'They failed my daughter': Woman recounts traumatic birth experience after QA hospital maternity services downgraded
Courtney shared her story after the maternity services at the Portsmouth hospital were downgraded
A woman has shared her traumatic birth experience in the wake of a damning report from the CQC downgrading the maternity services at Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital.
Courtney Wilshaw, 26, gave birth to her daughter, Harlow, at the hospital in 2022, but recalled feeling like the hospital had “failed” her and her daughter believing that her experience has led to long-lasting medical problems.
“I was due on the 16th of February 2022 and I had really bad contractions,” she said. “I went to the toilet and saw amniotic fluid and I called my mum and she said ‘you need to ring the hospital’.
“The midwife triage said “you’re fine, stay at home”. I was in terrible pain for days.”
A few days after Courtney’s due date, she was taken into hospital as a result of a reduction in the movement of the baby.
“They did a scan and found that there was not enough fluid around Harlow, my little girl,” she explanined.
They suggested I should be induced but then a few more days went on and I was in excruciating pain.
“On the 22nd,it came to the day that they wanted to induce me and they went to pop the fluid but there was none.
“They put me on a hormone drip and the contractions were just building up. I was two centimetres dilated and that is when they decided to do a C-section.
“On the 23d, at 7am, I was taken in for a C-section and had Harlow at 7.18am. My oxygen level dropped and I was tubed.”
After extensive checks, Courtney and Harlow were discharged and allowed to go home.
However, a year later, a health visitor showed concerns that Harlow wasn’t making attempts at walking or talking.
She said: “She referred Harlow to a lot of professionals like speech and language therapists and physiotherapy. They did an MRI scan too and found mild brain damage, cerebral palsy and global developmental delay.”
Harlow, who is now aged four, is non-verbal, and communicates with her mum using Makaton sign language. She has also recently started having seizures at school.
Courtney said: “I feel like they failed my daughter.” She suspects that Harlow’s condition may be related to her traumatic birth.
A spokesperson for Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust said: "We are always sorry to hear when a patient feels the care they received wasn't what they expected. We cannot comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality, however if a patient would like to discuss any concerns then our Patient Advice and Liaison Service can be contacted be emailing: [email protected] or calling 023 9228 6000 ext 6309."
Queen Alexandra Hospital’s maternity care was downgraded to “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on September 25 of this year, alongside birth centres at St Mary's Community Health Campus and Gosport War Memorial Hospital.
Other patients also shared their experiences, with some saying they were “not surprised at all” that the service was downgraded, while others said they “couldn’t fault” the care they received.