Pembury, Maidstone or Farnborough - your stories please!

[SamanthaB123]

I have to choose between these three hospitals for the birth of my baby in October. I've heard bad things about all three so would like some help in choosing! Please share your positive and negative stories about all three, thank you, SB

I lost my baby at 5months but did give birth naturally. I had him at Maidstone and would say the staff were mainly very good. I had a young midwife to start with but she quickly disappeared when it was evident I was actually going into labour. I had Rosemary after that and she delivered my baby and came to see me after her shift. I had Anya the next morning and she was also wonderful. It is a busy hospital but as long as you have someone with you who can shout down the hall for assistance then you'll be alright. I'll go back there again if I get pregnant in the future as they did make me feel cared for.

sayitwithsam I'm really sorry that you lost your baby. I'm glad the staff were good and that you had a positive experience in that respect. I have been ante natally to both Pembury and Maidstone and preferred Maidstone but it's not the hospital that I would automatically go to.

I know it's not like we get to choose who we get or anything but if you get the female consultant then you can relax. She seems by far the most approachable and knowledgeable. Good luck.

which is the nearest to you and when is your baby due?

I ask this because if you are closer to Maidstone and your baby is due in December/jan/feb, then I wouldn't choose Pembury as whathappens if you go into labour during heavy snow, and you have to treck all that way in labour?

I am A doula and have supported at all 3 of thos ehospitals amongst others, I think in my experience, Maidstone - 1, Pembury 2 Pruh, -3.

I have also had some of my own babies at Maidstone and pg complications and had absolutely fantastic care at Maidstone. I will be going there myself when number 6 arrives in the new year.

hth.

There's two Rosemaries at Maidstone (or maybe more). I had one of them for most of the labour and they were both there for the delivery. Very good, but I did find it all a bit hectic and possibly understaffed in the delivery ward. Post-natal ward was great - so many lovely midwives and one lovely lovely HCA who spent so much time helping me with breastfeeding - she was so patient. I can't remember her name, but she was young and very pretty .
I had a few problems with myself and my DS, which I think they could have picked up sooner, but once they did they were fab, and moved me to a side room for a few days (much better).
The new Pembury hospital looks amazing, and apparently there are no curtained wards - it is all private rooms with en-suite - but I would really have reservations about going there due to the location as like liahgen66 said, it could be really difficult to get to in bad weather conditions or if there is an accident on the road etc.
No experience on the other hospital I'm afraid. Where are you based?

I am in the Sevenoaks area so all three hospitals are about the same distance apart. I am naturally sent to Pembury for scans and am under a consultant there as I have a problematic cyst. The care has been awful, quite disjointed and each time I see someone different they say a different thing. One doctor wanted to operate on me whilst pregnant due to the risks of the cyst twisting, another thinks it's unlikely to twist but that I will need surgery post delivery, someone else thought I would need a section because it was in the way of the birth canal. None of them agree - and none of the doctors have agreed with the consultant either. I also found out that none of the rooms have their own loo. I know I might seem a bit picky but in my previous labours I spent a lot of time being sick and going to the loo. I don't want to have to walk down the corridor and queue up. It doesn't aid a relaxing experience. Sorry, I'm going on a bit. Maidstone sounds like the best bet so far...

maidstone does have a policy nowadays of one mw per labouring woman once in delivery suite too, which they seem to get most of the time. ie, the mw is not rushing from room to room.

Maidstone don't have their own loos either though - there is only one side room with a private loo as far as I am aware?

DD1 born at PRU. lovely midwives (one qualified, one trainee for the whole time), own loos, aftercare could have been better.

DD2 born at Maidstone. Really good care on the run upto the birth (I had complications) - didn't get to see my consultant but the ladies in the daycare unit were fantastic. Midwives were lovely (Zoe, qualified plus a trainee for the whole time), aftercare very good. The delivery room had a shared loo/shower (i.e two rooms to one loo).

maidstone do have own loos, I had one with dd. not all rooms though.

Sorry I meant they don't have their own loos in postnatal - I did have my own loo in the labour ward.

I am fixated with having my own loo, what's the matter with me?! I just want to feel calm and relaxed and like I can just 'be'. Thanks for all the help. Does anyone know if there is a scbu/neo natal unit at Maidstone? I heard that there wasn't but it doesn't sound right to me.

ah pioneer you are correct, post nataly they do not.

samantha Nothing wrong with wanting your own loo.

They have scbu but I think for more serious problems baby would be transferred somewhere else. ould be wrong on the last point thopugh.

Yes def have scbu at Maidstone as my DS was treated in there.

I thoroughly recommend Pembury because I was born there back in the day!

Watching this with interest as I'm also Sevenoaks and October! Going entirely on anecdotal evidence, I've so far picked Pembury. Midwives seem to like it. The only thing I'm nervous about is the choke point on the flipping A21, but nothing an ambo flashing its lights can't fix.

Maidstone (and for that matter Kent and Sussex) I've got to know quite well though through my father's kindness in going into a diabetic meltdown this year, and the staff and facilities seem pretty good, although obvs I was nowhere near the labour ward.

