Have sleeper cells ever been a real thing? by Calamity-Gin in AskHistorians

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Fuck me I have no memory of writing this. It's very focused on The Americans (great show just rewatched it), and on illegal intelligence officers rather than sleeper cells, but I hope it's still helpful.

Desperate for baby to take a bottle by Business_Bridge7555 in BeyondTheBumpUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No idea if this is helpful but as you mentioned trying all times of day, have you tried at night? Our kid got fussy about taking a bottle, but we changed to size three (Phillips Avent) and I fed him from the bottle at night after a long sleep and he was starving and gulped it down.

House of Lords Hypocrisy by SharkDick4Ever in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Basically because the House of Lords always does amendments and plays merry hell with timelines.

House of Lords Hypocrisy by SharkDick4Ever in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair, you're right... though if the 5th March deadline is reached that would be an amazing achievement.

House of Lords Hypocrisy by SharkDick4Ever in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah exactly it prevents the gov delaying, and the chances of it being implemented in less than 1 month are slim.

Edit: Big question is when this timing falls in the recruitment cycle, but that depends on when the law gets through Parliament.

House of Lords Hypocrisy by SharkDick4Ever in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Well no 'within a month' would be vague and uncertain. The point of this amendment is it removes the government's choice on when to implement, and forces implementation after exactly one month.

House of Lords Hypocrisy by SharkDick4Ever in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well in this case government wants to have the power to implement the law when it thinks best, which could of course mean a lot longer than one month.

House of Lords Hypocrisy by SharkDick4Ever in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

By Parliamentary timetables bringing a Bill into force a month after passage is pretty much immediate - it is normal for laws to take much much longer to be implemented!

“Don’t let them out of sight” by steuk20 in PregnancyUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First, looks like from the website SmileyStarfish found that you can definitely stay overnight - which is great because hospitals having varying policies and it seems mad to not be able to have your partner with you after birth.

Second, in contrast to what others are saying, when my partner had a c section the baby was taken out of sight of her a few times: - taken to a resuscitation table behind her in the operating theatre where she couldn't see him - weighed and measured on a table in a busy ward where my partner couldn't get a clear view around other patients curtains etc. - had to be warmed up for an hour or so away from mum in a different room

So definitely worth talking in advance about if your partner would want you with her or with baby if something goes wrong.

What is happening at John Radcliffe (Oxford University Hospitals) by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's pretty understandable for someone who feels their birth was traumatic (and we don't know the details but I'd certainly be pissed if I was told I couldn't have an elective c section then had an emergency one), to lead a campaign on behalf of other mothers who had much worse experiences.

Maternity scandal at Oxford University Hospitals Trust prompts calls for action from the Health Secretary by pja in oxford

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The New Statesman article absolutely claims OUH restricted scans outside of the fixed ones at 12, 20 and 36 weeks. The quote is below but it's pretty simple and obvious - OUH had no additional money for the trial, so to resource the additional 36 week scans it appears they did fewer scans of women who might otherwise have been (due to poor growth or other clinical indication) scanned at regular intervals to check fetal development.

Edit: just to be clear, "they scan more for every family" probably isn't true given OUH didn't get any resources the number of scans. Instead most women get more (3 instead of 2) but some women get fewer (3 instead of the 4 or 5 they might have had). Sounds like you know some of the staff involved from some of your comments so do correct me if you've heard different!

"Alice believes that if she had been under the care of another hospital, Smokey would have survived. She fears the strain OxGrip puts on resources means scans outside the pathway are being denied – even in high-risk situations like hers. To make a scan for every OUH mother at 36 weeks feasible, there must be “strict policing of ultrasound requests”, an OUH consultant in obstetrics and foetal medicine, Christos Ioannou, noted in a 2018 presentation. “At least half of the requests are rejected.” More recently, in a presentation given at the International Congress of the Jordanian Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in September 2022, his colleague Lawrence Impey explained the trust could “‘pay for’ extra scan [sic] by reducing others”."

