Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Yet again the care at Chelsea &Wewtminster was outstanding …. From arrival at Emergency at 12:30 till I left at 4pm having had multiple tests and diagnostics. I was treated with respect and friendly care throughout. It is a pity the hospital cannot afford to update loos but that is only adverse Remark!

My one outpatient appointment at ChelWest was the worat medical encounter of my life - I'm in my sixties. It was clear from.the outset that the consultant had no interest in my case as he was brusque and spoke over me. I was insulted in the path lab when stigmatizing tests were ordered on my blood and apart from one administrator named Karl not one kind word was spoken to me either before or after my appointment. The admin and certain doctors there think they can do whatever they want to a patient and get away with it. However, despite experiencing outright cruelty I showed kindness in return. That's just how I am.

After the procedure our daughter was seen promptly by the consultants and explained exactly what they had discovered and a clear plan of action. As parents we were well accommodated by the nurses and monitored her condition efficiently the hospital. She was also seen by the Play team that made her comfortable and help recover quicker. It was a truly an amazing experience for our daughter. Thank you kuldip jadeja

I sought help for a possible blood disease. The coldness and cruelty of some of the staff at this hospital astounded me. I left the care of that hospital feeling stigmatized, lacking in self-esteem, and totally demoralized. My blood results were not acted upon, I received no clinic letter until my GP contacted the hospital to ask about it and my clinical paperwork was conveniently lost when I asked to see it. I was insulted and stigmatized in the path lab by an individual who should have known better. I also offered kindness to a staff member who was cruel to me. That's just how I am. I am now being cared for outside London and I'm being treated like a human being at last.

Compassionless and Negligent Baby Loss Care I chose Chelsea and Westminster when I was pregnant to be the hospital where I received maternity care. I initially had a good experience with my midwife appointment, however when my baby died the care I received throughout has been consistently terrible. If I had known at the outset how failed I would be if there were problems with my pregnancy, I would have chosen another hospital. I would hate for another pregnant woman to have go through the distress and therefore felt I should share my experience. In January of this year I attended Chelsea and Westminster at nearly 13 weeks pregnant for my 12 week scan. The Sonographer called a colleague in to the room, she initially said the baby was measuring 10 weeks and 2 days, we thought this was odd and thought she was saying he was dated wrongly. She then said there was no heart beat. We were both shocked, and I asked if there was anyway it could be a mistake ( I had had two previous scans that were fine), I was told no, they were sorry and then given a leaflet from the miscarriage association and some tissues. It was only then hearing the sonographer on the phone to another department that I found out I had had a missed miscarriage. Nobody explained this to me, nobody offered any kind of explanation or support. I was just told I would be called by another department to discuss next steps. We left absolutely devastated and in shock. Shortly afterwards I was called by the early pregnancy unit, and was asked to attend the next day. My partner and I sat in the waiting room for over an hour, I was devastated and in tears. There was a young baby in the waiting room with his Mum also waiting to be seen. My partner asked the receptionist how much longer our wait would be, he, nor any of his colleagues seemed in anyway concerned by my distress. After over an hour a nurse took us in to a private room to wait for the doctor, she was the first person to sincerely express any compassion and sadness for our loss. I was told I needed to have surgery urgently, and this could be offered in a few days time. We were asked at this point what we wanted to be done with our babies remains and asked if we could have some time to consider it. We were also asked if we would like to pay for cytogenetic testing to find out why our baby had died, we elected to pay for this. A few days later, I attended the Day Centre for my Surgery. Prior to attending I had completed the consent form twice electronically, and elected to have my baby's remains privately cremated. Upon pressing the buzzer to enter the unit, the door was answered, and my partner was told he couldn't be with me (which I later found out was due to there being building work on the unit). The receptionist letting us in had no interest in our circumstances, she just said he couldn't be with me. I was very distressed and needed the support of my partner. I was so upset that another patient tried to comfort me, I explained to her I was having surgical management of miscarriage. I was taken in to an area, near the desk that had a curtain and a number of chairs, There were surgical dressings stored in there, and one of the nurses appeared to be keeping some of her personal belongings in there. A nurse came in and told me to undress and put on the necessary clothing worn during surgery. It wasn't private, I didn't have a bed like the other patients in bays did, I felt very vulnerable and anxious. I asked about some medication I needed to have before the surgery (misoprostol), she didn't know what surgery I was having, she didn't know what the medication was- she said she would find out and come back. She didn't. Other nurses were in and out, I asked another 6 times, to the point I showed one of them my patient information leaflet. Nobody knew anything about it or came back with the necessary medication. I also kept flagging that I needed anti D medication, again nobody seemed to take note of this or listen to me- I was becoming increasingly distressed and worried. I was repeatedly asked what surgery I was having by one nurse, I was extremely upset and she seemed to have no understanding around why this was. I had been told by the early pregnancy unit to return my maternity notes to the Day surgery unit- I did this, and was asked by the same nurse, what she was supposed to do with it? I just told her I had been asked to return them, but she seemed to have no idea. I was seen by the anaesthetist who was the only person who shown me any kindness and who listened to my concerns re the medication- he said he would relay it to the surgeon and I could discuss it with him when I saw him. By this point I was very upset, I really needed the support of my partner or a family member to advocate for me. By the time I saw the surgeon I was still extremely upset. He asked me to sign a paper version of the consent form again, and wanted to discuss our wishes over the baby's remains. He was very rushed and didn't spend much time with me, it was the only time I saw him. I think, as I was so distressed he didn't feel there was much point talking to me. I signed the consent form ( which I had previously completed twice electronically in advance of the surgery). I was too upset to realise at this point that he had made a mistake in filling it out and it did not comply with our wishes over the baby's remains. After about 4 hours I was finally given a bed, I was also after my numerous requests finally given the misoprostol medication. Shortly before going down to surgery A nurse told me that when I woke up I would be on one of the maternity wards. This further heightened my distress, having just lost my baby I didn't want to be around new mothers. I was walked down to surgery devastated, in tears feeling extremely worried about waking up surrounded by new mums. Upon waking I was thankfully not taken to the maternity unit, I was in a lot of pain but was told everything was fine. After a few hours I was told I could be collected by my partner. I was told no follow up was needed. The day following the surgery we realised the surgeon had made an error on our forms, we called the EPU twice and sent an email to them and PALS expressly addressing our wishes over histology, cytogenetic testing and our baby's remains- we asked for for a response to verify this had been received. We received nothing. We had to continue calling the EPU to ensure that our wishes were fulfilled. Within 24 hours of the surgery I experienced severe pain in my pelvis, within that first week I had a very frightening episode of heavy bleeding. I called the EPU, I was told it was probably OK, to see how I was over the weekend and they would call me on Monday. They didn't call me on Monday and I had another episode of heavy bleeding. I called them. I was again told it was probably fine, but they agreed to scan me later that week. Upon returning for a scan, I was told that I had retained products of conception in the upper part of my uterus, which explained the pain and bleeding. I was told this can happen with surgical management of miscarriage. I was told there were 3 options but all 3 had risks- I could have further surgery (but that increases risk of scar tissue in the uterus), they could medically manage with medication (but that might not remove all the remaining tissue from my pregnancy), or they could wait and see if the tissue naturally passes (but again there is risk of scar tissue with this). I didn't know what to do and asked for advice, I was told to wait for another 3 weeks and see if it passes naturally. Following this, in view of failure in care I had received thus far, I paid for a second opinion. I was told I needed to have further surgery urgently. I paid to have private surgery in view of how poor my care had been in the previous surgery. Following the surgery, I received histology results on the tissues removed from my uterus were necrotic, I was told I was lucky I didn't develop sepsis, which can be life threatening. At no point in my care was I offered any kind of psychological support for the loss of my baby and the subsequent trauma of these surgeries. We had endless calls with the EPU to try and sort out the issues with the incorrectly filled out consent form. We were however shown great kindness by the Chaplaincy at Chelsea and Westminster and are extremely grateful to them for all they did to help us ensure that our babies remains were dealt with as we wanted. 9 months after my baby loss I am still having treatment and investigations. I wonder if I had received better care at the outset if this could be avoided. I would advise other pregnant women to receive their care from another hospital, I will certainly never return here for any kind of care.