I've not yet heard anything positive about Farnborough.

I pick houses to live in based on the loos; loos are VITAL!

Thank you for all of your messages. Fiona when are you due? Are you going to ante-natal classes here because we may well meet up later on! We were a little worried about the A21 too in getting to Pembury. None of the delivery rooms there have en-suites which is awful. I went to Pembury with a problem a few weeks ago and when I used the loo to give a sample it wasn't at all clean. There was blood visable on the seat and inside the loo. Yuk. Farnborough have an open evening on the first Tuesday of every month where you can meet midwives and watch a dvd that shows the delivery areas. All their rooms are en-suite. As an aside they also have real nappy people there too with free samples. When I spoke to Farnborough they did say that it was all well and good picking the hospital that I like the best but if I need an ambulance it will take me to the nearest hospital, I won't get any choice.

I had DS1 at Pembury ten years ago.

My memories of it were that it was tatty but the staff were kind.

I don't remember a loo on delivery suite but I had an epidural as soon as I go there so didn't need it anyway. to realise they don't have en-suites, even now?

I remember the loos in the post-natal ward being quite old and shabby too. But actually I quite liked the way that - presumably because of this - they left disinfectant wipes in the loos with a sign asking you to wipe the loo seat/handle etc before and after use. As a slightly OCD person I felt highly comfortable following that instruction!

It was 3.30am when they decided I needed an EMCS. It had been very quiet and dark, and suddenly all these people appeared out of nowhere and whisked me into the theatre. I couldn't get over how nice they all were. I would struggle to be nice to anyone at 3.30am.

Due 23 Oct, Samantha - our antenatal classes start 31 August.

dirty loos. I think I probably will have to go look at all the hospitals for myself anyway. The thing that attracted me about Pembury was exactly what BalloonSlayer says: everyone, but everyone, including nurses at other hospitals, say that the Pembury midwives are really nice, and in the end it's going to be the people that make the experience, not so much the facilities. But dirty shared loos! Well, maybe I will simply pack lots of disinfectant and send my clean-freak husband in first.

Hmmm. I'm going to be having my first in Pembury next year and am a little annoyed about the thought of no en suits. I just assumed from watching One Born Every Minute that all birthing rooms had loos of their own. Isn't Pembury brand new, though? Did it not occur to them to build en suits when they built the birthing centre bit of it?

Oh and does anyone know if Pembury does water births? I'm thinking of having one...

zerominuszero, the new Pembury maternity unit is due to open in January 2011, the whole hospital is single rooms only, all with en suites... lucky you! The old hospital has one birth pool, don't know about the new.

I'm due early January, so probably the tatty old hospital for me, don't have great memories of the place so crossing fingers very tightly that this one is low risk and arrives before it has to be evicted so I can have a homebirth (only just down the road, so can get there pretty fast in emergency)

SamB, I had pretty good care whilst on the delivery suite at Pembury with DS, but that was only a few hours. Ante-natal and post-natal wards were full to bursting so staff pretty overstretched, if you're lucky it'll be quieter. Also, they do have a few private rooms on the post-natal ward, which you can pay for if not high risk, I think they're en-suite.

hope that helps...

I have heard Pembury is dirty, no experience of Farnborough and I had all my kids at Maidstone Had some lovely midwives and some bloody awful ones.

Thanks AlbaDeTamble fingers crossed that you get the good one. I'm late feb so I hope they don't fall behind schedule with the building of it... or that I pop too early...

When I have asked around health professionals (midwives, chiropractor etc) they all think that Pembury is the best on offer which really worries me. I am going to have to really prepare myself for this - if I need an ambulance to get me to hospital for any reason they will only take me to Pembury so I might not have any choice. In saying that I think that Maidstone is probably my first choice, not least because of the one to one midwife policy. I am mainly concerned with the delivery part of the hospital experience as assuming all goes well, I don't really plan to be in for long. With DD#2 I would have gone home after the birth had it not been late int he evening. Unless you need to stay post-natal wards are noisy and not really conducive to any kind of sleep or recovery!

Thanks for all the responses, good luck with all your pregnancies, SB x

I had DS at Pembury 3 years ago and am about to have DS2 there as well (due this Saturday ). Not much to add to what others have said, really. Pembury is pretty easy to sum up - tatty as hell, but the MWs are lovely. The food is shite, the buildings feel like a bloody field hospital, but for me personally (everyone's different) that matters far less than the people. I like the home from home suite there as well, and that's where I'm hoping to deliver this baby. I've also had other care at Pembury (gynae but not pregnancy related) and it was pretty shit, frankly - but all the MWs I've met there were great. (To be fair, I also took DS to a paed consultant there recently, and he was excellent.)

WRT to loos, it probably says it all that, having only ever been to Pembury, it never even occurred to me that delivery rooms might have ensuite facilities . I staggered to the loo a few times during labour without any problems, and I did my throwing up all over the delivery room , so not really an issue for me (it was only once, though - if you're likely to be sick a lot, then I can see why it would matter to you.)