Croydon University Hospital

[ClaireH76]

Hi everyone,

What have everyone's experiences been of giving birth at Croydon University Hospital? I know this has been asked before but I can't find anything recent and I know there have been a lot of changes there.

I've had a mixed bag with my pregnancy care there up to now but I guess that's the case everywhere.

I'm now being monitored weekly as a day assessment on Hope Ward and it's really worried me. So far every time I've been there it's been dirty, I've had abrupt unfriendly midwives (one in particular) and each time I've left fearing giving birth there.

I'm high risk and my GP recommend it as it's the closest, but I'm not sure if I should change or not. I'm taking the hubby to the open evening next month so he can have a look too.

Anyone have any good/bad stories about it?

Thank you!

My experience was a good one, it's been a few years since I gave birth. I planned to be in the birthing centre (which I'd heard lots of good things about) but ended up on the labour ward because the birthing centre was full. This was actually a good thing in the end as I needed some other assistance so probably would have to have moved.
My midwives were lovely at all times even though some had been there ages and I felt generally well looked after, the only thing I was slightly cross about is that I wasn't allowed to go home that day after they had promised and they changed there mind ( I'm sure for my own good)

I gave birth there 4 days ago to dd2.

Absolutely brilliant experience. The mw in triage and on the labour ward were fantastic. Empathetic, helpful and knowledgeable. I honestly can't praise them enough.

My experience with dd1 at Queen Charlotte in West London was truly horrendous.

I honestly wouldn't hesitate to recommend CUH.

I gave birth there in 2012, and while my prenatal care was very good (I was under consultant care for recurrent miscarriage and then preeclampsia), and my birth itself was generally fine (although I had an exceedingly miserable MW for the majority of my labour), my postnatal care was shocking. I was kept in because they wanted to check on my blood pressure post delivery over night, and it wasn't checked once, I was in a closed cubicle for 10 hours without anyone checking on me - which as it happened was fine but wouldn't have been if I'd developed eclampsia! I told them the following day that I wanted to be discharged, they didn't sort it out and it was only when I told them I'd self discharge they organised the paperwork and had DD checked over.

This time around I'm going to PRU.

According to the Which Birthchoice - the professionals guide, CUH has an emergency c/s rate of more than 23%. That compares with 11.7% at St Georges, which is 4 miles down the road.

I think that's quite concerning. Not sure I'd want to give birth there if they're doing such a colossal amount of surgery in maternity (37% c/s overall - that was the highest in the UK in 2013/2014)

Heard a mix of good and bad stories about Croydon University hospital over the years which is why I went to the PRUH.

I don't have personal experience of the maternity services though so I'm probably not best placed to say, but I heard enough bad experiences to be put off. I second taking a look at the birth choices website that nicole mentioned.