Milton Keynes Hospital scares me!

Thanks heather91..wow that does sound like a horrible experience! I hard similar experiencs from friends too. Have booked a visit to luton dunstable for wed...n hopefully it goes well n i pick that. Thanks again for responding...
 
Thanks heather91..wow that does sound like a horrible experience! I hard similar experiencs from friends too. Have booked a visit to luton dunstable for wed...n hopefully it goes well n i pick that. Thanks again for responding...

Hey, sorry to drag this again. That story doesn't sound great, BUT I just cannot see how you can blame staff for that? Unfortunately the labour is so unpredictable, and all of us want a quick labour, with minimum pain, and no complications. But it's your body (not midwifes) decides how the labour is going to go, and if you are not dilating at the rate you should be, then you will be given a drug to speed it up - which makes the labour very painful! You simply cannot predict what is going to happen. It's good that you have clear ideas about pain relief options, but it's also good to have an open mind. You may dilate to 9 cm so quickly that you will be too late to have epidural (which happened to me and I really wanted to have an epidural), or you may be dilating very slowly and you cannot have epidural until you are 3 cm dilated (established labour).

Obviously you have done so much research, and some hospitals are better than others, and it's good that you can make an informed decision where you are comfortable to have your baby. I hope you will have a good (as good as it can be! :) ) experience in whichever hospital you choose!
 
i do think the hospital can make all the difference, but i do also agree that it really boils down to yoru body.

The hospital i delivered my son in didnt have the best rep, i wasnt meant to deliver their but had to be transfered from my birth centre as my son was blocking the canal with his arms, making it slower and more painful.

The MWs at the hospital labour were horrible, they said i couldnt have an epi until i was 6cms, i was alreday 3, one gave me pethidine but once it ran out i kept buzzing and no one came, my OH found someone twice who said they would come back and never did.

I evtually got to 6cm, my waters burst and i had myconium in my waters, she said i should stop moaning about a epi and worry about my baby.

I didnt get an epi until i was 8cm, and it didnt work anyway for me, my delivery nurse was fantastic until after i delivered and she disappeared.

afterwards no one bothered, they woke me every two hours to feed but didnt tell me how, i asked and buzzed for help loads and no one came.

So my experince could have been so much better if the staff had been better, but ulitmatly it was my body and son who were making the complications.

If i had had an epi earlier on, i think i would have been able to relax much more (if it worked) and maybe not of had such a difficult time. but who knows?
 
I’m writing on the behalf of Milton Keynes Hospital. In comments posted here, there are some significant misunderstandings about our maternity unit and also the training of midwives. It is concerning for us to see that women are worried, especially if their fears are based on inaccurate information.
The hospital’s maternity unit was closely looked into by both the Care Quality Commission and Milton Keynes Council. Earlier this year, both organisations declared themselves satisfied that the hospital was offering safe care. This follows a major improvement programme, which has included the recruitment of more than 40 midwives and the guarantee of one-to-one care for all women in established labour. Local mums having their babies here are very happy with the service we offer, demonstrated by the fact satisfaction rates were at 97% in our monthly audits on care and support in labour.
Milton Keynes Hospital is keen to be open as possible with women, so please get in touch with us if you would like to talk anything through with our maternity team. We would also be happy to arrange tours of the unit for any women who would find this helpful.
Please feel free to contact us on 01908 243155.

Kind regards.
 
Unfortunately i think the reputation of the place far outweighs any tours that can be offered, i really do not think there will be any amount of reassurance that will make a large number of women *choose* to birth here if there is any alternative
 
MKHospital -> Thanks for taking time to respond to the concerns.

I will respond in 2 sections:

1) Experience - however cosmetic, still essential and speaks a lot to me about how the MK program takes itself and sees itself as a service provider.

2) Medical - The most important one. Period!

Experience
------------

I did take a tour. We did see the room no 1, maternity ward 9,10. We did not see the neo-natal unit nor did we hear anything about it. It was a quick 20 min tour, covering the very very basic.

But I have to say this tour nor what I saw gave me any reassurance I was looking for.

Room no 1, was very small, to be fair the tour guide did say that is the smallest room, but still if I have to give birth in that room I will be more distressed than ever. I didnt undestand how l long I will be in that room ( not elaborated in the tour) but

1) There was no storage space to speak for.
2) The bed side chest was chipped all over and I've can buy better ones from a car boot sale.
3) For the 2 visitors, there is 1 chair and 1 stool. How could they relax in between all the drama.
4) I am a big girl and this room is not even comfortable for a petite women at her time of distress, let alone comfort me.

More distressing was the 4 bays of 6 beds each. Imagine the smallest space smallest space to put 6 beds, 6 cribs and 6 chairs. Thats it. The mother in the middle just has to stretch her hands a bit to touch the poor father cramped next to the mother on the right. It was really very very sad! There is a curtain, and if you close you will feel as if you are in a shower cubicle with your husband and baby and soon run out of oxygen!

