The Southern General

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Southern General Contact details

THE SOUTHERN GENERAL'S VITAL STATISTICS:

* Mothers deemed high risk = over 40, multiple birth, breech birth, more than 3 miscarriages, previous stillbirth, previous c/s, previous postpartum haemorrhage, chronic medical condition, assisted conception, malpresentation, diabetic, Group B Strep carrier, previous obstetric complication eg pre-eclampsia, 3rd degree tear etc

All stats obtained from IMA, Dr Foster birth unit stats 2005, Birth Choice UK& ISD 2005

BELOW ARE SOME MOTHERS' GATHERED EXPERIENCES OF BIRTH AT THE SOUTHERN GENERAL:

From NetMums Website October 2007 Mary says:
Well been for the chat, and it was useless! The doc only read my notes for the 1st time in front of me, didn't really understand how I felt and I was more or less told that blood loss is normal in childbirth. She told me to be positive that I had a forceps delivery, and not a C-Section. Not helpful at all on how they would go about another delivery. So I have came to the conclusion I WON'T go to the SGH again.
Hope you manage better with an explanation.

From NetMums Website October 2007 samia says:
Nov 2006
I had an amazing experience with the labour staff. Even though I was in pains for 4 days and exhausted, the labour nurse assigned to me (PAuline) was great. She had read my birth plan, and knew I wanted a water birth, which I got. I was lucky I had another nurse there for support. I think they were 'quiet' on the ward.
Mind you one of the nurses was very rough, even though she was tiny, she was very harsh with me.
Next time I would go to SGH but if I get a nurse like that I will ask for another. I remember when she gave me my morphine injection, there was no warning, and I had some bleeding from it.
On the whole, the labour staff was great, the MW were lovely too, but the post natal was not good.

From NetMums Website October 2007 Marnie says:
I've had two babies in the Southern and on the whole my experience of labour (though both were difficult) was good and I felt well supported by the midwives in particular, as well as the theatre nurses. However, I found the postpartum experience dreadful both times. A combination of overstretched staff and some really unhelpful (and even unpleasant) midwives on the wards. However, had a great consultant.

From NetMums Website October 2007 Louise says:
I had my son there in 2005. Had long labour as OP baby. Was sent home 3 times, and even attended day care with my tens on! Lovely Midwife there got the consultant straight away and he apologised and put on my note that my waters were to be broken. Once admitted to labour ward the staff were great, ended up with forceps delivery in theatre. Had to be restitched cos a stitch went into my rectum and I lost 4 pints of blood! Recovery staff were fab too. On the general ward the staff didn't bother very much, untill my boy had jaundice and then a lovely MW came and really helped me with his colic cos he wouldn't lie under the UV lamp. I would go back there again, but I am in the process of getting debrief as to why the birth happened the way it did. Labour ward is great tho!!!!

Samantha – PRM + SG

Felt I wanted to get in touch after reading your informative website, as a lot of it really addressed the issues closest to my heart. I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with my first baby, who we found out at the weekend is a boy. I am living in the South Side of Glasgow with my husband & have just transferred my care to the Southern General from the Princess Royal Maternity (PRM). I’ve had a pretty awful pregnancy so far, had hyperemesis morning sickness which resulted in me being admitted to the PRM [personal details edited] times for fluids – something I wasn’t aware I could refuse until it was too late. Apart from the last visit when I insisted I wanted to be in the antenatal ward, I’d been in the gynaecology ward which was deeply unpleasant for me as a pregnant woman.

I decided to change my booked hospital as I wasn’t receiving any support whatsoever from the PRM, despite being advised to see a midwife a fortnight after my booking in visit (13 weeks), I was still waiting at 18 weeks after phoning once a week to try to make an appointment. The final straw for me was when I travelled across the city to see a midwife whilst still suffering from bad sickness then waited for an hour before being told “oh, the midwife has left”.

I haven’t seen a midwife at a routine appointment yet from the Southern, but I was admitted there last week (heavy bleeding, but everything is fine) & my experience has put me right off going into hospital for good.

I was admitted with all the women in labour on Monday night (which was pretty horrible as I thought I was miscarrying) & I have to say I was stunned by what happened to them. When they were admitted into the labour ward they had a chat with a midwife & an internal examination to check they weren’t fully dilated, then if they weren’t, they were put up to the maternity ward & their partners were told to go home. If the partner didn’t want to leave, he was made to sit outside the ward as it wasn’t visiting hours!

