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Views sought on Shropshire maternity visiting times
Tuesday 21st December 2010, 6:39PM GMT.
Health bosses are continuing a review of maternity visiting times in Shropshire – and still looking for feedback from the public.
Calls for the review were made by MPs Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) and David Wright (Telford) after a Shropshire Star investigation in October revealed that fathers and partners in the county faced some of the most restricted visiting hours in Britain.
They have a maximum of six official hours of visiting per day, of which only two are reserved just for them.
But at many hospitals in Britain they are allocated up to 12 hours of open visiting.
A spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which runs Shropshire’s maternity units, said today: “Following the call for a review of maternity visiting times in October we have been inviting people to contact us to have their say.
“This is because we aim to shape the services we provide to best suit the needs of the women who give birth at our maternity units and their families.
“We continue to welcome feedback directly to the trust so would ask people to contact us with their views.”
The hospital trust has maternity units in Shrewsbury, Telford, Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Oswestry.
In a recent letter to Mr Wright, trust chief executive Adam Cairns, said: “The maternity services had an open visiting policy until we received numerous complaints from mothers.
“They felt they had no rest while they were in hospital because of their own and other people’s visitors, and also wanted privacy while breastfeeding or being seen by the midwives or doctors.
“Visiting times were therefore introduced after consultation with mothers at each maternity unit, tailoring the visiting times to suit the needs of the local community.”
Mr Cairns added that the trust had only received one complaint about post-natal visiting times over the past 18 months.
People who would like to comment as part of the review can write to: Visiting Times, Maternity Department, Royal Shrew-sbury Hospital, Shrewsbury, SY3 8XQ or e-mail consultation@sath.nhs.uk
By Health Correspondent Dave Morris
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i had my son 2 years ago in april and as a mother i think the visiting times are great the way they are. I agree with the feedback about mothers wanting rest and privacy – the initial day or two when trying to breastfeed is hard work and would be made even harder by having people you do and dont know popping in and out at any time. Plus knowing you have a few hours to catch up on some rest and sleep inbetween visits is a god send. I used to look forward to my husband and parents coming to visit but also enjoyed the time on my own just to get used to being a mother and working through things on my own. My husband understood that i needed time to rest and the time in between visiting hours meant he could go and grab more nappies and run errands for me! i think it is a system thats working fine as it is – the midwives at shrewsbury have enough common sense when it comes to delivery and its a lot safer aswell to not have people wandering in and out at any time
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I agree with Rebecca. Its a shame for the Dad’s but the rest between visits was needed and breast feeding with people coming in and out all the time would make it even more diffifuclt.
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After having two other children in a neighbouring authority with open visiting hours for fathers,(between 10am and 9pm) I feel that Shropshire need to move with the times. Our youngest daughter was born in July this year, and our eldest 12 years ago.
The first few days are important for bonding both for mother and father, and the restriction in visiting for fathers/partners/husbands needs to be addressed.
The visiting times do not enable those who live a distance away from RSH (for example, Welsh, Cheshire or Staffs borders) sufficient time for visiting.
With regards to breast feeding, yes it is not easy, but you have curtains, and if RSH moved with the times, they would have rooms for each mother, which would not be an issue. Hospitals down south have recognised the importance of father bonding in the early days of child birth and are currently trialing fathers staying overnight with their newborns and partners in rooms.
With regards to visiting, in Wolverhampton, partners are issued with a restricted access swipe card, to acceess the ward which their partner is on, so this prevents the constant wandering in and out of people all the time.
Unless you have experienced better times at other trusts, you are non the wiser. Shropshire is one of the lucky counties as they have an abundance of midwives (this was stated by a senior midwife at RSH) so to go with the exceptional care they give their mothers and newborns, they should also cater for the fathers,and siblings of newborns, especially those who reside a distance from RSH of approx 1 hour.
I wonder if your response would have been different if you already had children?
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