May be I am expecting too much! I dont know! But after seeing the birthing suites in US and India and in other places in UK, I am seriously depressed at what I am seeing in MK hospital. Agreed that both the former are private, but other UK hospitals seems to provide a better experience than this.


Medical
---------
All the fear I have listed in my original post stems from a personal accounts from dear friends or acquantiance who I think is no different to me, has/had the same level of exposure and expectation out of pregnancy. Some are better off than me w.r.t to pain tolerance and general courage. The rest are from the newspaper. ( Enough of bashing the sensationalist media! I do take offense when they are sensationalist abt junk celebrities, but abt medical things, I appreciate and call it raising awarness! ) I would disagree that there is any inaccurate information leading to my misunderstanding. I agree not all information is equal, but they are information which raise awarness in us nonethless.

I understand there are protocols for everything, but how do I know what they are and if they are followed to a T? How do I know if nothing is published and available for general public for the ones that care for such a thing? Its all well and good to say we follow protocol, but what are they?
Even with protocols, can you honestly say that things like the following never happens? I can assure you that the following are personal accounts from ladies who gave birth in MK, not from media, not from different counties. Are these acceptable protocols?

1) Denying epidural until too late and then saying its too late! Unacceptable!
Where is the choice for the women?
How can an anesthetist not be available for 6 hours?

2) Sending women back home in pain. Forcing partners to go back home. Your midwives are busy and wont come after repeated requesting, pleading, hollering. Why traumatise the poor women by sending the one person she can depend on home? Some women are lucky but some women take time to get into established labour to get one-on-one care from your midwife. Its not the womens fault. Neither is it yours. But why deny her the husbands/partners presence or pain medication? Where is the choice for the pregnant women?

3) Intimidating women by saying she needs to focus on the baby, talking rough, ignoring repeated calls. Behaving as if you are doing a favor and not doing your job and generally creating an unpleasant environment in the area. Unacceptable! You are in the position of our trust and respect! We are at our most vulnerable! Where is the care if the poor mother and family feel ignored and hapless and talked down?

4) The tour didnt speak in terms of care, but in only in terms of "check in when u are REALLY dilated" and "checkout on 0 + 1 day !" not even a courtesy "just come by if you are not sure", or "you and your baby are important to us", or a "better safe than sorry". I know you are busy. So is everyone. But this is certainly not comforting to a first time mom.

5) Every other week there is a story in media abt poor care. Agreed that most a few months old, but still its scary and neither the tour nor the midwife I see is generally able to help alleviate the worried mind.

You may say that 97% of women are satisfied but how is that in my personal interviews barely 30% of the women say they are sufficiently satisfied and the rest 70% have only horror stories?

I have no problems accepting that I may have some different notions of what to expect becuase of my worldly exposure and most MK women are happy with what they get, but still I am voicing my concerns and giving my feedback becuase I geniunley beleive that this is not the world class care one expects from a fast growing city like MK in a developed country like UK. At best the wards are of standard in goverment hospital in better developed of the developing countries like Srilanka or Bangladesh or countries in Africa.

On reading this post back I realise that I am not putting forth a very strong medical case, but I am not a professional at this but just a conerned first time preg. mother and will be glad if some of this feedback is found valuable and useful.

I am going to continue taking tours of the other hospitals and hopefully they are better than MK or atleast help me better understand and adjust my expectation of the reality of maternity services in UK.
 
I was told by my midwife that I cannot explicitly request for no student midwives or student doctors attending to me in MK. Is this true? I have read somewhere we can request these things and they will be heeded?

I understand they need to train and learn as well, but not on me. Thank You! There are medical simulation dummies or other courageous mothers for that! I am probably going to be traumatised by the whole experience anyway only to be "checked" and "rechecked" and then "rechecked" by a range of people at different levels of experience! It hurts just to have a transvaginal scan and use a virgin speculum in slow motion!

Hmm! I am in for a mega showdown at delivery aren't I?
 
Here is the care commission report for MK published in Feb 2011 which states 95% satisfication and 1 risk of infection identified. Page 8 is interesting!

https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk/_d...ospital_NHS_Foundation_Trust_RoC_20110222.pdf
 
Comparision of MK w.r.t to other hospitals !

