Young mum had "nightmare" experience at Royal Hampshire County Hospital maternity ward (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Young mum had "nightmare" experience at Royal Hampshire County Hospital maternity ward
4:46pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in Winchester
Young parents Anthony Dawkins and Roxy Harris had their daughter Esmay registered to another woman shortly after she was born at Winchester hospital
A YOUNG mum has told of the “nightmare” she endured with maternity services at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
Roxy Harris said it took more than a month to register her daughter Esmay, after clerical errors at the Winchester hospital.
She said Esmay was mistakenly registered to another woman just hours after she was born at Florence Portal House on January 9.
Ms Harris, who lives in Gwynn Way, Wickham, with 22-year-old partner Anthony Dawkins, said: “The midwife came in to our room and said she made a ‘small booboo,’ and that Esmay had been registered under another woman’s name — a woman who had not even given birth yet.
“We were told they would be able to sort it out in moments. But nothing was done before we went home, and afterwards I got a call saying it would take longer.”
She added the problem meant it took much longer to get Esmay’s medical notes and ‘red book’ of her daughter’s measurements.
Then when she tried to get a birth certificate on January 24 she couldn’t, because Esmay was still not registered as her daughter.
Ms Harris, 23, a taxi driver, said: “It was not until February 14, more than a month after I gave birth, that I was told all the registration was correct. It made me very angry but it was also scary.
“Luckily she never left my side at the hospital but if she had and anything had happened I had no proof she was my daughter.
“If I had needed to take her to A&E they could have called social services because I was not recognised as the mother.
“If I ever have another child I would go to Portsmouth. I’m never going back to Winchester.”
A spokesman for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the RHCH, said the issue was being investigated.
The spokesman said: “In the interests of patient confidentiality we are unable to discuss details of this case but we are aware of the concerns and have contacted the individual.”
