"My husband had to literally beg the midwives to come and check me and give me pain relief"

A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024:

I was lucky enough to be signed off to have an elective caesarean and was given a date. Unfortunately, I went into labour before this date. I was advised to attend MAU to be assessed and an ‘emergency’ caesarean would be scheduled. 

I was given a cannula and signed my consent forms for surgery. I was then left in MAU with next to no monitoring or support from staff. My husband had to literally beg the midwives to come and check me and give me pain relief. I felt I was shoved in a side room and forgotten about.

After labouring for hours in MAU and after being promised my c-section would go ahead multiple times, my husband begged a midwife to check me to which I was 6cms. I will never forget the look of shock on her face. I was lumped in a wheelchair and taken to the delivery  ward, it was very apparent the midwives on the delivery ward were very unhappy with the MAU midwives.

After this my experience on the delivery ward was fantastic. I had an epidural within a matter of minutes after my arrival and even though I didn’t get my c-section I had a fantastic labour. I do feel I was convinced to not continue with the c-section as my labour had progressed and there were further factors to take into consideration.

I do struggle to come to terms with the lack of monitoring baby received in MAU and often think about what could of gone wrong.