Any recent experience of the John Radcliffe maternity in oxford?

[readysetcake]

Due in May. I live in Banbury and gave birth at the Horton hospital last time and it was brilliant. It has now been down graded to a midwife unit only (no Obstetric Doctors on site) and any complications in birth you need to be transferred to the JR. This can take an hour if it’s in the middle of the day, even if you are blue lighted , which quite frankly scares the shit out of me. I.e what if I heamorage after birth, baby gets stuck and needs to get out quickly or a million other things that can go wrong at the last minute in labour. I know midwives are cautious and any sign of trouble early they would send you off. But it’s the last minute emergencies and the transfer time that scare me. So perhaps I should just cut my losses and go straight to the Jr when I’m in labour. They do have a midwife unit on site but I’ve heard you can never get in it as it’s so busy and also heard a couple horror stories of friends who gave birth a few years ago. Lack of space and midwife care due to sheer numbers of women in labour going. (The area the hospital now serves is huge) I’m starting to feel anxious about it already.

So anyone given birth there recently or know someone that has? If it’s really bad I’ll look to give birth out of county. (I’ve posted this in pregnancy and childbirth to get as many responses as I can).

[KimmySchmidt1]

I know the obstetrics doctors there and they are excellent. Not given birth there.

[MrsCaecilius]

I'm near Banbury too but very early days do just considering options. Live the idea of the midwife led unit at the Horton, but the lack of onsite obstetricians is a worry. I've got my booking in appointment at Warwick hospital on Saturday and will talk to the midwife there, but see that the QCQ have rates it's maternity services as 'needing improvement ' which is also worrying!! Not sure what to do....

[readysetcake]

Oh @MrsCaecilius I hadn’t heard that about Warwick. That’s worrying! Can you let me know what your midwife says? It’s not a nice choice to be faced with. If they hadn’t changed the Horton I wouldn’t even be questioning where to give birth.

My final fall back option is to move back home to Hampshire with my mother and give birth at the hospital close to her which has excellent reviews 😂

[MrsCaecilius]

My mum's in Hampshire too!!
I'll let you know after I've spoken to the midwife on Saturday. Feels like Hobson's Choice at the moment. I naively thought there would be good local maternity services wherever I was....

[HamletMouse]

I gave birth there in Dec 2016 so not recent recent but not years ago either. It was great, honestly. I did have to wait for my induction but midwifes were lovely, doctors were lovely- the anaesthetists were more than lovely.

I had to have an emergency caesarian and had to labour in the obstetrics unit due to high blood pressure but I did have a false alarm a few days before actual labour and the midwife suite was completely empty and would have been admitted if it was real labour. It looked nice and comfy to labour in too.

Afterwards, I was in the recovery ward where the midwives were so reassuring and when I was on the general ward, they were always willing to help especially with establishing breastfeeding. I have depression and when I was getting stressed and emotional they actually gave me a private room and I was treated with a lot of sensitivity. Please feel free to PM me if you have any specifíc questions, happy to help :)

[readysetcake]

Thank You for your reply @HamletMouse it sounds like you had a great experience there! I must admit I’ve never heard anyone have a bad word to say about the staff, which is very reassuring. Thanks for sharing 😊

[MrsCaecilius]

Hi @readysetcake - I had my booking in with a lovely community midwife on Saturday at Warwick hospital and she did s good job of reassuring me. She said there had been another service review in Dec and that the hospital is doing well and that a new MLU is due to open this summer, which I'm really keen on. At the moment I'll probably go there - closer than the JR!

[Sosidge]

I live in Banbury too, I went to the Horton to have my first baby in Dec 2016 but was blue lighted to the JR at 2am (took about 20 mins). The care at the JR before and during birth was faultless (although being bought in by ambulance might have helped) but the aftercare was awful. Little help with breastfeeding and we were left in the delivery room from 11am until 5pm (no food and pretty much ignored). The staff were rushed off their feet.
The journey in the ambulance was horrific but frankly the aftercare was so bad at the JR I would rather try again (due Aug 2018) at the Horton in the hope I can have a better aftercare experience than go to the JR.
If you do go to the JR I really hope you have a better experience, however the CQC have just published a report about the JR which was less than complimentary....
www.banburyguardian.co.uk/news/concerns-over-jr-maternity-could-influence-decisions-over-banbury-s-horton-1-8435804

[sophster82]

I had my first baby at the JR in September last year. The experience was pretty horrific - 36 hr labour, semi-failed epidural, ending with emergency forceps, DS not breathing and me suffering big haemorrhage, resulting in us being separated for several days. However much of that was just bad luck and not due to the JR, and from what I understand would likely have happened anywhere (I’m so thankful I hadn’t tried a home birth!). The aftercare was very good - DS and I both in hospital for 7 days and the staff were all lovely. Generally the midwives were great, as were the nurses in paediatric ITU. The obstetrician who delivered DS was absolutely lovely and essentially saved his life. Came to see me several times afterwards and arranged to meet with us 6 weeks later to ‘debrief’ since it had been so difficult. Am now pregnant with my second (quick work!) and will be going back to JR. Bit apprehensive of the labour experience but no hesitation trusting the staff.
All I would say is to be forceful about what you want (pain relief etc) and if I was back in the first labour I would’ve pushed for earlier intervention due to things failing to progress (even though before I went in the one thing I didn’t want was forceps!!)

[thecupcakelady]

Hi Readysetcake!

I live in Banbury, due end of Nov, and am currently weighing up the same options

Which hospital did you choose in the end and what was your experience like?

Hope all went well!! :)