Royal Sussex County Maternity Unit - Argus Stories

[Guinness Boy]

Have been off NSC for a week or so not due to a flounce but due to my Mrs finally giving birth to a beautiful baby boy and soon to be junior seagull!

The build up was nervy as it was our first and not helped by the big splash on the Argus a couple of weeks back about a couple's "nightmare" experience.

Well I have to say that either that couple were extremely unlucky or the RSCH have already taken measures to address the concerns. We had a similar time span (missus induced for 2 days running as bub didn't want to join us).

She was moved only once and we were told about it well in advance. The area was clean and she was monitored once an hour by friendly staff. In fact the only 2 complaints would be the food (Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Ainsley combined wouldn't be able to sort it) and one BP machine that wasn't working (though the staff recognised it and changed in within 10 mins).

Once she went in to labour the staff were with us constantly and the delivery was as smooth as possible. What's more, again contrary to the Argus reports, we were not turfed out within 6 hours despite the wards being very busy - in fact we were given a choice.

At all times the staff were friendly, attentive and efficient. Considering they do such a tough job with relatively low pay that is truly amazing. I wish that the people responsible for the articles would think about their morale and the fact that these stories could actually encourage staff to leave instead of join the midwifery profession.

Perhaps the biggest joke of all (and consider this next time you see an anti Falmer letter) was the follow up letter from a woman in the Argus who claimed she had been taken in at 45 weeks and left while her waters broke for 5 hours. IMPOSSIBLE!! Any medical pro in Brighton & Hove will book you in to be induced at term (40 weeks) plus 10 days - at 45 weeks the placenta is almost impossibly degraded. Perhaps this woman had a possible 2 fathers and had to doctor her dates

Anyway apologies for the rant but it made me so angry to see the hurt caused to people who did nothing for 4 days but look after me, my wife and baby. If you are intending to have a baby in Brighton please don't let the stories put you off. Meantime I have reinstated my Argus boycott.

 

[Franks Wild Years]

Congratulations on the arrival of Baby Seagull

 

[Man of Harveys]

Hey, good stuff - many congrats all round.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Congratulations!!!!

Send that post in to the argus letters page!!!

 

[tedebear]

Well done to you and your Mrs! congratulation and I hope you're all home safe and well and finding your feet!

Even though I was at Worthing, I also had some lovely people helping me out when Arthur was born too. Not a complaint to think of! Some times I think that the people who complain are just those types who complain about everything....Its a hospital not a 5 star hotel!!

Welcome to the world little Guiness Boy!!

 

[Slowhand]

We have 3 children all born in the maternity unit and everyone there was fantastic.

Mind you it was over 20 years ago but I can't believe the staff will be any less than superb.

 

[B.M.F]

Congrats on the new born boy mate

 

[Shegull]

Congrats - pics.............

 

[Wardy]

Well done mate, all the best to you, your wife and the new addition.

 

[Gwylan]

Many congrats on your baby boy; glad it all went well.

I won't hear a word against nursing staff: my mum was a nurse at Brighton hospitals for many years and I know how hard she worked.

 

[Mrs Coach]

It depends on how many staff are stick - what budget constraints are on them etc.....

I had two of the three lil' Coach's at Brighton, and I'm afraid it was the same sad story - not enough staff to cope, no anethatii.... aneeth... - people who bring you the nice drugs!! There was blood left on the floor, used needles left in the room etc. Not because of neglect, but because the poor staff were run off their feet. I got out and home as soon as I possibly could.

Lil' Coach no. 3 was born at home and I'm pleased to say the experience was very different. Eating cheese and ham toasties watching Jerry Springer at noon with the midwife, and out he flew at 2pm! No problems and I got a lovely cup of tea within minutes!

I'd recommend home births to anyone who hasn't had pregnancy complications and isn't overdue. It's much much better - it can be hit and miss at Brighton, and that isn't the staff's fault in most shifts.