None of the ladies had any privacy or support & once they were on the ward, they were left completely alone. All the women who came in around the same time as me (11pm) had to labour alone until someone looked in on us at 10am the next morning! I spoke to one of the ladies on the ward at breakfast & she said often, half of them ended up having to fight pushing until they had been transported to the labour ward. And God knows what you’re supposed to do about your partner if they haven’t sat around outside the ward all night!

I was amazed that was standard procedure, and know that I would be in total pieces if I had to go through more or less the entire labour alone in a ward full of strangers with no support. I’d seen the water pool in one of the labour suites & thought ‘great I can have a water birth afterall’ but if I’m not going to be actually in the room until the last gasp & they don’t allow you to deliver in the water, then it seems a bit pointless to even have it there!

I have an appointment with a community midwife at my GP practice on Thursday, so I’m hoping I get a thumbs up about a home birth from then. I had never considered a home birth with my first because I just don’t feel I’m confident enough to stick by it & not panic the minute the contractions start, but I don’t see that I have an awful lot of choice left. I don’t like being in hospital or under the influence of drugs & I know that if I’m at home I’ll get through the birth with alot less trauma. It’s great to hear from someone like you who is actually positive about home birth & not trying to horror story me!

Samantha contacted me again with an update some weeks later:

Sorry it’s taken a wee while to get back to you, I just needed to get my head together after my appointment with the community midwives last Thursday. I’m still reeling from it all a bit, I’ll tell you a bit more about it & you can see why!

The appointment started completely routine, blood pressure, external examination etc When I refused to have bloods taken for Spina Bifida & the Downs test (for what feels like the 600 th time) they asked why I’d made the appointment at all if I didn’t want the bloods done! I explained I still have hyperemesis at 20 weeks & due to various scares & a complete lack of midwifery care, I just needed some reassurance that everything was OK. The I said something which must have been very naughty indeed. I said a very bad word because the looks on their faces! The bad word was ‘Homebirth’.

As soon as I said it, they both went completely silent & looked at each other. I started to say that I’d really investigated it & one of them held up her hand in the air to silence me & started writing notes. Neither of them spoke until she had finished writing & by the time she stopped I felt SO tense & actually quite sorry for ever bringing it up! All the things I’ve read on forums etc about sticking to your guns & insisting on a home birth just completely disappeared, I just wanted to run away apologising.

Then they spoke to me about the hospital, how brilliant the birthing suites are, how I can have anything I want including ‘the use of a bath as long as you let us know so we can fill it up’ (and you know I’d get there on the night & there’d be no-one trained / someone else in it) & after I’d explained that I don’t want to be left alone like the women I’d experienced on the antenatal ward, they said as long as it was in my birth plan, they’d send me home until I was in established labour so I could be admitted straight to the labour ward upon my return.

They then said, ‘what if you had a bleed or something happened, you just don’t know how your body’s going to react to childbirth’ and then the sentence that ended the appointment for me: ‘anyway, we really don’t do that in this area unless you have a really good reason & you don’t seem to have one’. [This just shows a deep level of ignorance, misunderstanding & bullying surrounding home & normal birth - Jayne]

I tried one last time to contest it & the midwife said ‘If you really want one, you’d have to write to the Head of Midwifery to see if we can do it’. I had to leave before I just cried at them! I got out of the appointment feeling completely shaken up & totally unsure about home birth, when I’d been very positive before now. The chances are I’d have to rely on those midwives during my homebirth, and I just don’t know if I’m willing to put myself through that if they’re going to be so negative about it. I’ve had to fight for every scrap of antenatal care so far in this pregnancy & I just don’t know if I’ve got any fight left in me! I just want to have this baby in a way I feel comfortable & safe & without having to prepare for battle. I can’t think of any way to make this easy on me than to go with the flow & labour at home for as long as possible then have a hospital birth.

Sorry this has been so negative, but as I say, all the fight has been sucked right out of me.

