Royal Lancaster Infirmary

We had the most amazing experience on ward 17. I had a planned cesarean and from the minute we arrived on the ward at 7am we were greeted with such kind and happy staff. Janice who met us as soon as we arrived was fantastic, she settled our nerves and made us feel so welcome. We met our midwife Daisy who was so kind and made us feel so well looked after. We met everyone carrying out the procedure and they were very clear and informative willing to answer all questions and making sure we knew what was happening. The surgery went well and all the way through the staff kept us informed and made us feel safe. We had a safe arrival of our baby and they passed him straight to us so we could hold him while they finished the surgery which went as planned. The nurses in the recovery bay were fantastic and then throughout the night the staff continued to check on us, but not imposing if we didn’t need help but made us very comfortable that if we did just to press the buzzer. They looked after our baby whilst my husband helped me shower and the paediatric doctor we saw the day he was born and the next day to do all his checks was lovely and put us completely at ease. The midwives helped us change his first nappy and gave us tips and then the next morning we got visits from a breastfeeding specialist, a physio and Daisy our midwife helped with how to use the car seat.
Having had trouble conceiving and having to visit RLI on a number of occasions for very difficult reasons, including a surgical evacuation in 2023, we knew that the care was amazing even though it has been for bad reasons previously but to visit ward 17 to finally have our baby and receive that level of care and kindness and made us feel so special even though they will see babies being born all the time! I speak so highly of the experience and care and staff to anyone who will listen so thank you and well done for providing such an amazing service!

My experience giving birth at RLI, was one of mixed feelings. The midwives helping with my delivery were kind and caring, but things did not go as planned or as written in my birthing plan.
The male doctors who took charge, ignored my plan and showed little empathy and compassion.
Following the birth complications arose and my baby girl was looked after. Again the nurses were kind and comforting. But communication between the two floors was not as good as it could have been. This meant chasing and asking multiple times for antibiotics to be given. It was clear the staff had a high work load and were not able to give more personal care.

I attended Royal Lancaster Infirmary in January with a suspected injury. I went to A&E and they gave me a scan to see whether there was any damage. The scan was not very clear and when they looked at the scans they told me that there was no damage. They concluded that it was part of my long term condition and it would get easier.
I went to my GP who contacted the hospital to raise the issue and I received a call saying that there was some damage that they had not picked up on the scans. The GP has asked for a review. I am not happy because I have felt fobbed off since January even though I have had to live with this issue. They have not listened or given me a suitable diagnosis.

I have had a great experience with Lancaster A&E. They were very helpful and supportive. We didn’t need to wait long, and we were in and out.

Lancaster hospital hearing clinic are very good and the staff are great.
Lancaster hearing clinic have low wait times and very fast with appointments.

Lancaster Infirmary are excellent. I went to Accident and Emergency a few weeks ago and they were excellent. They knew about my specialist medications and made sure that I was well supported during a frightening time. The staff were very caring and considerate even though they were busy.

It is not okay for women who have had a miscarriage awaiting their scans to be sat in the same waiting area in the gynaecology outpatient department as pregnant women who are waiting their scans. This can and does retrigger my reproductive trauma PTSD. It will also likely be triggering for women who have fertility issues to be sat with pregnant women. There are two waiting rooms - one down the corridor from them. Please can you offer a separate waiting room. There is also no open bereavement maternity suite at the RLI at the moment because it was too far away from medical assistance and a new one is due to be built. Please can you ensure this is on the agenda to be actioned urgently so that families can spend time if they need to with their deceased babies after birth.

My elderly relative fell and was taken to accident and emergency by ambulance. Was on a trolley in the corridor for two days, and there was no communication around their care. The hospital staff were nice but very overworked and so my relative was left on their own most of the time. They also didn't get their medication on time.

One group member commented about the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. She phoned the
ward and asked if she should come in as she felt she was very close to going into
labour. The staff asked some routine questions and suggested not to come in yet as
they felt she was not ready, but she felt she was in labour so disregarded the advice
and went to the hospital. Once there the staff realised that she was in full labour.

Some group members commented about Royal Lancaster Infirmary Maternity Unit.
They felt the aftercare was not so good. They felt that a lot of the time the midwives
were very busy. No one checked up on them and were left without pain relief for
hours. Some members asked 5-6 times for pain relief.