Hereford or Gloucester Maternity wards?

[PBear2021]

Hi All

I’m wondering if anyone has any advice on which hospital to chose for maternity care and planning to birth in one or the other.

Thanks x

I was born in Hereford maternity ward 40 years ago (sorry, unhelpful)

I've given birth 4 times, 3 sections in Hereford, but nothing to compare it with. Any specific questions i could help with?

That’s helpful thanks. Wondering how your care was (on a scale of 1-10). Were you listened to? Did you end up waiting and waiting? Could they get hold of your details and history quickly? Could they accommodate your requests on birthing style? I’m thinking about a water pool birth.

I had my daughter on the midwifery led unit at Gloucester Royal four years ago, am due to go back any day now for baby number two. My birth was very quick but we received very good care

I think the care was good and all the nurses were really kind. Do you mean waiting to go over due date? I think they're really good at letting you choose what you would like birth wise. My new next door neighbour has just transferred to Hereford from Worcester with no problems of details being hard to find. She's pregnant with her second baby and is being supported to have her first home birth. I was four to a ward so it was noisy but I think you can book a private room there. I was given one after my second section as DS and I had a bad case of the shits 😂 in for one night with all except for this baby. My pregnancies were all high risk but I never felt rushed or anything and they were really supportive and kind, happy for me to stay in longer if I wanted and efficient with the pain medication. I hope this was helpful! Just to let you know I have a severe phobia of hospitals due to past trauma, and they were so accommodating. Good luck!

I've had 2 children in Gloucester, 1st was on the ward 2nd was in the maternity unit. Absolutely fine both times. But surely the best thing to do is visit both, then think about which you can get to quickest!

Thanks! Very helpful to hear your story.

I don't have anything to compare it with it I have birth recently in Gloucester midwifery led unit and it was fabulous! I believe they have more birthing pools than some of the smaller hospitals but unsure how Gloucester compares size wise with Hereford?! I had a lovely room but I had to wait a few hours for a pool to be free, got one in the end and and midwife care was amazing at Gloucester, couldn't of asked for more, also got offered a lot of breast feeding support ☺️

I had a c section at Gloucester, the care was lovely, everyone was super supportive and calm. I was also deciding between Gloucester and Hereford; DD is 18 months now and I’m 5 weeks. I’ll be going back up to Gloucester definitely.

Had great care in Hereford earlier this year. Highly recommend

I just had some emergency care pre baby in Gloucester this week and it was amazing, the staff were so supportive and communicative. It’s quite a big hospital so that would be my only concern, that you get less focused attention as the staff might be quite fragmented, but I don’t know how big Hereford maternity is?