Nearly half of women who gave birth during lockdown at one of Auckland's main DHB hospitals were left feeling isolated, just one of many issues highlighted.
"I felt like a prisoner," one woman told the Waitematā DHB in response to the health board's survey of women who gave birth during lockdown restrictions.
"I felt alienated. Depressed and stressed. I cried the whole night. Alone in the ward.
"This whole experience of giving birth was traumatic".
The DHB concluded that there was a lack of support given to mothers during the postnatal process, with greater consideration needed to be taken to prevent mental health distress.
Largely, the 190 women surveyed about their experience with the DHB were positive about their experiences and level of care they received during their stay.
Nevertheless, the report outlined the "heart-breaking" flow-on effects which were deeply felt by some after they were made to have their child alone due to Covid-19 precautions.
"There was also clear evidence that some women found the restrictions incredibly difficult, and this resulted in heart-breaking comments about feeling abandoned, alone and devastated.
"Some of these women commented that this has had a lasting effect on their or their partners' mental health."
The report stated that over a quarter of women said their experience in hospital was much worse than their last, with the key reason identified being issues with the visitor restrictions which prevented their families from joining them at the time of birth.
Due to this, 48 per cent of women said they had left hospital care sooner than they would have liked to, more than half of who say they left wanting support from friends and family at home.
"The lack of support [for] people on the postnatal ward was a key factor in early discharge decisions made by women which also resulted in an increased readmission rate."
The DHB started it would carefully consider what implications that the lockdown restrictions had on pregnant women to help prevent any further mental health distress or negative impacts on postnatal recovery.
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