Princess Alexandra Hospital or Broomfield in Chelmsford

[babynelly2010]

Still early days for me but wondering about opinions on maternity in these two hospitals. I know broomfield has a better rating but it is 40 minutes drive from me, I am not too crazy about Princess Alexandra Hospital and would like to avoid it but it is 20 minute drive from me. This is my 3rd baby, my first labour was almost 2 days, my second about 8 hours. I am planning to ask for consultant care due to pregnancy with very large baby last time, and some damages that it produced on my body, I am very certain I had missed GD as DS also had low blood sugar when he was born. I will be asking for epidural as well even though the first two were born in birth centres.
Anyone with experience at these hospitals and some advice?

[SingToMeInFrench]

I gave birth in the MLU at Broomfield 3 years ago- absolutely loved it, MWs were excellent. I had a water birth and gas and air.

However, a few months back I was speak to a nurse who works at Broomfield and she mentioned the maternity unit has gone down hill recently and it's been through a high staff turnover. Maybe worth investigating?

[babynelly2010]

Thank you for this.
I looked up this website //www.cqc.org.uk/ and it indicates that maternity at PA in harlow is rated good with caring outstanding. The only failure they got in maternity is security and prevention from baby abduction. Looks like the hospital is not very impressive but with good maternity service.
Broomfield on the other hand performed poorly pretty much across the maternity needs improvement so does the hospital.
I am in epping/ theydon bois area, are there any other good options around this woods?

[DeliciouslyHella]

I had DD at the PAH in September and couldn't recommend it more highly. The security issues flagged in the CQC report have now been sorted - an additional buzzer has been added to the maternity unit entrance so you need to be let in or out by a staff member. That being said, I was admitted antenatally before those changes were made and it still felt very safe.

I also think proximity to the hospital cannot be overrated. My pregnancy was a bit complicated in the end and so had to visit the hospital 2 or 3 times a week from 30 weeks onwards. If it had been a longer journey, it would've been hell.

[ConkersDontScareSpiders]

Had both mine at princess Alex-was great

[babynelly2010]

hi, thank you for your review.
Couple days ago I called one of the popular busy london maternity units that I also added to the mix of options to ask how they would deal with out catchment area mothers and the lady essentially was very unimpressed with me on the phone and said I need to go and read the website and I should just do self referral form to get answers. After that I called PAH midwife and a lovely lady picked up a phone. She was very friendly, took my information and said she will get me in the system. I decided the distance is good and also people are more important to me than a swanky new building.
I am sorry about your pregnancy complications deliciouslyhella. Sounds like they took good care of you :)

[pooky82]

I had my DD at Princess Alexandra in July and cannot speak highly enough of the midwives we had during the labour - we started in the birthing centre before transferring to the labour ward and were there a long time so had many shift changes! The midwives on the post-labour ward were also great, just a bit understaffed (blame Jeremy ) but don't be afraid to buzz if you need help! One thing I would say is that they are VERY pro-breastfeeding and at times I did feel a bit under pressure (I'm at FTM) so don't be afraid say you need help/ask to express/ask for formula etc if that's what you want.

Good luck!!

[babynelly2010]

thanks pooky. MWs sounds great. How did you find postnatal ward? was it noisy, were there many people in one room?

[Gardencentregroupie]

I had my DD at PAH. Their care was, IMO, faultless (except arguably on the post natal ward but that seems to be standard everywhere). My midwife went above and beyond, staying well past the end of her shift to take care of me. She was a wonderful advocate for what I wanted. I had some complications, including a rare one which is often missed, they spotted and sorted it and the doctor came by the ward again the next day to explain what had happened and what they had done and the prognosis because he thought I was maybe too exhausted/out of it to take it in at the time.

I had the choice between Broomfield and PAH this time, I had no hesitation picking PAH (esp as one of the consultants debriefed me after the last birth and promised he would sign me off for a c section if I had another baby )

[Gardencentregroupie]

Cross posts! There were (I think) 4 women on the post natal ward. Not too noisy but bloody hot and a bit understaffed. Food was decent though and they were strict with visiting hours which kept it peaceful.

[DeliciouslyHella]

There were 4 to a bay when I was on the postnatal ward. There are private rooms available at a cost, but only a couple are on the postnatal ward - the others are at the entrance to the maternity unit and are shared between the antenatal and postnatal wards.

[pooky82]

We paid for a private room on the post natal ward so I can't say what the actual bays were like, though I think it was 4 people per bay. It was quite noisy with various buzzers and door bells etc bit that's to be expected I guess.

[babynelly2010]

Pooky how much did you pay for a private room?