Lister Hospital Stevenage or Luton and Dunstable

[Skittles666]

Hi everyone - I am new to Mumsnet but hoping for some help and advice.
I am pregnant with my second baby and at the moment I am scheduled to have the baby at Lister. But I am not sure this is the right choice.

I had my son at QE11 and they were excellent but this is not an option anymore as the maternity ward is now closed.
I have heard quite a few scary stories from Lister and myself had a bad experience as has a family member - but this was a fair few years ago and it may have changed/improved since?
I live in Hitchin so the next nearest maternity unit would be Luton and Dunstable and I do not have any knowledge of the maternity ward and if it is better/worse than Lister?
Any help with experiences of both maternity suites would help me greatlly to make an informed decision
Thank you in advance :)

Hi Op, I can't give you any advice on L&D, but I had both my babies at the Lister in the last 5 years, and know a lot of other people who have too. My first was born by EMC (following failed induction with some complications) and the other was a planned section. I would say mostly I had positive experiences of both the staff and the hospital but the first birth less so (we had a short spell in NICU which was traumatic and I did have very mixed encounters with different doctors). I know two people had bad experiences (one more relating to after care and the other was 8 years ago and the midwife concerned has moved on). Everyone else I know had mostly very positive experiences. The lister has a modern and well equipped midwifery led unit, and if you have a straightforward birth you could be home the same day. There are some side rooms you can pay for (but it pot luck and there is huge demand - we couldn't get one even when I was there for 5 nights).the post natal ward is a bit grim - crowded and stuffy and hot, definitely take your own drinks and pillow. But hopefully you'd only need one night there at the most. My second, planned section was excellent. I couldn't have hoped for a better birth or care, my surgeon was wonderful, the staff were so supportive. I think most maternity units probably suffer from lack of resources, underfunding and staff shortages - you're going to get outstanding and less good staff in any hospital.

Are there any particular aspects you are interested in or concerned about?

If you live on the Stevenage side of Hitchin, it's going to be a lot quicker to get to the Lister. I doubt they're doing tours of the unit at the moment, but if they are / they resume then I'd recommend it.

I was a birthing partner at the Lister 2 years ago. It was a week of one mistake after another.

My sister arrived for an induction after her waters had gone. She was told she was the next one to go down to delivery for the drip for 36hrs. It was busy, but she was next, they were waiting for the phone call etc. So she was in limbo thinking any minute she would be moved, so couldn't sleep or relax.

Finally got downstairs and onto a drip. The midwives she had were very nice. After 18hrs on a drip with no progress and a distressed baby it was an emergency section.

The baby wouldn't feed in recovery, but we were told it was fine they don't feed a lot.

Sent to postnatal during visiting time. We couldn't get into the ward the crowd was so bust around the tea making bit.

The baby still wouldn't feed, kept getting fobbed off. She said he was breathing a bit jerkily, was told that's normal. Finally sent round a breast feeding consultant, who immediately whipped the baby off to NICU as he had a massive infection due to waters being gone for so long and was struggling to breathe. No one updated my sister for 2 hrs. She was still in bed with a catheter.

When she was up she collapsed in the shower. She had a blood transfusion. It was noted she lost a lot of blood during the section and should have been given iron tablets but was over looked. They tried to tell her she was given them and she was silly for forgetting.

She had bed sores where she had been sat with an epidural and then with a catheter in post section for so long.

My sil gave birth on the loo as her midwife told her she was being dramatic.