tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3340170275761793017.post44097558508190569..comments2022-12-11T11:12:37.323+00:00Comments on Clare's diary: Lewisham hospital maternity servicesClare Griffithshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13851313189672481904noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3340170275761793017.post-10060428913031208552007-12-13T18:15:00.000+00:002007-12-13T18:15:00.000+00:00Thanks anon. That's interesting. I don't approve o...Thanks anon. That's interesting. I don't approve of the current policy of centralising services on fewer sites. In the end it means more hassle for patients (for example visiting James in SCBU would have been much more stressful had the service been in Woolwich or Bromley) and allows the hospitals to conveniently sidestep the issue. We are not talking something that would require a huge investment of money to improve the maternity services at Lewisham - we are talking about such basics as the attitude of the staff to women who are potentially at a very vulnerable time in their lives. Changing the way the staff treat their patients shouldn't cost a penny.Clare Griffithshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13851313189672481904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3340170275761793017.post-70925165277665615862007-12-13T09:31:00.000+00:002007-12-13T09:31:00.000+00:00You may find an article in the Dec 12 issue of The...You may find an article in the Dec 12 issue of The Mercury (Page 4)od interest.<BR/><BR/>Professor Sir George Alberti (a government adviser) says the Accident & Emergency department and acute treatment units at Lewisham hospital should be axed within 5 years.<BR/><BR/>That the specialist children's services and doctor-led childbirth unit should be moved and concentrated at Queen Elizabeth, Woolwich and the Princess Royal University Hospital, Bromley "sooner rather than later."<BR/><BR/>Sir George, who chairs the National Clinical Advisory Team, said changes were needed as there were not enough experienced consultants to offer affordable, safe and high quality specialist services around the clock at all A&E and acute units in the region.<BR/><BR/>Recently the Primary Care Trusts of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley & Bromley were combined together.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3340170275761793017.post-32065821941940762752007-12-07T21:05:00.000+00:002007-12-07T21:05:00.000+00:00Thank you for sharing your story. I think sometime...Thank you for sharing your story. I think sometimes it's easier to write things for complete strangers/the internet than for your friends and family.<BR/><BR/>clareClare Griffithshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13851313189672481904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3340170275761793017.post-30180797681581284432007-12-05T17:09:00.000+00:002007-12-05T17:09:00.000+00:00Clare, my partner and I had a bad experience with ...Clare, my partner and I had a bad experience with Lewisham when our first child was born, and then a really, really terrible experience with them when we experienced a miscarriage, so that even when we are walking distance from Lewisham we had our second baby at Kings, which was not perfect but a million miles better. <BR/><BR/>We saw lots of members of staff at Lewisham over our visits, and some of them (three stand out for me) were absolutely wonderful. Far more treated us with absolutely no respect. The norm was probably a weary, bored lack of interest in us. <BR/><BR/>Our experiences ranged from a cleaner pulling out the plug on a monitoring machine, which we told two other people about and waited half an hour before it was plugged back in and reset, to waiting well over half an hour to see a triage nurse in casualty as my partner bled profusely onto their plastic chairs, to them forgetting to use anti-biotics during an operation that required one. Some of their policies around miscarriage are completely off nationally recognised correct practise. The gyny ward was woefully undertaffed, and seeing an actual doctor was really hard to do (seeing a doctor more senior than a SHO was actually impossible). <BR/><BR/>Despite hearing other parents' similar experiences, I had always imagined that this anecdotal accumulation did not add up to evidence, so I am glad that you drew my attention to the results!<BR/><BR/>(Didn't mean to reveal all this to a complete stranger, but I guess I will.)bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15439386754907203808noreply@blogger.com