We had a pretty dire experience at West Mid during the birth of our first child. Basically no midwives available resulting in very poor quality of care.

Then a year or so later my daughter had to go in with pneumonia and I was pretty surprised that the room she stayed in for 3 nights didnt have any heating (it was during a bitter winter). Apparently a few rooms in that ward had heating problems. It wasnt until the last night, after I kicked up a fuss, that the room was at least supplied with a fan heater - pretty dreadful. My wife slept in the room with my daughter and had to sleep fully dressed with her dressing gown on top.

We have been to A&E a few times (again, with the little one!) and I have been impressed with how quickly they rush through small children/babies - waiting time was excellent and the level of care and service was also very good.

Unfortunately, post A&E the back up care was dreadful again. At one point they put my baby daughter in a leg plaster because they couldn't work out what the problem was with her - but they put it on wrong so after a few days of her screaming all night in pain we figured out that the plaster was digging into her heel so we had it removed and she had a really nasty blood blister and bruising.

Second pregnancy so far the level of care has been good (again, because I kicked up a fuss) and we have an excellent case loading midwife.

So, in summary, its really hit and miss and really patchy - but overall I dont find the level of care to be anything like it should be in this day and age. Such a shame.