Breast Feeding in Hospital.

ceebeeby

I have read and re-read the OP's post. In her second paragraph, I believe she has openly stated her concerns with how she feels the NHS has let her DD down by not providing her with feeds. The OP states she intends to challenge the local UNICEF award.

Whether intentionally or not, by making her feelings clear on the policy as it stands, this will inevitably lead to comments being made on a public forum, particularly if people either very definitely do or don't agree with the OP's decision.

As far as I can glean there have been posts both agreeing with the OP's POV and some that don't. It is therefore difficult to understand why the occasional poster has deemed it unacceptable to have a debate on the issue as raised by the OP, immediately following posts that do not agree, and furthermore the odd rude gesture thrown in (yes, I count the mad face when directed towards me as a rude gesture).

thatgirlsam

nickyhutch wrote: »

The staff shouldn't get it for free. The taxpayer is paying for that. If there is so much waste, the reason behinf the wasste should be looked at, which is a different matter entirely.

The taxpayer pays for any concessions too - why should they?

well that i agree with

the problem in maternity is a high turn over of patients .. very hard to predict who will be on the ward at mealtimes , who will be eating and who won't be

so the ward tends to over order as they want everyone fed at mealtimes

i think it would be nice for staff to have concessions in the canteen as we don't get many perks to the job , work long hours and unsociable ones at that

i get your point about the taxpayer picking that up ... but if the NHS kept their staff a bit happier they wouldn't have such a high turnover of staff ... that is something that could save the taxpayer money

code-a-holic

My experience - I was in Withybush, haverfordwest hospital with my daughter and was given a free meal.
The hospital did have a kitchen open to paying visitors, but the ward rang ahead to say i was entitled to the free meal. The nursing staff told me i could bring the meal to eat in my dd room or take a break down there with a paper!
Good luck, your dd is very lucky to have you looking after her!

Glamazon

One meal at £1.50 - no chance! It would be far less than this, the portions are tiny and the food is mass produced so wouldn't cost much at all.

tarajayne

code-a-holic wrote: »

My experience - I was in Withybush, haverfordwest hospital with my daughter and was given a free meal.
The hospital did have a kitchen open to paying visitors, but the ward rang ahead to say i was entitled to the free meal. The nursing staff told me i could bring the meal to eat in my dd room or take a break down there with a paper!
Good luck, your dd is very lucky to have you looking after her!

Thank-you. Can't believe my family trauma is turning into a rant for others! Hope you all feel better.

tarajayne

Glamazon wrote: »

One meal at £1.50 - no chance! It would be far less than this, the portions are tiny and the food is mass produced so wouldn't cost much at all.

DD is a chef, she said judging by portions etc, £1.50 per day. 10 ladies on the SCBU ward so not a lot. And if it shuts you all up she would have happily paid the bl00dy £1.50. Now please go away!

emlou2009

nickyhutch wrote: »

I'm also of the opinion that the hospital shouldn't pay for formula feed for well babies either.

That I find utterly ridiculous. My son wouldnt latch on to feed properly when he was born and it was too soon for any of my milk to be expressed, so therefore they should have billed me on the way out for that syringe-full of formula should they?

The OP's daughter is doing an amazing job, after a very hard pregnancy is doing the best for her very premature and ill baby by expressing and breastfeeding. I think the poor girl deserves a medal, let alone a few cold crummy unappetising hospital meals that have been sat on a hot plate for hours before they even get there!

I agree on the price/worth of the meals - £1.50? My backside. I'd be surprised if it cost that much to feed an adult for the whole day.

ceebeeby

In 2008/09 the average cost of feeding a patient in the NHS per day was £7.53, so based on my calculations above that brings it out at £687,113, however, give it a 2.5% inflation rise for 09/10 takes it to £704,290 (I assume the costs quoted on the parliamentary website will suffice!) for a 250 bed hospital.

I get that in the last post the OP mentioned 10 mothers on SCBU (£28,172 pa) - but what if DGD has been say in PICU, ED, short-stay, Cardiology etc., they all have new Mums at times too.

Can someone show me the proof that hospital food is cold, crummy, unappetising and has sat on a hot plate for hours. This isn't a sarky, unfunny request trying to be smart - it's a genuine horror thought, that after all the hospital food reforms it's STILL not right!!!

fernliebee

OP I really hope you have got this sorted, I cannot believe some people are trying to make a debate out of this when all you asked for was some help.

I've been racking my brains to try and think of ways you can get food to her long distance. Could you order online tesco shop to be delivered to the house where she is staying? Just some fruit, instant porridge, micro meals etc, steam in the bag fish and vegetables etc, just until this all gets sorted out. I really feel for you and her having to worry about this fight at a time like this!

nickyhutch

thatgirlsam wrote: »

well that i agree with

the problem in maternity is a high turn over of patients .. very hard to predict who will be on the ward at mealtimes , who will be eating and who won't be

so the ward tends to over order as they want everyone fed at mealtimes

i think it would be nice for staff to have concessions in the canteen as we don't get many perks to the job , work long hours and unsociable ones at that

i get your point about the taxpayer picking that up ... but if the NHS kept their staff a bit happier they wouldn't have such a high turnover of staff ... that is something that could save the taxpayer money

Sam, I don't mean to have a go - I read and agree with a lot of your posts, so really don't mean to, but if you want a job with perks, then don't work for the NHS! The public pay for the NHS, and why should they pay for our perks? If there was money to burn, I'd agree, but there just isn't, and it's not fair for patient care to suffer so that we can have cheap lunches.