Liverpool Womens Hospital /Ormskirk Hospital. Anyone given birth in either?

[Paddysmum]

Has anyone given birth at Liverpool Women's or Ormskirk Hospital? I am due in September and I have been on tours of both hospitals. I think I am leaning towards Ormskirk at the moment because it seems somehow friendler and less impersonal than the Women's. I would really appreciate any advice/to hear about mums experiences in either hospital to help me make my decision.

[joec]

hi had my 4th baby at liverpool womens. (was a c-saection)
midwives were lovely but basically run off their feet and really short staffed. havent been to ormskirk but womens are also taking all deliveries from fazakerley which has closed their delivery suite down..

[BROWNY]

Hi Paddysmum,

I've had all 4 of my children at Liverpool Women's and have found exactly the same as Joec. I found it extremely understaffed - I was constantly being left for hours at a time, as the midwives were dashing between labour rooms! My hubby had to fetch the porter to get more gas and air for me - iced jugs of water and paracetamol were considered luxuries!! I had one midwife help me to latch on my son - said he was O.k. and left me to it - needless to say breasfeeding him only lasted 10 days .

I stayed five nights with my dd1 (emerg.c-section), 1 night with dd2, home same day with ds1 and 1 night with ds2!! HTH

[Piggiesmum]

Hi Paddysmum.

I'm due in Ocober and expecting to give birth at Ormskirk too. A few people at work have either been there or know someone who has and so far I've only heard good things about it.

[Nemo1977]

hi
i had my ds in womens in oct 03 and was induced with him. It was understaffed but the staff were lovely. There seemed to be a lot more staff on the ward than on the delivery suite. I am having no.2 there in dec so it cant have been that bad as i had a choice between there and whiston.

[mummytosteven]

I had DS at the Women's last year. I would say that the ante-natal care and care on delivery were fab, the post-natal care a bit ropey - awful food, awful bathrooms (but hopefully you won't need to be in very long after the birth), and understaffing.

[Eriberri]

I had both of mine at LWH, inductions due to pre-eclampsia. I would say that if everything is normal with your pregnancy, aim to go to the Midwife Led Unit, lovely unit, pool room is on there, normal birth encouraged. Understaffed as a lot of units, but still better than delivery suite. I feel like the delivery suite is a bit of a conveyor belt and a lot of the reports I hear coming back are of interventions, etc(I'm a trainee antenatal teacher, so do get a fair bit of feedback). It is improving, but slowly.

Not been to Ormskirk, but understand that they've just had a new purpose built unit done, which is open - assume that was what you've seen. I've heard some good things about Ormskirk though.

[kazoo]

Hi Paddysmum had both my children at Ormskirk one before the new unit built and one after. Dd was born there in january and all the staff were lovely. Both births were traumatic, one premature and one placenta praevia but level of care was great. New unit very clean. Only complaint is the pharmacy. If you need medication dispensing before you leave hospital(like I did) it can take an eternity to arrive. I was actually given the wrong dosage by the pharmacy and one of the midwives from the postnatal ward came to my house to give me the right one. Now that's what I call good service!

[katymac]

In Feb 2000 - the midwives/Drs at the Womens saved my life.....not much else I can say really (ectopic pregnency)

[Nixz]

I was born in Ormskirk, al my friends babies were born there and my dd was also born there. I have to say that i dont fault there level of care at all, but there are a few niggles that annoyed me.
First thing is that i discharged myself after a c section after 3 days cos i was so annoyed at some of the nurses attitude. When my dd was born , she was 4 weeks early, she had a small feed about an hour old and then wanted to sleep. All night and all the next day until 3am they forced the poor little thing to try to latch on to my breast. I was distraught, she was so little and couldnt get to grips with it at all and it put me of breast feeding instantly. They didnt give me a minute to sit and think or try to figure it out for ourselves and at 3am on my first night after a c section, i had to get up out of bed and beg for a bottle - much to their disgust. Secondly, they left my epidural thingy in until ileft - forgot about it apparently! Also, my dp's parents had come down from scotland and they were adamant that because it was past visiting times, they would not let them peep round to say goodbye so i had to take my dd to the door and in the process set off all the alarms. Oh and when my dp was in on the first night she was born, he helped me change her nappy, i was chuffed that he really wanted to have a go and learn straight away, the sister arrived by my bed and said "It takes two to change a nappy - christ". All of these are not huge problems, but they upset me as unfortunately they have stayed with me. I did my nursing training at that hospital ( my lifetime ambition of wanting to be a nurse vanished in 12 months thanks to G - ward!)and my grandad died there when he only went in for a hip op (mrsa) - maybe i shouldnt have replied to this thread, - i would say go to the Womens - i have heard a lot of reports. - Good luck!

[jessysmummy]

Hi Paddysmum! I am due to give birth to #2 in Sept also. I have chosen the LWH over Whiston because:
I gave birth to DD at LWH in Jan 2004 and my experience of the delivery ward was great - once I got out of the waiting room. Wasn't so keen on the post natal ward although it was clean and comfortable and I liked the single rooms.
My sister chose to have her DS2 at LWH although she could have gone to Ormskirk. DS1 had been quite a traumatic birth and she was glad that she had gone to LWH as they are better equipped to deal with complications.
I heard a few complaints about the old Ormskirk unit but the only thing I've heard about the new one is that it was very quiet when a friend went to visit there.
Whichever choice you make I think you (like me) will experience a very busy time as apparently September is the busiest time of year on delivery wards - all those Christmas babies!!
HTH

[Nemo1977]

jessysmum
quick hijack but where do u live? Must be around by me if you had choice between womens and whiston.