"I came across some of the worst workers I’ve encountered in the health service who are failing mothers and their babies."

A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2018 and 2020:

I had a horrendous experience in 2018 with the birth and aftercare of my son. I was bluelighted to the JR from chipping Norton birthing unit following Fetal bradycardia. I was rushed into theatre to find my son had moved off the umbilical cord so I was moved back out to birth my son normally. The actual birth was ok however the real damage was the aftercare.

I’d had an epidural and felt rushed to get in the shower by the midwife, I ended up slipping over in a pool of blood in the shower as my legs were not fully functional. We were then virtually harassed by a porter to vacate the birthing room returning several times with a bad attitude. She dumped us on level 5 with no handover of where toilets were or staff. I ended up laying in blood for hours and not one member of staff checking on me for 8 hours. I’d lost 500ml of blood and was in a state of shock.

During the night my baby woke and I couldn’t feed him, lights were on next to my cubicle so I couldn’t sleep. I rang the buzzer and no one came for hours. Other women were tutting at the crying from my baby in the cubicle.

In the morning I asked for formula and was made to feel awful by a midwife asking “are you sure about that” with a nasty attitude. I’d had no support with feeding and was left with a starving baby. We had no help and felt abandoned. There was no care and staff were rude. Eventually someone came to help with feeding after we complained.

My husband found staff sat on their phones at the front desk gossiping. The hospital refused to discharge me for 2 days. We were only discharged once we made a serious complaint verbally.

I left the hospital feeling poorly, and absolutely traumatised hearing beeping noises and in pain. The beeping in my ears lasted a week at home. We bought this up with midwives and they told us it’s staff shortages and they are barely able to get breaks to sleep.

After all of this I never received proper support feeding and resorted to pumping milk. My son has epilepsy now and I’ve no idea why or whether his birth contributed to this but to this day I suffer with flash backs and feel utterly failed.

I attended a birth afterthoughts service and was told I needed to “think carefully who I vote for” after relaying my story. This left me feeling unheard and dismissed. My notes clearly showed me and my first born were neglected on level 5 at the JR. No one checked on either of us yet they wouldn’t discharge us. With the birth of my daughter in 2020 I’d relayed my experience on level 5 and requested a mode of birth letter. I was advised I had to be induced at 41 weeks. The midwives on level 6, one of which I knew did their best to care for me and do what they could to ensure my experience was better this time. The birth was ok but I’d asked for a water birth and had my request ignored (by different midwives).

After birth I was taken up to the spires where I was dumped again and heard another member of staff complaining I’d been dumped. I wanted to be discharged and was left hours and hours again with my husband shut outside in a car park the next day.

When I buzzed for the midwife she shouted at me saying she can’t do 5 things at once. They kept promising my husband I’d be discharged and hours went by. I was eventually discharged around 6 pm the following day where I felt my daughter wasn’t checked properly. The midwife looked borderline in tears as she said she’d not eaten all day. This was a different one to the individual earlier.

The next day I ended up back on level 5 as my daughter had severe jaundice, I asked for a private room as I have anxiety. My experience here was again dealing with rude uncaring staff, one accused me of cuddling my baby too much and taking her away from lamps. I was also told off for not feeding her properly.

My milk hadn’t come in, so I was pumping but had to use donor milk. I buzzed every 3 hrs for this milk to find no one came! Eventually on one occasion a midwife did come but again looked to be nearly in tears saying there was only 2 of them on night shift! Each time I went near the staff station, they appeared to be gossiping or on phones. I felt staff were being bullied with some unprofessional comments made in my earshot. Potentially by maternity support workers.

I was told I wouldn’t be discharged until I showed I was pumping milk every 3 hrs. Again, discharge was a long painful process, waiting hours and hours and being told I may need to stay overnight due to staff shortages.

The care with my daughter at Witney hospital was terrible, dismissive and rude. I had to request to see another midwife after the current one was rude, bossy and judgemental belittling me on one occasion.

The whole service needs investigating and staff retraining. They are clearly understaffed but with my short stays, I came across some of the worst workers I’ve encountered in the health service who are failing mothers and their babies.

I’ve been left with mental health issues.