New mum forced to sit in hard chair for five hours immediately after giving birth due to lack of NHS hospital beds

Saralee Jack, 31, left with nowhere to lie down despite 96 hours of labour without sleep at Wexham Park Hospital in Berkshire

Saralee Jack at Wrexham Park Hospital with her new born baby Tommy Davies (SWNS)

An exhausted new mum was forced to sit in a hard chair for five hours immediately after giving birth - following 96 hours of no sleep.

Saralee Jack, 31, spent four days wide awake struggling with contraction pains before giving birth to little Tommy Davies on 13 January.

During horrifying ordeal the full-time mum suffered days of immense pain which doctors did not understand and was still waiting for bed at midnight.

The diabetic says she was also not given food and relied on the grandmother of her children to give her insulin as there were no nurses or midwives around to help, her family say.

Nurses on 13 January told mum-of-five Saralee no beds were available and the mum did not see her newborn baby for hours as he was taken off to a special care baby unit.

Tommy was born with a deflated lung and had to have tubes inserted into his body to increase his blood glucose and remains in the special care unit.

The little one, who weighed 5lb and 13 ounces, uses a ventilator to breathe and is not expected to be discharged from hospital until next month.

Recalling the horror birth grandmother Sarah Ball, 51, said: “I was really angry a cup of tea would have been nice and a nice clean bed that she could lie on when they were getting her bed ready, so she could have at least relaxed a bit.

“They could have made her feel more comfortable than she was.

“She went in on the Tuesday with labour pains and contractions were coming every minute, but they kept saying you are not in labour.

“She was in so much pain, I was prepared to put my daughter in a taxi and take my daughter to another hospital.

“From Tuesday to Friday she had no sleep, nothing was working and on Friday they finally decided to induce her.

“Saralee is diabetic and at no stage did not offer her food all day long, it was down to me to give her insulin, I kicked up such a stink.

“If they had treated an animal like that they would have been done for cruelty, dogs and cats who are taken to the vets get treated better, it is the worst hospital I cannot believe how bad they treated her.

“There was no reason for putting her in a chair for five hours just because they were trying to sort things out.

“When you have just had a baby you don't feel like sitting in a chair, I tried to sleep in it and couldn't get comfortable.

“She is living on her wits now, she is like a zombie.”

Saralee, of Langley, Berkshire, said the five hour wait left her dizzy and was finally given a sandwich when she was finally moved to another ward.

She said: “I kept feeling dizzy like, I was going to pass out – there was no nurses or midwife around.

“My back was in agony.

“They never gave me anything to eat either.

“When I was moved to the upstairs ward at midnight, they gave me a sandwich. Being pregnant, by blood sugar levels were up and down.

“I could have gone to see my baby, but I was exhausted – and my partner didn’t want to leave me alone.”

But Saralee, who is also mum to Cameron, ten, Alfie, seven, Sara-Jane, six and Evie-Maria, 18 months, praised the special care baby unit and said their treatment was “second to none”.

She added: “The treatment here is second to none – the doctors and nurses couldn’t be nicer if they tried.”

The family have since filed a formal complaint to Wrexham Park Hospital who are in the process of an investigation.

A spokesman for the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust said: “The welfare and comfort of women and babies is always the top priority for our maternity teams, so we are sorry that one of our mothers was dissatisfied with her experience at Wexham Park Hospital.

Grandma Sarah added: “If someone said to me 'I'm going to Wrexham Park to have a baby I would try my hardest to put them off it.”

SWNS