"The first Doctor was repulsively rude... I cried and screamed in pain, and she refused to stop."

A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2026:

I gave birth at the John Radcliffe last week, and I need to share my experience.

Before I begin, I do want to say that there were some lovely members of staff. Sadly, these were diminished by the 'care' of others. I will explain the full birth, from start to finish.

I arrived at the JR during the early hours of [date] June 2026. I didn't know if I was in labour or not, but the contractions were ramping up. I was 35 weeks exactly.

The first Doctor was repulsively rude. She did not believe anything I said and was really rough with the speculum. I cried and screamed in pain, and she refused to stop. It was then she realised my waters had broken and I was 2cm dilated. Despite this, she continued being rude, showing no kindness at all. I was transferred to the antenatal ward, which was severely understaffed.

In the middle of the night, the remainder of my waters broke. I called the 'call bell', and a member of staff arrived 15 minutes later. I just wanted help to clean up and to have some pain relief as the contractions were ramping up. The midwife had to "get her colleague" to assist... She couldn't even help me get dressed in new clothes!!!

The only pain relief they could offer me was paracetamol/ibuprofen and gas and air. Except... the gas and air canister was empty! I was left labouring in extreme pain for about 4 hours. I was eventually transferred to the delivery suite, which was actually a really positive experience. These members of staff are angels, and helped me go through the labour. I had an epidural, which had no complications. I reached full dilation and, due to the baby's position, had to have an emergency episiotomy and forceps delivery.

Baby arrived safely at 35+2. This is where everything started to go wrong.

My partner and I were wheeled to a dark corridor and left there for hours with a newborn baby. We didn't know what to do as we were first-time parents. A member of staff came over and told us off for not swaddling our baby, bear in mind, we had no idea what to do... and I had a spinal/epidural, so I couldn't move!

Eventually, we were taken up to Floor 5, the antenatal ward. We were placed in a bay, and the level of care was abhorrent. I really struggled to produce colostrum as the baby was preterm, so I had concerns about feeding the baby. She then proceeded to manhandle me, grabbing my breast and expressing colostrum herself, whilst also trying to force my baby to latch on to the other breast. If anyone knows anything about pre-term babies, they struggle to latch, and we have since found that formula would have probably been the best option. Unfortunately, we were never given that option.

Baby then developed jaundice. Jaundice is extremely common, with 80% of pre-term babies having it. The same midwife blamed me for struggling to feed my baby, which is why they had jaundice. This worried me sick, so I sought advice from the feeding team and the paediatrician. Both members of staff gave opposite feeding schedules, with one saying that we need to give baby 15ml-30ml per feed, and the other saying 50-75ml per feed! How can it be so different?

Also, probably a good opportunity to say that the JR are incredibly forceful for breastfeeding over formula. They made me feel like such a failure for not being able to breastfeed. Contradictions like the above happened frequently, with some midwives advising us to feed baby laying down, and then minutes later someone screaming at us for following the previous midwives’ advice.

Our hospital stay was 6 days in total, with the hospital wanting me to stay in the hospital one additional night for a 6am blood test. By this point, I was so frustrated with the staff's rudeness, contradictions, and lack of passion and support, I needed to leave. I told them that I would not be staying the night and would just drive in the following morning. I am so glad I did, as I don't think mentally I would have been able to get through the night.

Other issues that I encountered at the JR:

• There is no air conditioning, and not enough fans per family per bay. I was on the post-natal ward in the June heatwave, and it was extremely vile. My baby struggled to eat, and slept for most of the day – in which again I was blamed for.

• As soon as I brought baby home into a cooler environment, I was able to feed easily.

• The buzzer system. I waited for at least 30 minutes on multiple occasions to receive pain relief or help when my baby was under phototherapy lights.