Camden News: New mum floored by fall in hospital

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Camden News - By CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 10 April 2008

Chloe Ryan with Kyla: ‘I didn’t feel like a mum’

New mum floored by fall in hospital

Patient presses for damages after slipping in ward

A FIRST-TIME mother spent a month with her arm in a sling after breaking her wrist in a fall at a hospital maternity ward on the day she gave birth.
Chloe Ryan, 20, slipped on a wet floor at University College Hospital, in Bloomsbury, hours after giving birth to daughter Kyla.
With her arm strapped up, she could not change Kyla’s nappy for four weeks and struggled to get a pushchair on the bus. Even making her way to mother-and-baby classes – designed to make life easier for new mothers – became almost impossible, she said.
Ms Ryan, from Agar Grove, in Camden Town, added: “It affected everything. I didn’t even feel like a mum. All the things you think of when you’re pregnant and then you can’t do any of it. It affected my bonding with the baby.
“Once they put a cast on me I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t pick her up or change her nappy. In the night I’d have to wake my boyfriend up so he could help me feed her and just getting down to the mother-and-baby groups was impossible – I couldn’t get her and the buggy on the bus.”
Ms Ryan claims she slipped because there were inadequate signs in the corridor to warn that the floor was wet.
She hopes to win compensation from the hospital and is appealing for a woman who shared the maternity ward with her on October 11 to come forward as a witness in support of her claim.
Ms Ryan said: “The woman was heavily pregnant and she was really nice. I know she lives near Prince of Wales Road and I’ve always wanted to bump into her. Please come forward as a witness. I don’t have any others and it would be really helpful.”
She added: “They’re only supposed to mop half the floor at a time, and they should have more cones up, especially for women who have just had a baby.
“You’ve just had an epidural [pain killer], you’re not your full self, you’re not looking to see if the floor’s wet.”
A hospital trust spokesman said: “The alleged incident is the subject of an official claim which is being dealt with through the official channels.
“It would not be appropriate for the trust to comment any further at this stage.”

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