tameside hospital? have you had a baby there?

[OnlyWantsOne]

my friend is moving to Manchester and has been booked in at Tameside, shes a bit worried, moving from small MLU to a big hosp, have any of you lot had a baby there? What were the MWs like??

Fantastic!
I had DD there 4 years ago and DS 10 days ago. I was in overnight with DD and I had to stay in for 2 nights with DS, plus the night I was in labour.
DD was consultant led, DS I was midwifery led, but ended up being seen by a consultant for the 3rd stage of labour due to a stubborn placenta.

I couldn't fault them everyone was very caring, everything was explained fully. Yes, they were busy and I had to wait a while for some things, but not the important things. I'd be surprised if there was a hospital in the country that wasn't stretched. With DS they sorted me out a private room because they realised I'd be in a while, people came and checked on me regularly and made sure I had everything I needed and I could reach the buzzer if needed.

Is your friend still going to be midwifery led? They do tours of the labour ward, midwifery led rooms etc so I recommend she goes and has a look around. If she's midwifery led she'll also get first dibs on the birth pool. I had DS in there and highly recommend it. But tell her to take CD's their selection was rubbish. :o

I know Tameside doesn't have the best reputation, but the maternity unit always comes out very well in reports.

I found the MWs at Tameside fantastic! I gave birth to my DS 4 weeks ago. I didn't feel like I was left alone for ages and I kept being checked on. I had to be monitored due to high blood pressure and moved from midwifery led to consultancy care. I said I didn't want to stay strapped to a monitor and to lie down, so they helped me use the birthing ball and keep active.

The post natal ward was definitely busy, but whenever I rang the buzzer someone was with me straight away. I was in for 3 days as I was trying my best to breastfeed. It didn't work out for us, but the MWs were so helpful and non judemental.

It was a really positive experience. I would also recommend going on the tour of the maternity unit. I felt so much more confident knowing where I was going!

Good luck to your friend!

Wouldn't go there if you paid me!!!!

I'm in Oldham which doesn't have an MLU and after a tour DH and I decided to look at Tameside as an alternative. Midwife doing the tour was horrendous - the worst communications skills ever, and failed to explain the basics that even I knew. She could have been dragged in off the street. the mlu is basically 1 pool room and 1 mlu room on the same corridor as the consultant led facilities. Wouldn't really call it a unit- in fact Oldham has more and better facilities that are classed as 'low risk' even though officially their mlu unit is not established. To top it off, during our tour we got stuck in a lift for an hour- 20 people, 10 heavily pregnant women, some very anxious and distressed. This happened in a lift that had broken down twice already. No one knew what they were doing, nurses in the ward thought it was a hillarious and it took 2 husbands in the lift to finally take control and get the fire bridge to get us out. Complete lack of policy, order and control. No faith in them. And yes, Tameside hospital does have a generally bad reputation, which I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt about, but my experience there just reinforced this view.

I'm having a home birth!!!

If your friend isn't too far, st marys in Manchester city centre has excellent reviews. But it's just to far for us.

my birth experience at this hospital was shocking! I would never recommend this hospital. I had to take drugs during my pregnancy that made my baby larger than expected and was told I would need a caesarian by one of the doctors. I was then booked under a different consultant who refused any request for a caesarian with no real explanation at all (this hospital has the lowest elective caesarian rate in the north west and gets extra funding for this - incidentally it has one of the highest emergency caesarian rates!) I was induced a week early as my baby was large I quote 'this was the best they were prepared to offer me' as an alternative to caesarian. I was induced and went into labour then had to wait 15 hours to be sent to the labour ward. My baby got stuck and went into distress with a heart rate of 40 which I noticed not the midwife - she then told me the monitor was picking up my heart beat not my baby's heart beat (she should have still been worried if it was 40 and my heart beat IMO) in the end I pulled emergency bell 2 doctors and 4 midwives came in my baby was back to back breach - the midwife hadn't noticed, in distress and shoulders were stuck. I had to have an episiostomy and ventouse but still got a third degree tear. They used stirrups for me that had blood on them from the previous patient. I lost over 2500mls of blood in the end and needed emergency surgery and I didn't get to hold my baby properly for about 8 hours after he was born. During the time I was in theater no one even thought to give my baby a cup feed - I wanted to BF so by the time I came back his blood sugars were so low a midwive just ordered me to give him a bottle and he never took to BF after that. I still suffer problems because of the damage they caused me there I genuinely feel like I was butchered at this hospital. I didn't get any de brief or follow up afterwards. I had a catheter in for days afterwards and I am now under a different hospital waiting for surgery to correct how badly they 'repaired' me at Tameside hospital. Please don't use this hospital if you have the means to get elsewhere!