Sharon Willoughby said she lost so much blood she needed a transfusion A Nottinghamshire couple have claimed their calls for help went unanswered for 15 minutes after their daughter was born in a hospital toilet.
Sharon Willoughby and Richard Sum, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, went to King's Mill Hospital in November for an induction.
They claim signs of labour were ignored and they carried the child, still attached by the cord, from the ensuite toilet to bed before staff responded.
The hospital said it was investigating the complaint.
Ms Willoughby said she felt staff and midwives were not listening when she said her pain was increasing.
"It was very frightening, horrible," she said. "I don't know if they were bored with the job but they did not take any notice.
"They were cold, so it was already not a nice experience at all."
While there were no staff in attendance, Ms Willoughby went to the ensuite toilet where she started giving birth.
Sharon Willoughby“We were told they thought I was calling for a cup of tea”
Mr Sum described the next few minutes as "traumatic".
"We were there for 15 minutes, holding the baby, pulling the alarm, with nothing happening.
"We thought someone would come straightaway as soon as we pulled it but we just waited.
"Eventually we had to shuffle to the main room to wrap her up before I could go and get help."
Ms Willoughby added: "She was still attached with Richard holding her, it was slow progress.
"We didn't know what was happening, no one was coming. We were afterwards told they thought I was calling for a cup of tea."
Ms Willoughby said she lost so much blood during the birth she needed a transfusion.
Alison Greenwood, Acting Head of Midwifery and Gynaecological Nursing at King's Mill Hospital, said: "We are sorry that Mr Sum is unhappy with our care of his partner.
"We recently received results from the Care Quality Commission's 2010 survey of maternity services, which put us in the top 20% of NHS Trusts in England in 12 out of 19 areas.
"However, we are not complacent and always take our patients' concerns very seriously."
Senior Midwife at King's Mill, Maria Curtis, said: "I have apologised to the family that on this occasion we did not meet their expectations.
"We will continue to talk to the family until the issues are resolved but cannot comment further on this individual case."
The hospital confirmed alarms and buzzers were working properly at the time but would not say why no-one answered the couple's calls.
Hospital bosses were said to be looking at leaving fire doors open more often so calls for help could be heard.
Baby Felicity is doing well at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment