"the JR, in my opinion, was disgraceful and not fit for purpose."

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

I had a traumatic and rushed labour at the JR back in May this year after planning for the whole of my pregnancy to give birth at the Horton, my local hospital.

I was 41+4 and scheduled for an induction after several sweeps that didn't prompt labour, so I went to the JR on a Friday morning and was assessed pre-induction, but in the end they decided not to induce due to the fact I was already 4cm dilated - instead, I was told that they would want to break my waters, but that I would have to wait for them to be able to do this and it would likely be about 48 hours before I got a call.

I was sent home, and that same night received a call telling me to come in immediately to have my waters broken. At this point, it was nearly 10pm, but I went in anyway and they broke my waters, but before this I was told by my midwife and the doctor on shift that after they had done this, I would be given a couple of hours to allow labour to begin, then they would look at an oxytocin drip etc.

This did not happen.

After they broke my waters, I was given less than 45 minutes before they put me on the drip, then they upped the dosage less than 45 minutes later. As a result, I very quickly became in a lot of pain, and the labour itself was very quick. My daughter was born at 3:30am and I had to have several stitches due to second degree tearing. The doctor was brought into help and made the decision to leave a swab to help soak up any excess blood etc - I was told it would be removed in an hour or two. It was not.

4 and a half hours later, I was about to be moved up to the post delivery ward when I told them I still needed the swab removed. This was met with a great deal of surprise as the day team claimed they hadn’t been told I even had anything in there that needed removing. I then had to be checked out by another doctor to ensure there was no risk of infection, and finally moved up to post delivery.

I was hopeful once I was there that my experience would improve, but whilst I was there, I wasn't once checked in on beyond someone taking my temperature and blood pressure twice, nor was I offered any food or feeding support for my baby. I asked if I would be able to leave or if I had to stay overnight (I had been told down in delivery I should be able to leave later the same day) and I was told they wanted me to stay overnight, but once again, no one had actually properly checked in on me or my stitches etc.

A few more hours went by and it was only when my mum (a retired nurse) came to see me that an actual midwife came to look at me and finally said I could go home. The whole experience was very traumatic for me and led to a high level of anxiety that I still have.

After all of this, I also struggled with breastfeeding and reached out to the feeding team - when I did, I was told I just needed to continue feeding her or she wouldn't be healthy etc, not given any real support (this was over the phone) and only when I saw someone in person did I feel actually understood and seen.

I spoke to my midwife back at the Horton about my experience when I saw her for a postnatal check, and she was horrified on my behalf at my experience, offering more support and help in the 30 minutes I saw her than anyone at the JR did the whole time I was there.

The Horton was incredible, whilst the JR, in my opinion, was disgraceful and not fit for purpose.