Giving birth at Wexham Park, Royal Berkshire or Frimley?

[Somesome]

I've just moved to Maidenhead from London and need to decide where to give birth. Does anyone have any experience giving birth at Wexham Park (Slough), Royal Berkshire (Reading) or Frimley?

[mummy2myJJ]

I only have a first hand experience at St Peters in Chertsey which i highly recommend but My friend just gave birth at Wexham, she said it was dirty, they weren't very organised and not very caring. Have heard amazing things about Frimley. Good luck x

[loveacupoftea18]

Hi. I had a choice between Wexham and Royal Berks for my first baby.

Wexham treated me terribly over a miscarriage and friends didn't have great birth experiences there.

I went with Royal Berks and they were incredible. About to have number 2 there. DM me if you want any more info!

[WankPuffins]

Wexham doesn’t have the greatest reputation. I had my first there 18 years ago, it was awful and not much has changed over the years from speaking to other women who have given birth there and from people who have had other procedures there.

When I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of the year, my doctor asked where I’d had my first, when I said Wexham the reply was “oh no, you don’t want to go there again do you? There are other options”.

On the other hand, I’ve heard so many positive things about Royal Berks.

[DramaAlpaca]

I had my first at Wexham but that was a long time (27 years) ago. I gather from others that it's really gone downhill since, but my experience was good.

[trilbydoll]

I've had two sections at Frimley. Love the doctors, not quite as enthusiastic about the midwives tbh. They do have a transitional care unit for sick babies and well mothers which I loved, I didn't want to come home!

[BasKaro]

Ihad 4 at frimley and one just now at rbh . Frimley was great but rbh did seem very well set up to deal with my emergency CS so its hard to compare. I think if travel wasn't an issue, I'd chose frimley just because rbh is incredibly busy and it can feel a little conveyor belt like. But my care was amazing and the mw and consultants were amazing too. Wexham I would never chose because it seems to have a bad reputation but I've never experienced any care there

[BasKaro]

Also apparently rbh has more relaxed covid restrictions than frimley at the moment but depending on your due date i am not sure how relevant that is

[Twobecomingthreeplusthedog]

Hi,

I have chosen Frimley over RBH for my first due next year. RBH is a lot closer to me but I have had some horrible experiences there with the gynaecology team as well as my mum almost dying in A&E as they didn’t treat her head injury for 5 hours. I had such awful experiences that I still have counselling 2 years on.

My friend is a GP and has just finished 10 months on the maternity ward at Frimley and she said she loved it. I love how modern it is, the parking is super easy. RBH I would park on the road an get a ticket than attempt their shocker of a multi-storey. I’ve had two private operations in parkside at Frimley and the care has been out of this world.

I have no experience of maternity on either though!

[mummyofseven]

I've had 4 of mine at Frimley and cannot fault them. due to be induced monday with baby number 7. they have just eased restrictions slightly in the last couple of weeks too, which has been great timing for us! Good luck

[ForTheLoveOfDoughnuts]

I gave birth at Frimley last July, lovely hospital, can't fault it. Midwifes were incredible.

I'm due second in April, will be going back to Frimley.

[Twobecomingthreeplusthedog]

This gives me hope that birth can’t be THAT bad if you’re on #7!!!!

[TreestumpsAndTrampolines]

I had my second at Wexham.. don't recommend it.

[mummyofseven]

the end result makes it all worth while! but a good midwife at the birth can make all the difference to your experience. you'll be fine, its what we are designed to do

[Bingbongbinglybong]

Frimley is very good, I have heard. I had a brilliant experience at Royal Berks , I cannot praise them highly enough.

