All three closest maternity hospitals on divert, is this normal?

[Shopaholic100]

Currently a birthing partner for someone who is 39 weeks pregnant, she had some concerns and phoned the maternity triage at the local hospital who said they couldn’t accept new patients and they would try another local hospital. They called back and said one was also on divert and the other was not picking up. When I called them they said they were on divert too. Is this normal? Obviously baby is due any day and we are worried.

Are you in or near Southampton? Apparently it happens quite a lot at Southampton Trust, but a day later it can all be ok again.

If the concerns are about the health of the baby is just go straight to the nearest Maternity Hospital.

When choosing hospitals I was told not to pick the closest as they often had to divert, so picked the next closest. I was going to have a scheduled section but my waters broke ten days early so went in and that hospital went on divert that night too. So I guess any new patients were pushed further out! Fortunately there are a number of hospitals around.

It's because the hospitals are running at capacity and don't have excess space. Birth obviously isn't something you can schedule so they are supposed to have excess in order to handle fluctuations in demand but the funding isn't there.

Don't stress, they will let her in when she is actually in active labour, one will find a place for her.

However what are the concerns? Does she need to be seen tonight? Which one is she registered with, and does she have a direct number for her own midwife (or consultant)?

If you are worried then you need to be seen. I would call them and ask what they suggest you do as you need to be seen and no hospital is taking patients. They will have an escalation policy that needs to be followed.

It’s not terribly uncommon for hospitals to be on divert. They work really closely together to get things managed safely and they all know how stressful diverting is. It’s probably more unusual for several nearby units to divert but probably not unheard of. It often only lasts for a few hours and then normal service resumes. Do not do what pp suggests though and just rock up at the nearest place - contact whatever triage line there is and take their advice.

Does need to be seen tonight just to rule out it’s not something serious. Not Southampton area. Just really surprised that all 3 closest ones are in the same situation. Hope baby is ok and doesn’t arrive today.

Please don’t do this if they are closed. A maternity unit only closes in extreme circumstances mainly because they don’t want to to women away but also because they lose money while closed. The chances are there literally would not be a bed available. I have had to make this decision to close to new admissions and believe me we do everything not to close. Chances are by tomorrow it’ll be open again.

They should be able to tell you which other hospitals are not on divert. Problem is that one closes and there is a knock on effect on the next closest and then this ripples out. If the first hospital can’t tell you where else is open just start ringing p even further afield to get an idea of where is open.

if your friend still has concerns she should keep ringing other places until she finds somewhere open. But try the first hospital first and ask for suggestions of others open.

One of the hospitals I called said I had to call back the original local hospital and they have to arrange it. The patient can’t just call up different maternity hospitals. The lady on triage said to go and they have to deal with it. We have and are curating for a Dr. The system is broken it’s so frustrating. The midwife is so dismissive.

*currently waiting for a Dr. This hospital was recently in the news because a child died due to the mother’s concerns being ignored. Such a shame as some of the community midwives have been amazing.

The absolute last thing you need of you have worries about the health of your unborn child is being told to start dining around other Hospitals.

Hoping everything is alright.

I’m seriously worried about her actually going into labour now. It’s will probably be born by the time they’ve called round all the hospitals!

They’re right, it should be the original hospital who tells you where to go (after having had a chat with other local hospitals to check with them first). Some hospitals are stricter than others if they will be ok with accepting a woman from another hospital who rings up herself or not. Personally in that situation I’d try to think about patient centred care and if we had capacity tell them to come to us. 🤷‍♀️

It does happen OP as we only close in extreme circumstances. Things can change so quickly though and in an hours time it could all be Ok again.

I hope you manage to get sorted and baby is ok

the NHS has been broken for some time. With my youngest I was in and out of hospital with a very complicated pregnancy. I was sent up to 50 miles away when they didn’t have room. The furthest they said they’d sent someone was a 4.5 hour drive away.
and even then when baby was born they had room to keep me but no ITU beds for baby

its such a worry at an already stressful time

We’re at the hospital the Dr is great, friendly and really listened to the symptoms, she is doing further tests and may need to induce based on the results. We had to deal with the passive aggressive initial midwife first, who was still adamant we should have waited and seen the community midwife another day. So glad we didn’t listen to her. My advice to anyone who’s pregnant is, you know your body better than the dismissive members of staff, if something doesn’t feel right go and get it checked. The midwife was adamant as the baby moved everything was ok, but failed to realise that if it wasn’t moving it was probably too late. Prevention is better than cure in my opinion.

Glad to hear the doctor is looking into things properly and you’re receiving good care

Hoping everyone is ok this morning @Shopaholic100

@ExplodingSmittens Thanks everyone is ok. They did some blood tests and monitoring and will call today for a follow up appointment in day triage unit. Glad we went in. We were assigned a different midwife during the monitoring who was excellent.