"the midwives were nothing short of brutal. A complete lack of empathy that defies belief"

A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2007:

I gave birth to my daughter in 2007. While the male midwife [name] who took over during the final stages was very kind, all of the female midwives during my long and extremely painful labour were unbelievably harsh and unkind, lacking any kind of empathy.

But the worst part of all was during the hours after the birth: I was criticised by a nurse/matron who was supposed to check on breastfeeding. I was struggling, and she told me to stop messing around and just get on with it, like other women do.

She offered me no tips on what to do differently, and instead she just told me off. It was deeply upsetting and completely disempowering, at a time when I had just given birth, so was exhausted and felt very vulnerable. She made me feel as if there was something wrong with me because I wasn't finding breastfeeding easy.

Apart from the support from [male midwife], the whole experience of giving birth at the John Radcliffe Hospital was frightening and felt extremely unsupportive.

Apart from [male midwife], the midwives were nothing short of brutal. A complete lack of empathy that defies belief. It put me off ever having a second child.