A mother said she was left with chronic pain a year after giving birth and asked for special measures to be taken to the NHS trust.

Niki Cotson, 31, was born in April 2024 at North Tees Hospital in Stockton and then experienced care she believes was poor.

Miss Curtson has accumulated over 700 signatures to demand her petition for special measures at the North Tees and the Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.

The hospital said it is always “committed to ensuring safe, quality care is provided to all of our patients” and continues to try to address any issues raised.

In the latest inspections from the 2022 Quality of Care (CQC), both pregnant wards and hospitals have received “need improvement” ratings.

Miss Cotterson said that despite not engaging in the established labor, her water had artificially broken, and she said she had not received enough explanation.

She said: “After birth, I got a spinal disorder to control my pain, but this was withdrawn without explanation.

“Instead, give me dihydro cute agent when breastfeeding without any risk warning.

“My baby became overly lethargic, underfeeded, and then had complications.”

After they were discharged from the hospital, the 31-year-old said she had never received a postpartum check.

Now, just over a year ago, Miss Cotterson says she lives in chronic pain, prolapse, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

She said her son continued to struggle with health issues, including digestive problems.

Other women also came forward to support her and shared their experiences at Stockton Maternity Ward.

Nikki Stainsby, 35, of Hartlepool, was born in October 2020 and reflected her "terrible" experience.

She described being taken to the ward an hour after birth, still bleeding, and then staying in the same bloody sheet for 12 hours.

"It was only when I said I was going to stand up and change them that they finally changed them, and there was no offer to help the painful ones," she said.

Miss Stansby was stitched immediately after she was born, but after a few weeks she kept tearing them apart.

She added: “I went back to the doctor and the latter sent me to the gynecologist and he told me they were wrong and I had to let them open and switch them back.

"This is terrible, and I was in such a terrible mood during that time."

A spokesperson for the NorthTes Hospital Trust said: “We continue to provide open communication lines to try to resolve the issues raised.

“The Trust supports any complainant who has attracted attention from our organization.

“We encourage working with the patient experience team to ensure that individual cases are properly handled.

“We are always committed to ensuring safe, high-quality care for all patients.

“We continue to work closely with the Nursing Quality Commission to ensure that all actions identified in the 2022 inspection were enacted.”

NHS England has been contacted for comment.