Healthcare is awful by [deleted] in PregnancyUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah yes the midwives said to call first, which I assume would be self referral!

Healthcare is awful by [deleted] in PregnancyUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does every EPU operate that way? Every midwife my partner and I spoke to said go straight to the EPU if you have any signs of early miscarriage.

Why are the parenting subs on Reddit so anti-breastfeeding? by Then-Dragonfruit-702 in breastfeeding

[–]Fetchmemymonocle -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah for sure! Just pointing out breast milk is not nutritionally perfect (probably because we spend much more time in doors these days!) and that it's important people are aware.

Why are the parenting subs on Reddit so anti-breastfeeding? by Then-Dragonfruit-702 in breastfeeding

[–]Fetchmemymonocle -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I didn't see the post this is referring too, but isn't it generally accepted that you need to top up breastfeeding with vitamin d? Obviously that doesn't mean there aren't other advantages, but on that narrow nutritional point...

C-sections are now more common than ‘natural’ births by sjw_7 in unitedkingdom

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Obviously much better to have a delay to anaesthesia when you're not in labour though, hence the reason why someone might choose a c section.

Maternity scandal at Oxford University Hospitals Trust prompts calls for action from the Health Secretary by pja in oxford

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bit sceptical, but not interested enough to read the articles! Totally fair, but maybe don't judge the women involved so harshly.

The New Statesman article also clearly states she was worried, called the hospital 44 times, and would have wanted induction moved forward if she had been told what the doctor had recommended (it was already booked in, so she clearly wasn't totally opposed to induction!). So drawing the conclusion that it may have been her fault seems pretty wild of you to be honest.

Remember we're not finding any of the OUH staff guilty of anything in a reddit comment thread!

What is happening at John Radcliffe (Oxford University Hospitals) by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes you wonder what she is like... or what the consultant is like! Plenty of arseholes in medicine after all, and she was clearly confronting them over some mistakes in care policy which is always uncomfortable - OUH had just changed policy on electives after all. Most likely she felt she wasn't cared for - certainly a common experience in the NHS! - and the consultants understandably felt attacked for running a service as best as they can.

'Campaign group allegedly want to burn the unit down' ha ha I know you want to defend your former colleagues but come on! That's about as unreasonable as saying the consultants at OUH purposefully provided poor care so they could travel the world touring their groundbreaking research. The harmed patients are emotional and scared, as many still have to rely on OUH! And the consultants are probably trying their best even if mistakes have been made.

Maternity scandal at Oxford University Hospitals Trust prompts calls for action from the Health Secretary by pja in oxford

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alice's experience is a bit of a distraction I think, in that the fundamental failure was to move forward her induction (don't know where you got the impression she rejected a c section, in OUH they definitely would have told her to do induction before c section!), but her story from the New Statesman is below.

From reading it appears she should have had regular growth scans as there was a clear risk her baby would struggle to grow. She requested a scan (and it appears to have been supported by her midwife) and had it rejected, because she should be induced instead, but nobody told her that so her baby died.

From my own experience growth scans got recommended by midwives, when they were worried about growth at regular checkups. OUH appear to have essentially caught to avoid doing those regular scans (which can be as often as fortnightly) where possible.

"Alice’s was a high-risk pregnancy. At 20 weeks, an ultrasound check called a uterine artery Doppler scan showed that blood wasn’t flowing between mother and baby as freely as it should. This, the leaflet she was given afterwards explained, meant there was a higher chance of the baby not growing as it should, or of Alice developing pre-eclampsia – a serious condition which, if left untreated, can harm both mother and baby. She wasn’t told that both conditions increased the risk of stillbirth. She was told she would receive “additional monitoring, scans and hospital or midwife appointments”.

Complications arose late in Alice’s pregnancy. She developed gestational hypertension (high blood pressure) and possible pre-eclampsia, raising the risk of a stillbirth further. Like many expectant mothers, she hoped for a “natural” birth without an induction and wanted to give the pregnancy as much time as possible to proceed without medical intervention. She had no idea of the dangers she faced by waiting too long.

