Maternity Department University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire

"Some staff were brilliant and so kind to me and helped me through, but over-all it was sadly a very bad and traumatic experience for both me and baby. I was humiliated on two occasion's where professionals would mindlessly lift up my gown where my privates were exposed infront of other staff (men and women) that I had just met and I felt really uncomfortable.. It was an emergency C section and while im glad my son was delivered safely and we both made it out safe, I can’t ignore the other issues following the delivery. Beforehand I was kept awake for over 24 hours constantly monitored with rarely any breaks. I was also sternly told multiple times that I wasn’t holding down the heart monitor on my belly the right way (I shouldn’t have had to hold it down in the first place if it was working properly) and when I was trying my best my hand would eventually ache and shake after a couple of hours so I had to swap hands to then be told by a frustrated member of staff to keep holding it down and she would re-start the monitoring process all over again if i slightly moved which would add on another hour at a time. I felt this was extremely unfair. I have major health anxiety which I’m in therapy for and which my midwife knew about and I had no idea what was happening and felt that some staff weren’t sensitive towards my mental health. I had panic attacks throughout surgery and was extremely traumatised. I couldn’t feel anything up to my neck so had no idea if I was breathing or not which sent me into sheer panic. I was being lifted onto the bed after surgery and was still in shock and full of adrenaline and needed reassurance desperately that I was going to be okay. I was then told by a midwife “oh you do look pale actually” in a worried voice which make me feel 10x worse. My baby ended up in the transitional care unit because a midwife ignored his low blood sugar so he went really sleepy and wasn’t waking up for feeds. I had to give up breastfeeding because his sugar levels would not rise unless he had formula. Members of staff also put his security tag on so tight that it was stopping the antibiotics going through his canulla due to his arm swelling so much and it caused a bubble of liquid in his arm. One of the baby doctors came down to us and was very angry that this had happened and told us that she was going to personally chase this up herself. This happened again with a tight security tag around his ankle that broke the skin and made him bleed. There were also two midwives that slated my partner off infront of me for sleeping in the chair next to me when he had been awake for two days straight and also has a chronic pain condition that cripples him. They made out he wasn’t supportive or helpful which wasn’t true at all! It is a shame because I met some amazing staff at this hospital that were so supportive but it just wasn’t enough to take away from how awful mine and my baby’s experience was with the other staff. I sadly would not recommend this hospital."

"Not good experience, a bit traumatic tbh. The biggest problem was that they were delaying C-section when was no progress with labour which caused me complications and now after 1.5 year I still have some problems. But from the beginning i believe they should not induce me (I consulted it with 3 independent gynecologist). They were wrong about size of my baby, said she is fat and she was 3250g in 40Weeks, and I gained only 9kg for whole pregnancy. As my body was no ready, and they have not much time, they were inducing me for a week and it end up with emergency C-section where i lost lots of blood. I must say, we have some negative experience with some midwifes and doctors, but also met some dedicated to their work and human oriented."

"We brought my daughter in to have an emergency c section in the early hours of the morning and was quite appalled by the lack of care by the receptionist who was too busy to look up from what she was doing for what seemed like an age and then continued to chat to her colleague when it was quite obvious that my my daughter was experiencing a lot of discomfort. Had to bite my tongue as didn’t want to cause my daughter any more stress. The nurses on the actual maternity ward however, were all lovely and was just a shame that a rude receptionist could potentially have blighted such a joyous occasion."

"If you can choose to give a birth between Coventry and Warwick choose Warwick! I was well prepared for my labour, but I was not prepared for the fact that my Partner won't be allowed with me! This was disgrace that on Ward 24 they don't have enough midwifes to do examination to check up where you are. The midwifes arguing with you during the contractions, saying that the Partner is not allowed but you can still see him outside the ward (what is the point?). They were saying that this is government rules but in Warwick they let Partner to be with you during the whole process!! Postnatal.. again awful! Rude staff, new moms crying because cannot move, walk, having infections but have been told to be mobile! The only midwife that was great on the postnatal was Allanagh. I was waiting whole day for her night shift because she was so nice, helpful and explained everything what is going on and what is the plan. The rest.. I leave it without comment. Regarding ward 24 - only students were nice and helpful.. The labour ward staff was great I fell I was in good hands."