Mrs C.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Thanks all for the congrats

It depends on how many staff are stick - what budget constraints are on them etc.....

I had two of the three lil' Coach's at Brighton, and I'm afraid it was the same sad story - not enough staff to cope, no anethatii.... aneeth... - people who bring you the nice drugs!! There was blood left on the floor, used needles left in the room etc. Not because of neglect, but because the poor staff were run off their feet. I got out and home as soon as I possibly could.

It's a tough one isn't it. I have no doubt the couple who started off the story had a similar experience as you and it is definately due to staff shortages. The problem is I worry that the actual effect of such publicity is to scare mums to be and demoralize the staff who are trying so hard, so even if the intention is to get them better funded and staffed in the end even more people might leave.

The Argus won't sell papers by printing a story that says 'everything OK at hospital'. We're going to write a praise letter to Carol Drummond, the midwives boss instead. What gets me with the Argus is the number of factually incorrect letters they print without correction. We know about Falmer but it seems it covers other subjects.

 

[surrey jim]

Many congrats onthe lil un; glad it all went well.

 

[Starry]

Congratulations!

But that is sad if every medical professional in Brighton forces induction at 40wk +10

I'm with Mrs Coach. Homebirth is the way forward, we didn't even have the midwife here when Romilly burst into the world.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

congratulations.

Some people's life mission is to complain.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Oh and if we'd had home birth - my wife would still be pushing now.

And that was 17 years ago.

 

[London Irish]

Thanks all for the congrats



It's a tough one isn't it. I have no doubt the couple who started off the story had a similar experience as you and it is definately due to staff shortages. The problem is I worry that the actual effect of such publicity is to scare mums to be and demoralize the staff who are trying so hard, so even if the intention is to get them better funded and staffed in the end even more people might leave.

The Argus won't sell papers by printing a story that says 'everything OK at hospital'. We're going to write a praise letter to Carol Drummond, the midwives boss instead. What gets me with the Argus is the number of factually incorrect letters they print without correction. We know about Falmer but it seems it covers other subjects.

Think you are shooting the messenger really - the Argus are providing a vital public service in publicising the sad experiences of these poor women.

I think people are adult enough to process this information sensibly. Not everyone will have bad experiences, but it's bad enough that even a few have.

My own experience is that our treatment was first class about 4 years ago. Now we are due to go back in January, in fact I'm heading up to an ante-natal class there on Monday.

I'm hoping we will get the same high standard of care that we did last time. But I'm very pleased a watchdog voice like the Argus has put the hospital on notice that people are watching if they don't provide the staffing levels required

 

[Guinness Boy]

Think you are shooting the messenger really - the Argus are providing a vital public service in publicising the sad experiences of these poor women.

I think people are adult enough to process this information sensibly. Not everyone will have bad experiences, but it's bad enough that even a few have.

My own experience is that our treatment was first class about 4 years ago. Now we are due to go back in January, in fact I'm heading up to an ante-natal class there on Monday.

I'm hoping we will get the same high standard of care that we did last time. But I'm very pleased a watchdog voice like the Argus has put the hospital on notice that people are watching if they don't provide the staffing levels required

Talking to the midwives and nurses the effect of the original story had been to scare first time mothers and demoralise the staff. Imagine if you go to your anti natal class and the whole session was taken up by questions about a story in a paper instead of what the procedures needed to be, how dads can help etc. This is what happened down here.

If the Argus really cared they would be starting a campaign to increase funding and staffing at the RSCH instead of printing unchecked letters and running factually incorrect stories about people being asked to leave hospital after 6 hours (I repeat - we were given the option of exactly when we wanted to leave despite this being several days after the '6 hours' story broke and my wife's delivery was normal).

Anyway LI - good luck for Jan. I'm back to the nappies....

