A mother of premature twins told a Covid inquiry she did not feel she was treated as a parent after giving birth in the early stages of the pandemic.

Tamsin Mullen said she was kept in a side room for 27 hours after giving birth by caesarean section while her sons were taken to neonatal intensive care.

He said the “draconian” visitation restrictions meant that, for the next month, only one parent would be allowed to visit their newborns at a time.

“We needed the hospital to understand that we were a family,” she told the inquest.

“We didn’t feel like mothers and fathers to our children the way we should have.”

The Covid inquiry is taking evidence about the impact on maternity services as part of its third section, or module, which is examining the impact on the NHS and health care.

Ms Mullen, a mother of three, was giving direct “impact” evidence on behalf of 13 pregnancy, baby and parenting organisations.

She found out she was expecting twin boys in 2019 and was considered high-risk. When she was pregnant with her first child, she was diagnosed with preeclampsia – a condition that can cause high blood pressure and lead to serious complications.

Her pregnancy was being closely monitored with weekly scans due to concerns about the baby’s development.

Initially she said her husband was able to come with her to scanning appointments, but as Covid spread in March 2020, she was forced to wait in a car park outside after driving 50 miles from their home to the nearest hospital. Fell.

“This was just before the first lockdown came into effect,” she said.

“I was very nervous. “It was very difficult to do this alone, knowing that (pregnancy) was high risk.”

In April 2020, Ms Mullen’s two sons were born prematurely, at 34 weeks, by cesarean section.

Her husband was able to stay with her in the operating theater and then in the recovery room for an hour before he was told that Covid restrictions meant he had to leave.

Their two young boys spent a total of 31 days in neonatal intensive care before being discharged.

Ms Mullen said Covid restrictions meant only one parent could stay with them at a time, even if they were moved to a room away from other children.

The hospital had closed access to a side room used for breastfeeding and Ms Mullen said she was asked to use the toilet to express milk, something she did not want to do because of the risk of infection.

She said the restrictions were “surprising” when both parents lived together and were driving to the hospital in the same car every morning.

She was alone caring for both children in intensive care when hospital staff outside the unit told her they had tested positive for a bacterial infection called MRSA.

“I was holding my son who was on oxygen at the time,” she said.

“I was in a state of shock so didn’t really say much. They (employees) left me and I was alone there.

“I didn’t know what it meant, so I got really nervous.”

A doctor later revealed that the form of MRSA involved was a less severe type that could be treated with soap and water.

“We didn’t feel like we were being treated like parents. It felt like we were visitors and meeting two patients,” he said.