East Surrey, Redhill v's Princess royal, Haywards Heath

[pigleychez]

Please can you share your experiences of either.

Even better if you have birthed in both!

[StrumpetMajor]

I had both my DC's at Redhill and was very pleased with the care that I had there. They took really good care of me and my DS and kept us in for a few days as he was diagnosed anti-natally as having an enlarged kidney.

The only bad thing IMO is that the toilets and showers were always really manky. Bloody dressings would still be on the floor hours later. However, I have no experience of the level of cleanliness at Princess Royal so it could be the same.

I believe, although may be wrong here, that Redhill has the intensive care facilities for baby if something goes wrong and Princess Royal doesn't. You'd be transferred to Brighton. I'm not sure if that's still correct though.

[chinook]

I had my dd at East Surrey in 2006 and plan to have next one there in Feb next year. I found everyone excellent. There is also the separate midwife led area and a few birthing pools you can go in if you want that kind of delivery. All my friends have delivered there too and have all been happy with the care they received. And we have covered lots of possible scenarios between us. Natural deliveries, inductions, planned and emergency sections and very premature births with months of special care.

That said I think the distance you would have to travel should be a consideration. East Surrey is only 10 mins drive for me and I was very glad of that when the time came!

Good luck

[ErikaMaye]

Am having mine at PRH in nine weeks (hopefully!!!) so will let you know!

[scrappydappydoo]

No experience of princess royal but had both dds at esh. DD1 was a bit traumatic - had very long labour and felt I was bit sidelined but when things went wrong (dds heart rate dropped and didn't recover) I couldn't fault their speedy and quick response (had a crash c-section). They were very supportive of my vbac with dd2. Post birth for both dds was ok - they were very busy on the ward so you are left to get on with things a bit but someone will help if you need it. I didn't have issue with loos or showers.
Hoping to conceive dc3 and make use of new midwife led unit there. . I would agree though - go on distance.
(although I would also say several of my friends have used crowborough birth centre and said its fab)

[loveandpeace]

I had my dd in east surrey in 2006 and had great experience and will be having 2nd in march definately there too. ( chinnock we are very similar!)

The only thing was lack of space on the wards which meant we were left in the labour room all day, This wasn't so bad though as it was private room with en-suite so probably better!

My sister in law had her ds in princess royal and although she said they were great she had to be transferred to bigger hospital as there were problems with the baby they couldn't deal with there. It is worth being aware of this.

[southernbelle77]

I had dd at ESH in 2004 and will be having dd2 there in a few weeks (eek!). I didn't have a bad experience last time and the staff were all very good. I like the fact they have the mnidwife led unit now and also the birthing pool area (although I can't use it ).
Distance is also a factor. We live pretty much the same distance from both (think PRH might be about 5 miles closer), but by going to ESH I could have all my anti natal appts and scans in my home town rather than having to travel the 30+ plus that it takes to get to either hospital.

I have heard good and bad things about both hospitals but in my experience, ESH has been fine!

[pigleychez]

Thanks for sharing your experiences ladies.

I had DD there July last year and didnt have a good experience in the ward post birth.
Im newly pregnant with number2 and was wondering about giving HH a go or not. I have lots of questions that i'll be firing at the MW at my booking appointment.

Southernbelle- Sounds like we may live in the same town... Crawley? Does going to HH mean you have to have all your antenatal appointments there too? With DD I was being constantly sent for BP monitoring so guess that would mean id be send to HH each time.

Just trying to think logisitcs now I already have a little one.

[AnathemaDevice]

I had DS in East Surrey in April this year. No complaints from me, even though I was mightily annoyed at the time- I'd been booked into Crowborough birthing centre but DS decided he didn't want to arrive on time, which meant I went too overdue to go there.
Anyway, midwives were lovely and it was clean enough (I'd heard horror stories of hospital bathrooms and was expecting Psycho style blood splatters up the walls). I didn't get much attention from midwives post-birth but that was fine by me. I had a straightforward birth and didn't need or want any fussing over. However from what I saw the women who had had C/S or were having trouble with feeding were getting a lot of assistance.
My only complaint was the food. Get your DH/P to bring a packed lunch in for you, you'll go hungry otherwise!

[southernbelle77]

I'm in Horsham so quite close! I'm not sure about Crawley, but here at least if you go to HH you have to have your appts in HH rather than by choosing ES I can have all my appts at the hosptial or at the doctors - which for me has been good as having to see consultant and have had extra scans etc.

I guess it's harder tho if you haven't had a great experience at ES to want to go back there.

Good luck!

[policywonk]

I had both DSs at PRH and had a great experience both times - would thoroughly recommend it.