Royal Berkshire Hospital

[MoeI]

Would love to hear from anyone who has had recent experience giving birth at RBH. Have just moved from London to Reading and wondering if RBH is OK as I'm currently still going to St Mary's (Paddington) for my appointments. I would really like to stay at St Mary's but the travel might just be too far (about 1 hour 20 mins) for when I'm in labour.

Any opinions on travel time would also be greatly appreciated.

I can’t speak for the maternity services, but RBH is historically had a very good reputation, and was certainly great when I needed to go there.
Hopefully some other women might be able to give you some feedback.

I'm with RBH and due on Friday. They've been brilliant with all appointments & monitoring etc so far. Friends and family have all said good things too as far as I'm aware! I can let you know more about my experience when little lady comes along very soon!!

I'm also due to give birth there any day now, so watch this space...

One thing friends have reported on is that the wards are infernally hot (they have to be kept warm for babies obviously, but it's not well-designed for heat) and to ensure you take lots of snacks and drinks of your own for after birth as they're rushed off their feet. Probably like everywhere else really!

I had my last 6 years ago, so might be a bit dated, but I did the same as you (moved to Berkshire when pregnant) I had 2 difficult pregnancies and the care I received from RBH was exemplary. One child was premmies and the neonate care (up to 6 months) was phenomenal.

in my NCT group everyone, save for one woman, who had their first at Slough had their second at RBH.

Sorry for the late reply (rushed off my feet trying to settle into a new place), but greatly appreciate them. Please do let me know about your experiences @SendmetoFlorida and @Borgonzola.

@MoeI

Finally getting round to updating you on this following the birth of my baby girl on Wed :)

All I can say is RBH we're amazing throughout a very difficult labour. I was in early labour for almost 3 days, and after trying to live through endless contractions at home on no sleep, RBH took me in for assessment and offered me morphine to get some sleep (I wasn't dilated at all agter 24 hours!).

I was initially on rushey ward which was amazing - the rooms were really spacious and calming and helped me through a very difficult start. Was in the bath for contractions and staff very helpful. Beds comfortable and lovely fairy lights etc. Eventually I was moved down to the consultant led unit and offered epidural after days of pain. It ended up in c section for me as I couldn't get past 9cm after 3 days of contractions!

Despite a difficult birth, staff were absolutely amazing and we have some personal thank you's to send in this week. We felt informed throughout, staff were friendly and helpful ad some really went above and beyond.

We were on iffley ward after she was born which was very busy, hot and stuffy but the team of midwives on hand were really lovely and helpful. Particularly as first time mum with no clue what I'm doing! We were discharged 2 days later.

I really hope you have a positive experience - best of luck!
Let me know if you have any questions?

Had my second baby at RBH four years ago. Maternity services were very good.

I was induced and the day shift midwives were wonderful. I was allowed to leave the hospital and so I went shopping at the Oracle with DH! That kept me really relaxed. I sent my DH home to put dc1 to bed and organise the overnight childcare with GP, and I was pretty happy on my own doing my hypo birthing stuff. I didn’t want a lot of fuss and I coped well with the whole thing, but actually the night shift were a bit too hands-off. I was offered paracetamol when the pain got too much and they kept telling me to walk the pain off, so I did. I walked up and down those corridors and they checked on me once when they were passing by to see another patient. I could tell things were gathering pace, so I phoned DH to come in. When he arrrived I asked him to get the night midwife as I was finding the contractions getting very close and strong, and it was getting harder to walk, but the midwife just looked at me and I guess because I was talking and smiling she said “it’s not time yet, you need to keep walking that will speed things up”. She didn’t physically examine me. I managed to walk for maybe another 10 mins, but then I simply couldn’t carry on, and dh said “but the midwife says you have to keep walking” and I remember shouting at him, “don’t be an absolute idiot, the baby is coming. Go and get the midwife, I don’t care what you tell her to get here, just make her come RIGHT NOW!” And midwife came in looking might p**ed off at a second interruption, but the second she saw me she put me on the bed and said, “oh - the baby really is coming, you are 9.5 cm dilated, we need a trolley, right away!” And I was trundled at some high speed, down in the lift to the labour room, where I had a fabulous midwife who helped me off the trolley onto the bed in the gap between contractions, and I gave birth very shortly after, on gas and air.

Post natal support was excellent. I was stuck in hospital for two days due to a complication with my baby and got plenty of attention.

The worst thing about RBH is parking - unless you are arriving at a strange time of day or night, it is impossible to park in the multi storey. When my mum was rushed to hospital (I couldn’t go in ambulance due to covid) and I remember circling the car park in floods of tears for over 30 minutes, then decided to leave and find a space elsewhere. Have a back-up parking plan where your DH can park after he drops you off at the maternity entrance, just in case you arrive during peak visitor hours.

Thank you @SendmetoFlorida and @WhatsInAMolatovMocktail for your replies. They are very helpful.

Congratulationgs @SendmetoFlorida. Glad all went well eventhough you had a difficult birth.

