Best hospital to give birth in near Brentwood area

[Katherinenicola]

Hi there, my husband and I have just discovered we're having a baby!

We need to choose the hospital we would like to give birth in and as we can't go and see them it's more difficult. As a result, I was wondering if anyone could help me on this? We are thinking of Broomfield hospital or potentially Southend hospital, which is about a 30-40 minute drive, because I've heard bad things about Queens and Basildon. Does anyone have any advise on this, or any other good hospital in the area that anyone has had a good experience in? It would be really helpful.

Thank you!

I've dealt with both Broomfield and Basildon in this pregnancy. Broomfield feels a lot more modern compared to Basildon but I've had some issues with both. Ended up changing as we moved house and being a high risk pregnancy, I wanted to go to the nearest hospital to where I live.

I've found Basildon deals with high risk pregnancies a lot better than Broomfield. They have a specialist unit called the Mulberry Assessment Unit so if you have any complications such as bleeds or minimal movement of the baby, you are seen the same day and checked over. Broomfield made me wait three days for a scan each time I had a bleed which was torture (I had three in total). If I wanted to be seen sooner, I had to sit in A&E for hours or pay for a private scan. Getting hold of the person I needed to at Broomfield was also impossible especially in what we deemed as an emergency.

Antenatal appointments I preferred Broomfield as they just seemed to have a nicer bedside manner. However my midwife now is amazing and they have a great gestational diabetes team at Basildon which has given me a lot of comfort that we're being looked after.

If you're low risk it may be work looking at a midwife led unit - there's one in Maldon off the top of my head - not so sure about elsewhere. Someone I know decided against Southend as they didn't like the feel of it and went to Maldon. Again, I've heard mixed reviews about all hospitals in the area but I think you get that with any maternity unit. Also remember if you're not happy you can always change further down the line.

You're completely right to swerve Queens - too many horror stories from friends that it wasn't even on our radar.

And congratulations!!!!

I had my baby at Basildon in October last year.
4 weeks early and was an EMCS. I really have nothing but good things to say about my experience. The care was brilliant from start to finish.
I do know a few of my antenatal friends who found the post natal care a little lacking though.
Broomfield is much newer which is nice but when I had my booking appointment my midwife recommended Basildon over Broomfield or Southend.

Agree with the PP who suggested a midwife led unit. I know someone who went to one Billericay way I think and they had a lovely water birth.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Thank you so much both, I really appreciate all the help and advise you've given, very helpful. It's going to be hard picking without seeing any. The reason I am leaning more towards a hospital is that I think I'll probably want an epidural, otherwise a midwife led unit would be ideal.

Have you heard anything about King George Hospital?

I had a bleed and was seen at Broomfield very quickly, they were brilliant. The post-natal ward was awful but I think that's the case in most hospitals, unfortunately. Otherwise I was very happy with my level of care.

After 24 hours (c section) we transferred to WJC in Braintree which was like heaven compared to the post natal ward 😁

Thank you so much for your advice. WJC in Braintree looks lovely!

I had both mine at Broomfield as did my sister and we both had very good experiences. My second was born unexpectedly critically ill and I can not fault the care for either me or him afterwards (he is OK now). I feel like the care there is very personal. I requested a section with my second due to some trauma with my first delivery and I was listened to.

Post natal care fell under the Brentwood community midwives, who are nice but not organised. One phoned to tell me off as she had been knocking on the door to see me on day 5. DS was in NICU and she hadn’t read her paperwork. I was pretty upset about that at the time.

Thank you so much all, such helpful advise xx

I had both mine at Basildon and was very happy. It has a track record for offering excellent maternity services.
Don't underestimate the value of using your local hospital. I had some issues at the end of both pregnancies which meant a lot of toing and froing for me and my DH. I wouldn't have fancied doing the journey from Brentwood to Braintree that often.

I was under Broomfield but only had my scans there, all my appointments and birth were at WJC and it was amazing and felt like a home from home. I was the only person giving birth at the time so had all the lovely staff to hand. I highly recommend it if anyone is pregnant and local.

WJC sounds lovely. However I’m going to choose a hospital in case I want an epidural xx