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Share your experience
Have you been failed by OUH maternity services?
Families tell us all the time that they haven't been listened to by Oxford University Hospitals' maternity staff. But your experience is vital in shaping the change we're demanding - and you deserve to be heard.
Below you'll see experiences of families who have been failed. If you feel able to, please share yours.
Our voices are louder together.
You can share your experience anonymously - simply leave the contact boxes blank. If you're happy for us to get in touch, please provide your name and email address.
For safeguarding reasons, any names included in testimonials published on this site will be anonymised.
Testimonies
"I have copies of maternity records that have been crossed out and changed"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2018: I had my son on the 1st July 2018. My waters had broken...
4 hours ago
"It felt cold. It felt careless. And I felt invisible"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2025: I’ve gone back and forth about whether to share this....
5 hours ago
"That was an extremely traumatic experience"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2021: My son was stillborn at 29 weeks while I was on...
5 hours ago
"The first pair of forceps were broken and the excruciating pain of them trying to make them work while they were inside of me is still something I can feel today"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2018: I had my daughter at OUH in 2018. I’d been in labour...
Jun 28
"midwife came storming in at 2:15am, turned the lights on and started to shout at me"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2019: I fell pregnant with fraternal twins in early 2019,...
Jun 28
"there was absolutely no empathy given to any of the women in the ward where all the NICU mums were"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: My story is from 2023 with the birth of my first and...
Jun 28
"The day I gave birth to my daughter at Oxford hospital was the worst day of my life"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2016: The day I gave birth to my daughter at Oxford hospital...
Jun 28
"In NICU I rarely saw nurses and would sing to comfort the other tiny babies in the bay my daughter was in"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2013: My daughter was under consultant care due to growth...
Jun 28
"Despite repeatedly asking for pain relief, I was made to feel like I was overreacting or being impatient"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2021: My experience with the OUH maternity service was in...
Jun 28
"By the time I had my son it had been 90 hours since my waters had broken"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2025: I’ve recently had a very poor experience at this...
Jun 28
"I was left in the bed in my bloody nightie, bloody sheets and desperate for the toilet"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2017 and 2024: It's hard to fully write in words about my...
Jun 28
"I worked for the trust at the time and by the time I had the courage and strength to complain I was told it’s too late!"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2009: It seems a long time ago to some of you but to me it...
Jun 28
"They got him out put him on my chest and then whipped him off me as I had torn inside and out"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2018: I was 42 when I fell pregnant with my miracle baby....
Jun 28
"I still cannot comprehend the lack of care that I received from the midwives at OUH after I had given birth
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2005: I gave birth in 2005. To this day I still cannot...
Jun 27
"They then brought out the forceps and clanged them around like they were tongs for a bbq"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2017: I fell pregnant with my first child in 2017. The...
Jun 26
"she ‘was too busy to remember my stupid medication’...I was left scared and no longer asked for any pain medication"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2018: I was admitted to the JR having started my...
Jun 26
"They took my chance to grieve my son. They took my voice when I needed to be heard. They took me"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024: They Took Everything From Me — My Story of Loss,...
Jun 26
"I was told I didn’t “sound like I was in enough pain” and advised to take a bath, relax, and wait longer at home"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2021/22: I gave birth to my second daughter in November...
Jun 26
"I didn’t get taken in to be checked, they left me at home with my baby/foetus"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2022: I went to hospital bleeding at 15 weeks pregnant to be...
Jun 26
"He was resuscitated and, after approximately 17 minutes, took his first breath. As a result, he suffered a severe brain injury."
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2005: My son received substandard care at the John Radcliffe...
Jun 26
"Still to this date I have scaring on my left lung"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2020: That new born first time parent bubble of mine was...
Jun 26
"I said I wanted to give him formula instead. They told me I was not allowed"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2022: I had my baby in summer 2022. At my due date midwife...
Jun 26
"we were told she should have been supervised by a sensible doctor when carrying out the forceps"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2022: I gave birth to my daughter, which was a horrendous...
Jun 26
"I used the birth after thoughts service where I was made to feel like I was mental"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity services in 2018: I went in one evening at 39 weeks to be checked for...
Jun 26
"my son died as he was starved of oxygen which they knew about due to a deteriorating umbilical cord"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2013/14: I was treated as a nobody because I was a “young...
Jun 26
"Had I left when told to, without being examined, I would have given birth in the car"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2012: The services are so thin that they advise women to...
Jun 26
"the epidural had been put into the wrong part of my spine"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2020: I would like to share my birth story. Truth told, both...
Jun 26
"I expected challenges in childbirth, but never imagined the biggest trauma would come from the people supposed to care for us"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2022: In November 2022, I gave birth to my son at the John...
Jun 26
"I complained about pain after being stitched and still needed gas & air. They told me I didn’t need it"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2016 and 2021: I gave birth in Nov 2016, July 2018 & December...
Jun 23
"A midwife complained I didn't say 'please'"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2015: A midwife complained I didn't say "please" when I was in...
Jun 18
"manipulative attitude of the anaesthetist team"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024: I gave birth in Dec2024 by emergency c section. It was a...
May 30
"all my suffering could have been prevented if that woman had just listened to me"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2018: I gave birth in 2018. I had an unmedicated natural...
May 30
"I felt uncared for and ignored"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024/25: My baby was a misdiagnosed transverse baby. I had 5...
May 30
"She forcibly gave me a strip wash without my consent"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: When I was in recovery after my emergency c section in...
Apr 18
"I lost both my tubes and babies due to the negligence of the OUH Trust"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: I lost both my tubes and babies due to the negligence of...
Apr 16
"I said this feels so inhumane"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2022: I think it’s time to share my story. I know it’s not...
Apr 16
"No one believed me at all."
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2014: Despite having been seen by a public health consultant...
Apr 16
"I no longer wanted to give birth at the JR as I didn’t trust them, I wish I had followed my gut!"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: My little boy was born at the JR in December 2023. At...
Mar 6
"I'm on a theatre table, no pain relief, no explanation on what is happening"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2020: I was under the care of consultants at the JR due to...
Mar 5
"My birth experience was so traumatic"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2021: I was coerced to have an induction by my community...
Mar 4
"I was discharged without pain relief, after a 20 hour labour, forceps and a c-section"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: I had my daughter at the JR December 2023. My waters...
Mar 1
"No privacy, no food, no care or support"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2019: My second child was born via planned caesarean section....
Feb 28
"Aftercare on the ward was non-existent"
A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2010: I was induced on the Friday morning with a pessary. I...
Feb 28
"The morning after, my cannula was falling out. No one came to check or remove it…I took it out myself."
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024: My actual planned c section went very smoothly but the...
Feb 27
"My baby was born hypoxic, she was not breathing"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2016: My daughter was born in 2016 via emergency c-section. I...
Feb 26
"I was forced to go two weeks overdue. That was just the beginning of the nightmare."
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2019: There were warning signs throughout my pregnancy that...
Feb 26
"My Niece died before she was born due to failings at the John Radcliffe"
An auntie's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: My Niece died before she was born due to failings at...
Feb 25
"We were hounded by the feeding team and midwives constantly"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024: I went into premature labour (35+4) in July 2024. My...
Feb 24
"I had 3 panic attacks on the ward and was not responded to"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023: After my birth I was out in a side room on the post...
Feb 24
"I am now reluctant to consider having another child and feel a profound loss of trust in the NHS"
A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024: On a Monday at approximately 2 a.m., my waters broke (I...
Feb 24
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