morning but 4 hours later this simple task has still not been done.
I cannot decide if this is simple incompetence or a deliberate policy to block beds and make the NHS look as if it under more pressure than it really is. Either way it is completely unacceptable.

I am confined to a wheelchair, and had to use the toilet, but was unable to flush it due to equipment at the side!!! I thought the whole disabled toilet plan was for us all to be able to use it on our own! I am very disappointed, we fought very hard to get them done.

I was able to ask questions and staff took time to answer; my hearing is not great & I lip read & find accents or mumbling difficult. Only one member of staff was inarticulate. The nurses, staff and theatre staff were all personal and friendly whilst getting their tasks done. I felt I was in good & caring hands.(discharge on Saturday afternoon was not as good with mixed messages and incorrect paperwork and inevitable 'weekend' delays) I was very well prepared for pre-op and post -op and feel that I am recovering well because of the skill, expertise and experience of the staff.

I can honestly say that I have had an amazing team of midwives and nurses throughout my pregnancies. I had a baby in lockdown and found it hard as I couldn't have my husband with me in appointments and scans but I was always reassured from the team I worked with and made me feel very at ease and my last baby was 10 months ago and the same team again helped eased my anxieties. The diabetic midwives always go above an beyond to help support all throughout the pregnancy and after as well I saw them all as a part of my family in the end and even now if I'm unsure I can contact them with any concerns and questions

Throughout my pregnancy I received wonderful care and advice. During labour I felt supported and empowered. I can not fault the care from the midwives pre and post birth.

My negative experience has been the care received since my midwife led care stopped from my GP which has been inadequate.

It's been nearly a year since my daughter was born, and the care I received from the midwife's and consultant at the hospital was exceptional. I always felt informed and listened to. I knew what was happening why things were happening and was treated with dignity, compassion and care always.

Had no issues during pregnancy when attending antenatal appointments. Was fully supported when attending the maternity unit when I was 32 weeks pregnant hadn’t felt baby move in a while. Was fully reassured and checked.
When going in to give birth staff listened to me although didn’t quite believe I was fully in established labour as I was managing the pain well! I was listened to during my labour and when discussing how I would like to give birth. My mum and partner were also supported well by my midwife and student midwife when speaking of my partners anxiety and fear of hospital environments. When concerns were raised by the midwives towards the end of my labour about my baby’s heartbeat staff acted quickly in taking me out of the pool and into a delivery room for monitoring. We were explained to about what was happening at all times. Our wishes were followed following the birth of our baby boy. I had to wait several hours to have stitches after tearing, staff explained this was due to emergencies needing to go in to theatre. During this time staff checked in regularly on us and kept us up to date with when I would go to theatre.
When on the postnatal ward I would say there wasn’t a lot of support during the night (I didn’t feel I needed to buzz to ask for any) and didn’t really have anyone check my observations or my baby’s only when I did have to buzz as I was uncomfortable and had concerns with my baby. The one issue we did have was I identified my baby had a tongue tie (I work on a neonatal unit so aware of these) our midwife said that they would place a referral to have this assessed and seen however after not hearing anything for nearly 3 weeks I discussed this with the breastfeeding support team who followed this up and found that a referral for me or my baby hadn’t been received at the tongue tie clinic. Luckily the breastfeeding team were able to help and organised for my baby to have his RLF really quickly afterwards. This did have an impact on our breastfeeding journey due to the difficulties with feeding whilst my baby had a tongue tie. I feel this may have been different if there wasn’t such a long delay and worry that if I hadn’t spoken with the breastfeeding team how much longer we would have gone on struggling. I mentioned this to every midwife / staff member that came to visit us in the home in the first few weeks as we had lots of visits due to concern my baby had jaundice but no one followed up where our referral was even when they said they would.

Amazing labour and birth care with my little girl. I cannot thank the staff enough