Extremely understaffed!
Was asked to go to the maternity ward at 11pm last night. I was greeted in a very abrupt manner in Murray Ward, and felt a little uncomfortable. Upon arrival, I could see that the unit was extremely busy. Staff were rushing around, nobody knew what was really going on and the staff kept asking the same questions to myself and other patients because they couldn't remember. My blood pressure was taken in the waiting room due to no beds being available. I was finally given a bed 1 hour after arriving. It was then a further 25 minutes wait until a midwife actually came and saw me. I was then put on to a CTG machine shortly after. There was a delay in this because one of the machines wasn't working properly. Over an hour went past and I was still on the machine, I felt like the staff had totally forgot about me. My CTG results came back fine, and the midwife then called for the Dr to come down. This took over 50 minutes. I finally left Murray Ward at 3.45am, after a wait of nearly 40 minutes to be discharged. It is disgusting that staff have to work in an intense environment, with lack of staff and no support. One day something serious will happen and that will be due to lack of staff awareness because they don't know if they're coming or going!