Excellent experience at the private wing. Extremely thorough and assuring.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone at Hospital and on top of all the nurse who took care of me when it was time to remove the splints from my nose—Maritony (if I remember correctly). She was incredibly kind, patient, and caring, making sure I felt as little pain or discomfort as possible. She was so gentle and careful, and she did a brilliant job. Her warmth and professionalism made a big difference in my recovery experience. Thank you, Dr. Anwar and Nurse Maritony, for everything!

I was absolutely blown away by the staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Every person who cared for my son, from the reception staff at the Chelsea Wing to the team on the Saturn Ward, was incredibly helpful, friendly, and kind. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful people working in this hospital. The care my son received was truly exceptional, and it made such a difference during a stressful time. As a small gesture of gratitude, I even took cupcakes to the wards, but it still didn’t feel like enough to thank them for everything they did

My twin boy had two inguinal hernias repaired by a fantastic team of surgeons who were very calm, clear and professional. The facilities were very clean and most of the nursing staff, cleaners, porters and catering staff were incredibly caring. However I was not allowed to be in the room when the general anesthetic was as administered which I found to be not appropriate. This meant my infant went in to get this screaming and thrashing. He screamed for the entire night probably due to fear following this which was incredibly difficult to manage physically and mentally alongside a slow healing c section wound, leading me to eventually have a panic attack (I don't experience panic attacks generally). In these instances, it would have been much less traumatic to have been permitted to have another adult (parent) come and stay with me overnight to break up the physical exhaustion and stress. It also meant we had to be admitted overnight as it wasn't clear if he was upset or had ongoing monitoring needs. I had staff dismiss his reflux as being scared, asking me if I knew how to burp him properly (trapped wind following surgery) in quite patronising ways, telling me he was upset because my milk wasn't enough when he clearly wasn't able to latch (and I offered him formula as well) and even one who congratulated me on a pregnancy I do not have less than three months after giving birth to twins, with readjusting thyroid levels due to Hashimoto's disease, and an excruciatingly painful c section recovery due to being the twins main carer without help. The hospital stay that night has left me feeling trauma. I had the same procedure carried out at St Mary's today with his twin and was allowed to comfort him using anaesthetic, so we have been able to calm him afterwards and avoid the need for a night stay. Further support and understanding of how breastfeeding is maintained and established with direct feeding is needed and systems in place to allow infant twins to breastfeed would help to support the maintenance of good supply.

I had a great experience of the hospital this time as indeed almost every time