Janine

Janine had an emergency caesarean for her first birth, about a year and a half ago. Looking back through her notes, even Janine's consultant at the Southern General (where baby number 1 was born) was unsure as to why this caesarean even happened. Janine, pregnant again, was determined to have a home water birth this time around. However, her consultant insisted that these plans were "undoubtedly putting your baby's life in danger". Midwives at the SG were similarly unsupportive. Janine engaged in a lengthy battle to transfer her care to a different health trust and, after months of fighting, did manage to have a home water birth outwith the Glasgow system. [Please note that Glasgow has no policy or guidelines on Vaginal Birth After Caesarean (VBAC) which is actually statistically safer for you & your baby than undergoing an elective caesarean. Unfortunately women in Glasgow are advised that once a caesarean, always a caesarean - hence the lack of guidelines. Shocking - Jayne.]

Catherine

Catherine was 'overdue', and was starting to feel under pressure to be induced. The midwife at the day unit was actually very nice and supported Catherine’s wishes (ie. Not to have a "sweep" or be induced, although she had to go away and discuss it with the consultant first). Catherine asked why women are given advice to be induced & the answer was "well, most women just want the baby out by that time". When Catherine went into labour (term + 16) she phoned the hospital and the midwife nearly had a fit and said "why have you been allowed to go that long?".

When Catherine got to the hospital, the midwife initially said that one of her 2 birth partners could not stay – the only one permitted to be at the birth was her husband. It wasn't until Catherine said under no circumstances would she stay unless both her birth partners were in attendance that the midwife changed her mind. When she sat Catherine on the bed in the "assessment" room (which was pretty dismal with blood on the floor!), the first thing the midwife said was "and how long were you going to wait until this baby came out? Don't you realise you are putting the baby at risk?". [This midwife is obviously ignorant of the real 'risks' of being overdue - see also my page on interventions & inductions - Jayne] When Catherine asked why, she was told that the placenta would be deficient. Catherine then said her baby was fine but the midwife repeated "do you realise you are putting the baby at risk?" Catherine stated that she was happy to wait until nature took its course, the midwife said "well, we get very twitchy about these things."

Two hours later, she was examined, not determined to be in "active" labour as she was only 2cm dilated, and told "you're better off at home, because we're too busy!" When it was pointed out by one of the birth attendants that Catherine was having contractions every minute & that perhaps going home was not the best idea, the midwife replied “you can stay if you want, but we’re very busy and you'd be as well going home”!

Catherine went home. Her baby was born unattended two hours later. There was no midwife in attendance because they couldn’t get there quick enough. An Ambulance arrived as the baby was just coming out – the paramedics told her that "this is the 8th birth we've been to in the last two weeks in your area where the mother has been sent home in labour from the Southern!". The Southern General are very lucky that Catherine had a normal uncomplicated birth.

Sarah

Overall I had fantastic care from all at S.G., although I had to push for a few exceptions to their 'rules'. I have 3 points to make:

1. I was able to book a home waterbirth with no problems whatsoever, and was supported in my birthing choices once I was in receipt of care from the wonderful community midwifery team.

2. I was term + 20 before going into labour, and I received a lot of pressure to have a membrane sweep / syntocinon from daycare, which seemed like a factory line for inductions. However, insisting on a natural start to my labour, they left me to it after consulting with the supportive community team responsible for my care.

3. My waters broke before my labour had started and I had no contractions, knowing that WHO and NICE guidelines state that 96 hours are an acceptable time to wait for the onset of labour after waters breaking, I felt well informed, but ready for a fight to wait for natural labour rather than induction. I was informed that S.G. policy was only to wait 18 hours!! After quite a bit of negotiation with a wonderful senior midwife and obstetrician I managed to delay induction for 51 hours, and only accepted induction when it looked like things were not right (I ended up with emergency c-section as baby was in wrong position and would not engage at 8cm dilation and after 8 hours of hard labour).

To summarise, my experience of S.G. - be well informed, and you will be able to get / negotiate the labour you want.

[At last a positive account of birth at the SG - however, why should anyone have to 'negotiate' to get the labour they want? It is their body, their baby & is entirely up to them to birth how they want - Jayne].

Paula

Have you SEEN the labour ward at the Southern? I wouldn’t keep a hostage in it, let alone give birth there.

[Having seen the state of the labour wards at the SG I genuinely feel truly sorry for any woman who has to give birth there & indeed for the staff who have to work in such horrible conditions. I don't want to frighten other women, but I find it to be exactly the opposite sort of environment that would enhance a normal labour & I certainly wouldn't want any of my children to be born there unless it was an absolute dire emergency. The quicker they obliterate this crumbling building from the face of Glasgow, the better - Jayne].