Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital has defended its maternity care after a report revealed more than one in five mothers were left alone during labour or shortly after.
The Healthcare Commission study showed 23 per cent of mothers at Dudley Group of Hospitals were not being supervised during or just after giving birth.
But the group’s chief executive Paul Farenden said the report highlighted “good quality maternity care” at Russells Hall.
Since a new unit opened, demand for maternity care in Dudley has increased by 10 per cent, with more and more women selecting Russells Hall Hospital as their hospital of choice. He added that 10 new midwives had been recruited in recent months.
“With women having good access to antenatal classes, clean delivery rooms and women being treated with kindness and understanding, we are encouraged by the findings,” he said.
“We will continue to provide the highest quality maternity care for women, and encourage feedback about our services to enable us to better meet the needs of women using our service,” he said.
Elsewhere Sandwell and Wolverhampton hospital trusts saw 26 per cent of women left alone during or shortly after labour, while in Walsall hospitals the figure was 20 per cent.
5 Comments
My mother in law died in Russels Hall a couple of years ago. The place is trully awful. My family will never forget how she was treated, dreadful place.
When my daughter was born in February this year at Russells Hall I was fortunate to have a very straightforward labour and gave birth within 1 hour of arriving at the hospital.
As I was close to delivery, a midwife was present all the time I was in labour but after my baby was born at 4am and a few things were dealt with, I was left alone from 4.30am. At 5am I called a midwife as I had still not had a wash following delivery. A different Midwife came in and asked if i’d had an epidural. I said no and she pointed to the bathroom and you can use your legs then, and left me alone again - my husband had to help me. I was then left alone until a pedriatician came at 8am and told me we were discharged - 4 hours are the birth of my 1st baby!! I said I didnt want to go yet and the midwife with her said when you do let us know. We decided to leave at 11.30am as i’d had no support whatsoever - no help with breastfeeding etc - and the next time we saw a midwife was when she opened the door for us to leave.
All in all great service from midwife who delivered baby but shocking afterwards - I was left upset by the experience and i’d had a much less traumatic time than most women.
I think that it is a disgrace at Russells Hall…
My son was born there in June and despite developing Pre-eclampsia did not once see her consultant… Instead they kept sending jumped up little registrars who just kept saying that they would monitor her but I didn’t see them checking on her every so often…
The baby was showing signs of distress and all they said was you need to get to 38 weeks before we will induce you…
To be fair the midwife who delivered him was golden and she was the only reason I didn’t make a formal complaint… But soon after the birth she went and handed over to her collague who checked reguraley on them.
one day they offered my wife 1 Cup of tea from when she got up till when she went to bed…
The place is fantastic in terms of look but the service leaves a lot to be desired.
The same can be said for all hospitals and the treatment given to all patients. My mom was sent home with unlabelled medicines, one of which could have killed her if given in the wrong dose.
My grandad who is 87 years of age, was admitted to A & E and left for over 24 hrs on a trolly!! What else can I say - the place is a shambles and doesn’t deserve any praise whats so ever. Something needs to be done up there as if it’s that bad now god knows how it will be in 10 years time!!!!