I had a poor experience at Wexham Park althoughit was 10 years ago - booked for induction but there was a big rush of women going into labour unexpectedly, well these things happen but it was chaos, one woman gave birth in a corridor while I was there. No space in natural birthing units so that wasnt an option. Mistake was made with my hormone drip being turned up by the very lovely but VERY busy duty midwife overnight and she forgot to tell the next midwife, so I was given double-rate for hours - this meant after a slow start, active labour came on incredibly fast, contractions were so strong the tracker measuring them went off the top of the scale, baby got stressed and I nearly had to have a c section. I got moaned at by a doctor who came in to monitor the baby's heart rate distress and "didnt expect to get stuck doing an urgent delivery ". My labour was recorded as taking 3 hours 25 mins (although the induction was started 36 hours earlier, I went from 4cm dilated to giving birth in 3.5 hours - you can imagine it was traumatic and I tore quite badly).

Then, when baby was born at 6.30am there was no space in post natal so I was sent back to Pre natal ward with baby, OH was told he had to leave, and I was told very strictly under no circumstances to leave my baby unattended for even a second as there is no security in pre natal and baby could be snatched.

After an exhausting, terrifying 36 hour labour, bleeding heavily, I was all day on my own - had to call a nurse if I needed to go to the loo so baby would be watched for me. At 5.30pm they managed to move me to post natal where I was dumped with baby and largely ignored.

The Wexham midwives were lovely and skilled, but just so insanely busy. They told me it is frequently that busy. I would not want any friend of mine giving birth there.

[alwaystired01]

@Somesome did you decide which one to go with? I'm in Maidenhead too, and am going to St Mark's for scans, but still to decide on a hospital to give birth in.

[Somesome]

Hi - Yes, I'm going with Wexham Park (the birthing suite and labour ward videos on their FB page really put me at ease) but haven't been there once yet as, like you, all my scans have been at St Marks. Must admit, I'm quite tempted by a home birth but it's my first and Wexham is still quite far away if we did need to go in.

[TeaBanditTeej]

@Somesome

Hi - Yes, I'm going with Wexham Park (the birthing suite and labour ward videos on their FB page really put me at ease) but haven't been there once yet as, like you, all my scans have been at St Marks. Must admit, I'm quite tempted by a home birth but it's my first and Wexham is still quite far away if we did need to go in.

I'm in taplow. All scans at st marks. Going for c section in wexham. Only 15 mins down the road. Congratulations and good luck xx

[bean23]

@Somesome Hello, did you have your baby yet? I'm trying to decide where and after looking at videos on FB etc I am also leaning towards Wexham. I am aware of poor reviews, however these seem older and am hoping for more recent feedback?

[Somesome]

[quote bean23]@Somesome Hello, did you have your baby yet? I'm trying to decide where and after looking at videos on FB etc I am also leaning towards Wexham. I am aware of poor reviews, however these seem older and am hoping for more recent feedback?[/quote]
Hi! Yes I did :) have a healthy four month old baby girl. I did give birth at Wexham in the end and based on my experience from talking to my NCT group (almost all gave birth at Wexham except one who gave birth at Frimley) I have no regrets (I would go there again). I was induced for health reasons. I do have a lot of negative feedback for the prenatal ward where I was induced (I'm also certain this was due to understaffing though so I would insist on them checking me more frequently if this happened again - I think you'll find this at all hospitals at the moment) but the labour ward were absolutely amazing and my baby wouldn't be alive if it wasn't thanks to them taking quick immediate action when I was transferred (no thanks to the prenatal ward).

[bean23]

@Somesome
Congratulations - I'm glad to hear it all worked out for you despite some negatives. Thank you for replying.

[Somesome]

[quote bean23]@Somesome
Congratulations - I'm glad to hear it all worked out for you despite some negatives. Thank you for replying.[/quote]
No problem. You do have to laugh though. The previous poster mentioned going from 4cm to giving birth in 3.5 hours. I went from 6cm (no one checked me before this) to giving birth in 10 minutes when I was induced and this was on the pessary only.

[neenusangi]

hi

[appipa]

Just following this post as I'm torn between Wexham, RBH or Fremley. Would prefer to choose Fremley but is a little bit far away from my house.. I appreciate all the experiences here between Wexham and RBH, is there any more recent experiences that you can share?