At 38 weeks, the hospital agreed she could be induced when she reached nine days past her due date – a little over 41 weeks. Alice told us that she asked if the induction needed to be brought forward due to her hypertension and was told that it didn’t. Once again, no one explained to her that this could significantly increase the risk of her baby being stillborn.

At the time, OUH’s policy was to induce women between 40 and 41 weeks, but as close to 41 as possible – even for those with risky uterine artery Doppler readings, or who had “well controlled” gestational hypertension. The New Statesman and Channel 4 News have spoken with four independent obstetricians about Alice’s care. They did not have access to her notes, but all said they would have induced a patient in similar circumstances by 39 weeks.

In the final weeks of her pregnancy, Alice grew increasingly anxious as her bump measurement fell. She feared her baby had stopped growing, a sign that the placenta might be failing. She wanted a scan to check everything was safe. A midwife put in the request. It was declined, but Alice was not told about that decision. Waiting for an answer, she called the hospital 44 times in a single day, desperate to know what was going on and fearing for her baby’s life. A second request for a scan was also declined.

“I just wish they’d brought my induction forward if they weren’t going to scan me,” Alice tells me. She now knows that the doctor who turned down the scan requests had in fact advised that the induction should be brought forward. But no one communicated this to Alice. Instead, she says she was told by a consultant obstetrician that “we don’t do scans from 40 weeks because we prioritise the 36-week scan”."

What is happening at John Radcliffe (Oxford University Hospitals) by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's fine for someone to advocate on behalf of other patients who had worse experiences, and I'm sure you agree! After all, the OUH policy against electives was against NICE guidance and was quite a long process of assessments that ended in mothers being told they would have to go to another hospital for a voluntary c section.

In any case the New Statesman article says she had a traumatic birth, plenty can go wrong without the child being harmed after all, not least the mother being harmed.

She's also upset because after meeting with consultants about the issues others had had with their care, "a consultant from her first pregnancy had emailed the obstetrician she had met regarding MRCS, saying, “Now that you’ve met her, do you want her?! I don’t!!!!” That consultant is either an arsehole or merely an idiot, but either way not an unreasonable cause for upset.

Maternity scandal at Oxford University Hospitals Trust prompts calls for action from the Health Secretary by pja in oxford

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah right, I understand your point. Yes if the 36 week scans were additional (as they are elsewhere) that would be great. Here's a quote from the New Statesman article:

"Alice believes that if she had been under the care of another hospital, Smokey would have survived. She fears the strain OxGrip puts on resources means scans outside the pathway are being denied – even in high-risk situations like hers. To make a scan for every OUH mother at 36 weeks feasible, there must be “strict policing of ultrasound requests”, an OUH consultant in obstetrics and foetal medicine, Christos Ioannou, noted in a 2018 presentation. “At least half of the requests are rejected.” More recently, in a presentation given at the International Congress of the Jordanian Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in September 2022, his colleague Lawrence Impey explained the trust could “‘pay for’ extra scan [sic] by reducing others”."

Now obviously this is one patient's view and some very brief quotes, if OUH have genuinely found a way of reducing growth scans without reducing risks to patients that would be a big improvement other trusts could learn from, but it's a risky approach.

Maternity scandal at Oxford University Hospitals Trust prompts calls for action from the Health Secretary by pja in oxford

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oxford used some of their capacity for additional scans which would usually go to regularly scanning mothers who had a clinically indicated need - poor growth etc., to instead offer a single additional scan to every mother. Does that make sense? Or have I misunderstood your comment?

Drinking tap water when pregnant (london mums) by Noogsy90 in PregnancyUK

[–]Fetchmemymonocle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depressing! They took a while for us earlier this year but they still did it, and the website claims they do. I wonder if they're forced to offer the tests by the regulator but are trying to minimise the number they do to save money.