If you ran the Lourdes Maternity Unit……

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  • #1846
    TracyDonegan
    Member

    How would you improve it ?

    The Lourdes Maternity Consumer group ‘Birth Matters’ wants to hear from you !

    Here’s an opportunity to meet with midwives, consultants, hospital managers and other consumers who are working together to improve maternity services in OLOL for you.

    Meetings are held quarterly and there are several subgroups that need additional consumer representation.

    Come along to the first Birth Matters AGM at OLOL on November 28 at 8pm and hear about the great work completed by mums and midwives in 2007 and the exciting plans for 2008.

    Please feel free to email me at TracyDonegan@DoulaIreland.com if you’re interested in getting involved.

    Tracy Donegan
    Chairperson of Our Lady of Lourdes Birth Matters Consumer Group

    #47102
    Taylor5
    Member

    Hi there Tracy
    Sounds like a great idea and can only work as a positive thing.
    Im busy on the 28th, but if you dont mind I’d like to raise an issue…

    I had a mc a few weeks ago, I had to attend the early pregnancy unit will bleeding then again a week later to get scanned again, while sitting to get my scan at the EPU I knew in my head my baby was dead, and I was right. I had to attend the unit a few times over the following weeks, my issue is that you have pregnant women with big bumps and all happy smilie faces waiting in the same q, also where you sit losing your baby you have all the mammies and daddies getting discharged with their bundles of joy.
    I know the hospital is very small, but to have women who are bleeding and losing babies looking at all these newborns being carried by your face is heartbreaking….. I was asked twice by woman in the q how long are you gone etc… It wasnt nice at all, but the doctors and nurses were top class. But do think the waiting area for this clinic should be moved

    #47127
    rossylisa
    Member

    oh i totaly agree with you taylor when i was there a lady in the next bed to me was pregant and she had a few complications to but she was pregnant and i had lost mine 😥 and in the waiting area in the epu i met a neighbour who was saying hello to me and i tried to ignore her but then i was wheeled passed her in a wheelchair… i know the hosp isnt only for pregant ladies but it was heart breaking 😥

    #47141
    Taylor5
    Member

    I was meaning to send a text to an old neighbour who was getting discharged after having a new baby, he said to dh "fairplay to you going again" Dh just say yes as it didnt want to 😳 him, we knew the baby was dead at this stage…
    I keep saying I should text them as I dont want to bump into them without them knowing as it could be very 😳

    #47200
    bunnacurry
    Member

    Alot of the probelms with the maternity and labour wards are they are short of resources, especially staff. The nurses and midwves are brilliant but they don’t have enough time to spend with the patients and mothers. New mothers with their first child are told at their ante natal classes that they will spend 3 days in hopsital after a normal birth and 5 days if its a c section. The reality is completely different. Many are released after the second day because there other women waiting for the beds. This seems to occur at certain times of the year, – Christmas, new year, easter, bank holiday weekends when there is a push by the administration to discharge as many women as possible whether they are ready or not because they won’t have the staff to cope during these times. Procedures are overlooked. I gave birth to my daughter late afternoon on 28 December and I was told I would be released on 31 December which was a Sunday because I was breast feeding and it was thought hat my baby had slight jaundice. The jaundice seemed to get worse however I was discharged by the doctor on the 30 December even though I brought it to his attention. Even as I was leaving the hospital, the midwife thought she was very yellow but nothing was done. They just wanted to get rid of me. Two days later after going through my GP and casuality, she was admitted to the intensive care unit inthe infants section. She was in a very serious condition. The consultant in charge there was excellent and when she heard what had happened wouldn’t let my daughter go until she was assured nothing was wrong. She was in hospital for 8 days. All of this could have bee avoided if they weren’t in such a rush to get me out before ew years eve. All they had to do was put her under the photosensitive lights befor ewe left and all of this could have been avoided. However when resources and staff are not available at these times, certain things are overlooked and hoped that it will go away. I have spoken to many women who gave birht to their first child over that weekend and they were not happy with thelevel of care over that weekend, with many returning to the hospital afterwards due to complications.

