"I was left uncared for and completely traumatised"

A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2025:

I had a problem free c section but then was sent to level 5 with my newborn. I could barely move and it was my first baby - I didn’t know what she needed. She was crying all night and I had no breast milk.

The ward was over 30 degrees. We were told babies can’t get too hot and she needed to drink 1ml milk per feed. I was struggling to produce 0.2mls but was offered no help. Luckily the doctors caught an abnormality and baby was admitted to HDU where she was cared for properly. She had a low blood sugar - possibly due to her being starved for a day on the ward. I was so relieved she was cared for in HDU but I was still recovering on the hot, crowded ward with no care.

Sometimes I would go a whole shift and only see my nurse/midwife for a minute while they did obs and left again. I was left uncared for and completely traumatised. The ward bag was entirely inappropriate for a new mother without her baby. I was a wreck, and no one cared for 4 days. 

I had various issues such as light headedness and violent shivers and large blood clots, but I would wait up to 45 minutes with my call bell ringing and no one would come. I had to cancel my call bells after that time as I was needed downstairs in HDU every few hours.