Augelle Jamieson, from Bedford, was admitted to hospital in May during the coronavirus lockdown with agonising contractions. “I pray that no other woman ever is made to feel the way I was,” she told openDemocracy, describing how she was left in a room with no toilet or shower and “was fobbed off for hours until my baby’s head was out”.
“I was not offered any pain relief and I was naked and on the floor as it was so hot. I began vomiting,” Jamieson recalls. The student midwife who was assigned to her did not perform any vaginal checks, she adds, although the NHS states that these should be offered to women regularly to see how their labour is progressing.
She also says her request for a water birth was denied because the required room was already occupied by another woman. According to Jamieson, no alternative was offered, nor was she asked about the preferences in her birth plan that the NHS encourages all women to prepare to ensure that care “meets your individual needs”.