Note that "Staff during labour" is WORSE.

https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk//c...t_view_1&cit_id=RD8&element=SURVEY&zone=MAT10

Also click on the "staff during labour" and you will get this detailed section, which has
Confidence and trust - WORSE
Partners and companions made to feel welcome - WORSE
clear communication -WORSE
overall care - WORSE

being left alone - abt the same
involvement in decisions - abt the same

https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk/ca...element=SURVEY-CHILD&zone=MAT10&subset=503953

Look at the expected range in Teal color for this trust and where they are :

https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk/ca...3&element=SURVEY-CHILD&zone=MAT10&view_mode=2

Inpatient care -> Question abt nurses
https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk/ca...&element=SURVEY-CHILD&zone=MAIN&subset=509843
 
Luton and Dunstable ->
https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk//c...t_view_1&cit_id=RC9&element=SURVEY&zone=MAT10


Stoke Mandeville ->
https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk//c...t_view_1&cit_id=RXQ&element=SURVEY&zone=MAT10

Oxford Radcliffe ->
https://caredirectory.cqc.org.uk//c...t_view_1&cit_id=RTH&element=SURVEY&zone=MAT10
 
https://www.babyandbump.com/pregnan...ton-keynes-hospital-alright.html#post12302454

My post after visiting MK hospital after developing Gestational Diabetes and a ADAU visit for reduced fetal movement.
 
Loraleilana, you can refuse a student DR or Midwife in ANY hospital. They cannot make you. I know as I've done midwifery training and sometimes ladies said no students so we just worked with other qualified staff that way, so don't let that worry you.

I just wanted to point out tho, in terms of your comments about midwives, midwives do a uni degree in highly specialised care and are every bit as competant and highly trained as nurses, an old village lady these days would probably be arrested if she attempted to practice as a midwife unqualified. Of course there are staff in all fields that are incompetant and in my opinions midwives like that should all be struck off but the majority of midwives are great and many problems arise from under staffing and over packed wards, things like that.

I dong know what to say about mk hospital tho, and the one 45 mins away may be too far in the throes of labour :/
 
Hi All,

I dont normally comment on posts i just tend to surf through but i wondered if it might help if i shared my experience with you. I had my son in MK hospital 3 years ago next week (so when teh hospital was apparently at its worst) and i really cannot fault the care i got. I was actually very sick and had pre eclampsia and from the second i walked in when i had already beenin labour for over 15 hours and had only reached 3cm dialated the midwifes never leaft my side, actually they did for 5 minutes but that was more my husbands fault as he couldnt find the loo :0 ) lol. I was constantly monitored as was the baby and everything they were doing was explained to me. When it came time to make a decision of what to do (i never actually got further than 3cm) i was told/explained fully to that i would probably need a C-section so to help me with pain relief and to get some much needed rest the best thing they could do for me was to have an Epi. I had this within 20mins of the dicussion and then left to rest again the midwife didnt leave me. After the section i was left in labour ward as it wasnt busy and because i was so tied and couldnt get my son to latch on to feed the midwife helped me with my son, sat with me and let me get some very very much needed sleep for an hour or so...I was also in hospital for 8 days after my section for my blood pressure to be monitored and again had all the help i needed/if i needed it but if not they left me alone which i personally needed, but i did get pain meds when i shoudl have and advise when i should have. Im not young, im not old so there was no reason for special treatment. I honestly just think if you have an open mind and are not overly expectant then the care is above average. Any way sorry i know that was a long read but i thought it was good to see both sides. :0 ) Thanks

ps: I am 20 weeks with my second and have no concerns with having him or her in MK and again all the midwifes/consultants o have seen have been fine and very informative and they are also very quick to reasure on the new one on one care policy now in MK even on standard/normal no issues births - they are not aloud to leave you and now only have one person in labour at a time, so again i hope that helps im jsut sorry you dont seem to have had anyone reasure you xx
 
thanks for your input Teddy2 it's nice to see people have some nice experiences at milton keynes rather then sharing only the bad ones xx
 
Personally I wouldnt go to MK hospital either :nope: negligence can/does happen anywhere and babies die, but it seems too frequent there :cry: x

Try reading about other units then compare statistics accurately. I think the clue is in the use of your word seem, if you live near there all you read about is local stuff.
:baby:
 
people are entitled to their opinion on what is an awful hospital - this opinion is held by a majority so you joining just to offensively try and defend it is NOT going to work so better to go sprout the nonsense somewhere where people care!
 
Our son was born at MK General Hospital in February and I, like you was a worried about it after all the stuff I had read in our local newspaper.

I can honestly say that the staff on the labour ward couldn't have been better. The midwife that delivered our baby was fantastic, so helpful and tbh I couldn't have wished for anyone more skilled and knowledgable - she really helped put me at ease and I managed to deliver Jack with only gas and air which I NEVER thought I would be able to do.

My birth was very quick and when we went in they got us into a room very speedily and even moved us to a better room when it became available.

We did have to stay in for a week as Jack was a month early and developed Jaundice. My experience of the post-natal ward was great during the daytime however I would say I didn't like the night times at all but I think thats the case with most people who have to stay in overnight on maternity wards.

Personally even if I had wanted to go to Northampton, Bedford or Stoke Mandeville there wouldn't have been time and I dread to think what might've happened if we had made that decision! If/when we have another I will go back to MKGH although I am considering a home birth next time.

I hope that has helped a bit :)
 

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