 

[London Irish]

Talking to the midwives and nurses the effect of the original story had been to scare first time mothers and demoralise the staff. Imagine if you go to your anti natal class and the whole session was taken up by questions about a story in a paper instead of what the procedures needed to be, how dads can help etc. This is what happened down here.

If the Argus really cared they would be starting a campaign to increase funding and staffing at the RSCH instead of printing unchecked letters and running factually incorrect stories about people being asked to leave hospital after 6 hours (I repeat - we were given the option of exactly when we wanted to leave despite this being several days after the '6 hours' story broke and my wife's delivery was normal).

Anyway LI - good luck for Jan. I'm back to the nappies....

OK - just to provide some more first-hand experience.

My baby boy was born earlier this week a few weeks early (happily he did hang on just long enough for me to go gloryhunting at West Ham, well done son).

My partner started the first part of labour in her sleep and so we knew we had little time to get over to the RSCH. We did so me driving very quickly (which I could as it was 5am and the roads were thankfully clear). Directed to A&E by the security staff, no problem.

A&E seemed to be asleep. Just one receptionist who couldn't provide us with a wheelchair even though my partner was suffering acute labour pains. She eventually managed to walk the fairly long walk to the maternity tower block, resting every minute when the contraction pains came through.

Got in and we went straight to the birthing room, very nice and capable midwife taking charge. This was about 5.30am. At 6.10am while my partner was pushing for all her life, a slightly surreal moment, a receptionist pokes her head round the curtain to pass on a message that security wants me to move my car, which is parked in an ambulance bay at A&E. Midwife quickly explains there would be no time for that. Ruairí arrives 6.30am - mercifully short labour.

After a bath, my partner and new son get taken down to the maternity ward, the room of 4 beds we are allocated has only one other mother in it, and no other babies (the other mum had hers upstairs on an incubator as it was well premature, although thankfully not life-threatingly so). Facilities seem improved from 4 years ago when we had Erin, TV, phone, email access - and still that lovely view of the pier.

We had feared that we would be victims of the new policy of the NHS to hurry mothers out of hospital straight away. My partner wanted some time to recover from the birth and also get some help with breastfeeding, which had proved a bit of disaster with our first. We got our wish, my partner was allowed to stay two nights with no hassle. She got some excellent assistance with the breastfeeding problem from a student midwife, who stayed with her for one session for two hours.

The standard of cleanliness of both the birthing room, baths and maternity room was very high. The food served was very good.

We eventually left very impressed with the state of the RSCH maternity "experience". If anything, it was even better than the very good experience we had 4 years previously there. Possibly I should write a short letter to the Argus saying this!

Just two riders to add to that.

Firstly, obviously this seems a very quiet part of the year to have babies. We benefited from the fact that demand for the services were low. We will never know if my partner would have been allowed to stay a couple of nights or if the staff were so attentive at other times when demand is high. Tricky thing for hospital bureaucrats to manage you would think.

Secondly, the parking situation at the hospital is utterly farcical, I don't know the ins and outs of the history of this but surely it does not reflect well on hospital management or Brighton council. We were very lucky that we arrived during night-time so we could get in reasonably quickly to the hospital without queueing. When I went during the day at visiting times, there was no parking whatsoever and I just had to drive around aimlessly for ages outside the hospital before spotting a space in the surrounding residential roads, this process would usually take ages.

I was dreading actually having to drive into the hospital to collect partner and new son on their final leaving, and sure enough we became part of a jam that stretched from the full hospital car park through the hospital grounds, past A&E and out onto Eastern Road. It took about 10 minutes for the parking guys to resolve, shifting cars and (non-emergency) ambulances this way and that, into this corner and that corner, finally allowing all those who wanted to drive out of the hospital like me to get out. For a short time, access to A&E was blocked and I dread to think how often that happens and what problems it could potentially cause for ambulances. I'm assuming there must be some plans to sort this?

 

[Yorkie]

Congratulations on your baby boy. Has he got a name yet?