Epsom Hospital Maternity vs. Royal Surrey Maternity

[TheGreekMother]

Hello all,
I’m new here and currently 18 weeks pregnant. All is going well so far (1st baby). I am thinking of changing hospitals from Epsom to Guildford purely because the latter one has a better CQC rating. Is there anyone here that has experience in either hospital? We’re you offered a Baby Growth Scan on 36 weeks in Guildford?

I had a baby at the Royal Surrey in 2020. Very good experience. I didn't get a scan offered at 36 weeks. Not sure if that's the current policy though.

Yeah I had both my babies at RSCH. The first one wasn’t a great experience but that wasn’t their fault - the care was good. The second was great. They’ve got really nice private rooms if you can afford them.

I did get 36 week growth scans but I don’t think they’re routine - I had them because my babies were measuring big.

Hi thank you both ladies.
I’m pleased to hear it. I did transfer to them at the end and so far I have only dithyrambic remarks to make on them. Very good service!

:)

Hey, was there anything particularly wrong with the care at Epsom? I'm moving to the area soon and that would be my closest hospital. Would be grateful to know pros and cons in case I should consider other hospitals

@mama2022

Hey, was there anything particularly wrong with the care at Epsom? I'm moving to the area soon and that would be my closest hospital. Would be grateful to know pros and cons in case I should consider other hospitals

Hello,

The midwives there were amazing (as all of them are). For me it was the better CQC rating of RSCH over EGH. Also RSCH has a better unit for looking after the babies after they arrive (should that be necessary). Also, I went in today for my new booking and I can tell that RSCH as a trust has more money (so better funding) and that is reassuring for me. I also felt like their protocols and procedures are a bit more mother-focused as they did take their time today. In EGH everything felt a bit more ‘rushed’. Having said that, I live halfway between the 2 hospitals, if you live extremely close to Epsom rather than Guildford then it may be more preferable to stick with EGH. All I can say, is that when I started my pregnancy journey I didn’t understand that I have a choice, my GP said go there so I went (1st time mum here and from abroad so you understand 🙃). I know now I have a choice, do your research and make an informed decision that works best for you.

Best of luck
xxxx

Thank you OP! This is very useful information

I had my eldest at RSCH and had to take legal action against them as they refused to admit me to the Labour ward when I was in Labour, leaving me to push alone on a mixed sex ward while a drunk man pulled back the curtains and told me to STFU. It was nearly 15 minutes before anyone even attended to me to cut ds’s cord after he was born. If I had had a single complication I’m certain I would have died and 8 years on I’m still having counselling for PTSD. I complained to PALs and it was all dismissed with a “sorry you weren’t satisfied with your care but lessons have been learned”.

This was 8 years ago so hopefully things have changed significantly since then. I would rather eat my own leg than set foot in that hospital again though.

😱Oh that does sound horrible, I am sorry you had to go through this. I’d be traumatised too.
It didn’t give me such vibes as a hospital, maybe they improved their standards after this.

I do hope so @TheGreekMother. All my visits there prior to going into labour were lovely, the facilities seemed great and all the staff I met were wonderful. They were just short staffed and weren’t legally allowed to accept any more patients onto the labour ward even though beds were free as there weren’t enough midwives. Why they thought sticking me on an open ward with a load of drunks and also no staff would be a safer way to give birth is beyond me though.

Yeah, I don’t blame you at all and we’ll done for escalating the issue.