    I cannot fault the labour ward and the mi wives there, because I found them to be excellent and I found the facilties compared to other hopsitals excellent. The one are that needs to be improved is the maternity ward and what happens to mothers and babies after the birth.

    #47232
    noeleenw
    Member

    i agree totally that it is not a nice experience to be left sitting in the corridor watching people going by with their new babies etc , when you dont know if your bump is ok , surely there must be a little room some where that we could sit in

    #47309
    rossylisa
    Member

    bunnacurry when i had my dd i was kicked out withing 24hrs that was in Hollis Street .. i was only 20 and hadnt got a clue when i got home i was trying to speak and i new what i was saying in my head but it came out all jumbled up i ended going to my doc on the 2 nd day beccause i got an infection so it isnt only the Lourdes 🙄

    but when i was in the lourdes the doctors and nurses where brilliant couldnt fault them at all .they where there anytime you needed them and where always checking on you this was when the nurse strike where on

    #47385
    chipbutty
    Member

    i agree when i went into labour they sent me up to a ward as i was only 2 c d with woman who just had misgarages, i went into labour there and was rushed down to the labour ward by 3 mid wifes

    #47393
    Yvonne
    Member

    I found most of the staff great in the Lourdes when I had E – my only complaint was that when I rang the nurses bell during the night – it could take them 20 minutes to come to me and that is just too long, but again it is all down to shortage of staff.

    #47406
    ed1
    Participant

    i have to agree with taylor, i have no experience of mc but a friend of mine was in a ward with a lady who was in for morning sickness and my friend was having a miscarrige. it is wrong for both situations.

    my experience was when i was brought in to be started. i was in a ward with a lot of young girls on their first pregnancies who were in for bad morning sickness. i was in early stages of labour and was breathing through the pain. one of the young girls was looking at me with fear in her eyes. she said she didnt like watching me in labour as it was scaring her. there should be rooms for people suffering miscarraiges, for people in with morning sickness and for people in to be started.

    #47409
    Gismo
    Member

    I have to agree ed1. I was preggers on my little man and was taken in for the stretching of an appendix scar inside they just wanted to monitor me. So a woman who was in labour with her second child was taken in beside me and it really scared the hell out of me listening to her moaning in pain. It was a horrible experience and it made me nervous of the birth but apart from that all went well.

    #47675
    TracyDonegan
    Member

    Thanks everyone for your input. Taylor I’m very sorry for your loss. I totally agree that something needs to be done to improve the experience for mums who are miscarrying. It’s such a traumatic time and there needs to be more sensitivity towards those mums. Space and resources are huge problems in all of the hospitals but I will definitely raise this issue with the staff at the AGM.

    Please let your friends and family members know that we are recruiting consumers for this important initiative so we can improve things not just for the immediate futurebut for our daughters who will be using the service in years to come. 🙂

    Tracy

    #47677
    Taylor5
    Member

    Tracy dont get me wrong I cant fault the OLOL, dont think the birth of ds would have turned out a positive if I was any other hospital. I do think the OLOL is a wonderful hospital but I feel at times its the wiping boy for the Media and HSE…
    Just on another note, I did find the food a bit yuck 😳 but Im sure you heard that a thousand times. The staff who deliver the food are very rude (well one woman was) she would feck the food at you and she pulled the tray thing up after I asked her not to, this wacked off the cot that ds was in…. I wasnt very happy with her as she was very rude and pushy.

    #47711

    Ladies,

    Please do consider attending Birth Matters – we really need you!

    As women, mothers and consumers your opinions, ideas and inputare EXTREMELY important. This is a real chance to have your voice heard by the people who can really help to make maternity care in the Lourdes even more mother-friendly.

    There are a variety of sub-groups working on a whole host of issues..many of which have been brought up on this thread.

    Would love to see some fresh faces at the meeting on the 28th. 😀
    If anyone needs a lift, PM me

    Jene

    #47736
    Taylor5
    Member

    Jene where is the meeting on the 28th and what time?

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