West Suffolk Hospital

Having a baby during lock down was challenging. The restrictions meant my partner could not bond during routine appointments. Following the birth of my daughter I notified caregivers I was not well and something wasn’t right however due to the pandemic I was unable to get an appointment or be seen. I was told I was fine however six weeks after the birth I was admitted due to retain placenta and suspected sepsis.

They've been` good at liaising with both us and the surgery so we have always had the information we need, I do find it is a more caring hospital.

Long dragged out induction of labour. Long wait for any pain relief. One midwife had a terrible attitude while I was in the most painful part of my labour. Would like to praise the rest of the staff though that stepped in during an emergency and got my baby breathing. No staff around after labour and spent hours not knowing if I was going to labour ward or home. Finally got discharged at 1am but that was due to being understaffed. If there was more staff so they wasn’t under so much pressure and that midwife with attitude wasn’t there it would of been a better experience.

I had a good experience all the way through my pregnancy and birth. The staff were all kind, gave me lots of their precious time (I know they are stretched) and made me feel at ease.

My mum has many long term conditions. In the last 2 years , she has had 1 neurological review by phone which was very unsatisfactory.
She now has letter to say her neurologist cannot see her at the Sudbury health centre but travel to WSH. She has no transport & this is likely to be eligible for ambulance transport. She's is worried about cost of taxi . She is likey to cancel seeing her consultant.
We appreciate COVid is affecting services but thought the strategy is to see people closer to home, especially those who are most vulnerable.

Last year I stayed on a ward for 10 days and the care was great. The nurses were excellent in their approach and caring manner and the food was amazing, nothing was too much trouble for the staff. Really impressed.

The build up to my induction was difficult as it ended up being a stressful procedure passed from different departments. Once I was in hospital, the treatment was incredible and my labour was outstanding with the midwives, (names removed). I cannot thank these ladies enough for their huge support in bringing my little girl into the world so safely. (name removed) was also super supportive and helpful in any of my queries. Hugely thankful for the midwives and all they did to support me

The staff are really accommodating and they are doing a great job. The food when I stayed on the ward was really good and they made sure I had what ever I needed at each mealtime.

I was diagnosed in April with glaucoma and was told I would be seen in 3 months, however it is now 8 months and I've heard nothing. I also visited A&E with a dislocated finger and had to wait 4 hrs to be seen however, the treatment and staff were great.

I was admitted from a&e to F11 during my pregnancy and I stayed for 1 night. The morning of my discharge, a couple came into my bay and were placed in the bed opposite me with the curtains open so I couldn’t help but see them. The lady explained that she had coke in due to reduced movements, the midwife asked when she first noticed the reduction and the lady explained it was the night before. The midwife then turned around to this couple and said “you should have come in last night! If you come in and your baby is sick we can help, if you come in and your baby is dead we can’t!”. This was extremely upsetting for me to hear, let alone for that couple to hear. I wanted to make a complaint at the time, but I was worried that she would know it was me and she would end up looking after me when I was in labour. I met this midwife a few times and nearly every time she was unpleasant towards me, and I spent a lot of my pregnancy worrying she would be in charge of my birth.
I also spent most of my pregnancy being told my baby was big but that it wasn’t an issue. I had a scan at approx 7 months for a separate issue and suddenly the size of my baby was a problem. I was changed to consultant led and there was talk of early induction because of his size as I was told they didn’t want me going past 40 weeks. This never happened, I was instead given sweeps at 38 and 39 weeks which didn’t work and given another appointment with a consultant at 40 weeks. At this appointment the lovely male consultant told me they needed baby out of me straight away as he was too big for my body, even if they meant I went back the next morning for an induction. When he tried to book me in, the hospital was fully booked for a week. I wasn’t offered the chance to go to a different hospital and I was booked in for 41 weeks and told to hope my baby arrived naturally before then. He didn’t. I was taken in for induction, and by chance my community midwife was working on F11 that day. She was down to induce the lady opposite me, who she hadn’t been the community midwife for. She and I both felt it would be nice for her to induce me and care for me whilst she was on shift, as she had been my only midwife in the community. She asked the midwife in charge and this was refused, with no explanation given to either of us. The induction itself went well, however at 3am the next morning my waters broke and i noticed they were slushy and green, which I knew meant baby had had a poo and could be dangerous. I raised this with the midwife on F11 and she checked them and told me they were fine. When my contractions intensified, I told the same midwife who told me “yes that will happen” and offered me paracetamol. I told her I felt I needed more than paracetamol, but she refused to consider that. Thankfully a second midwife came along and offered to assess me. She judged I was approx 7cm and I was transferred to the Labour suite. Once there my waters went again, and this time a midwife told the consultant I had mechonium in my waters but again nothing else was said. I laboured until approx 8/9cm when a consultant came and did an assessment. He said he wanted to consult with a colleague on the phone and that he’d be back. He didn’t come back. After a long time my midwife said she’d go fine him. She bought him back quickly and I was suddenly told I would be having a caesarean as that was my only option and babies head was stuck behind my pubic bone meaning he was trying to cone out ear first. The staff in theatre were amazing, as I was very upset and anxious. However a lovely midwife then explained to me that due to the mechonium they didn’t want baby to cry straight away as he may swallow the mechonium and become very sick, and that they also had the resuscitation equipment to hand incase he couldn’t breath due to blocked airways. This was a shock as by this time it was 13:30pm, 10.5 hours after I first reported mechonium in my waters. My son did cry straight away (typical) but thankfully neither he nor I developed an infection. I stayed in hospital for 3 days, and on the third day finally felt strong enough to have a shower. During this my bandages filled with water, so I asked a midwife if they could change them for me. She didn’t understand how they could have filled with water, but said she’d go get some dry ones. When she went to change my bandage, she was shocked and got a second midwife. They explained I had a compression bandage one, that these are usually only used for obese women or for heavy blood loss (I lost 1.2litres). But that the surgeons are meant to tell them if a patient is wearing one as they’re not allowed to be left on for more than 24 hours. Mine had been on for 72 hours. When she removed it, the skin underneath had blistered terribly. Once discharged from hospital my community midwife came and saw me, and she was more concerned about the blistering of my skin than me surgery wound and told me she was concerned it would get infected.