We are still conflicted as to whether switch hospitals or not. I'm currently 29 weeks, so there is still some time to switch and having had my 28 week midwife check at St Mary's the midwife didn't seem too concerned about how long it would take for us to get into the hospital when I am in labour. I'm reluctant to change because they have all my records there and St Mary's have really taken care of me when I had my previous miscarriages.

However, if I stay with St Mary's travel time could be 1.5 hours to get in... and carparking is a nightmare. Is 1.5 hours to get to a hospital while in labour too long?

Well, it is not so long that you should be at risk of giving birth in the car. But personally I would switch hospitals without a second thought. It’s not the most comfortable time in your life.

Lots of good reasons to switch, and it is NOT just about having the baby - think of dh and also think of the trip home with your baby:

1. a very high number of first time mums go in too early. You are even more inclined to do that if you are worried about being too slow to go in because your journey is 1.5 hours. But the midwife will simply send you away if it’s too early. It could be a matter of hours. Or it could be a whole day or days. That’s a lot of driving back and forth.

2)you will have all your notes, and assuming you’re having a fairly normal pregnancy and not under a consultant’s care, it makes no real difference to switch. Almost certain your pre-natal midwife isn’t going to be your midwife for your labour, so really it makes no difference what the prenatal care was like. Your labour experience does not feel in any way associated with your prenatal care, in my limited experience: the midwife on duty will read your notes and talk to you and you will explain your preferences for the birth and pain management etc. Then you’ll explain most of it all over again when the midwife shift changes (you and DH should know the birth plan by heart, but only use it as reference, don’t be expecting the midwives to actually read what you wrote in detail ! It is handy to have your ideas ready to discuss and take the midwife’s advice on board to blend with your own plan for what you’d like to happen in different scenarios, having a written birth plan means if your dh is asked for a decision if you are not well for some reason, and he is unsure how to advocate for you, he can look at what you both wrote down and make a call - that is the best reason for a birth plan in my opinion. )

2. RBH is a good hospital, and the maternity unit does very well on the thin resources the NHS can afford.

3. there are no guarantees and sometimes babies come faster, even for first time mums. I’ve known first time mums go into early labour, have eclampsia/end up on bed rest in hospital - would you really want your DH 1.5 hours away? He can’t stay in hospital.

4. Think of your DH too: he is very much involved, if he is your birth partner. With my first baby (also an induction, very long 36 hour nightmare in a different hospital), my DH was sent home for 12 hours while they kicked off my induction, then he was called back in the night, then after the baby was born he was sent home again to shower and rest. If he’d had a 1.5 hour trip home each time, it would have been absolutely awful for him. I wanted him nearby, and as rested as possible.

5. coming home with your baby. You can’t drive 1.5 hours straight with a tiny baby in the car, you’ll have to stop to feed and change and stretch. I was terrified when we were driving my baby home! And I was in a lot of pain due to tearing. It wasn’t a fun trip. Shorter = better.

@HeartofTeFiti Thank you very much for that comprehensive reply. I am now looking to switch hospitals.

Hi
let me know how as your experience after switching the hosp and how did your delivery go ?
I am expecting in Feb and my hosp is RBH . Hearing some bad reviews recently so lit bit worried 😟.

Thanks

Hi @Momtobe17,

My experience was OK. It's been a year now so I don't remember very much. But I was induced for labour because I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia right at the end. The midwives and doctors were very nice and good. My husband could stay with me because I was induced, which was great. I also had an emergency C-section as nothing was really happening even with the induction and baby was getting tired. That went fine.

The staff was kind enough to get us a private room, which I understand was very rare and we were very lucky. However, because of a misunderstanding my husband wasn't allowed to stay with me for the first 2 nights. Which was a nightmare. I couldn't move because of the C-section and epidural that first night and they were really short staffed for the night midwives. I really could've used my husband's help then. But that first night was OK, staff was nice and helpful.

The second night was horrific. My daughter was cluster feeding and crying constantly. I had no idea what was going on and the shift of midwives on that night was very unhelpful. Didn't help at all and didn't explain anything. I later found out that they weren't even that busy that night but I had to wait a long time for help and I was calling my husband in tears.

The third night onwards everything was better. My husband was allowed to stay with me at night because we had the separate room. Unfortunately, my pre-eclampsia wasn't being managed by the medication they were giving me so I ended up staying for a week until they found the right combination of drugs to help keep my blood pressure under control. By the end it was doing my head in because I was being promised different things by different docs who came in to see me.

Despite all of that I would say the staff, midwives especially were very good and kind. The docs not so great as you don't see the same docs again (which is a huge problem). I hope that was helpful.

Just looking at this thread as I've recently discovered that I'm pregnant, it's still super early and we are not thinking about options yet (because it's too early) but if the pregnancy goes well, I'll probably have to choose between having my baby in the UK or returning back home (abroad). I live in Maidenhead and so RBH is probably the option that I would consider.. I would love to know any more thoughts on your experiences, if you think it's a good/safe option? If you felt people cared for you, treated you well and respected you? Any advice would be welcome :)

Hey there, I'm very early on too so trying to decide where to sort my booking appointment. I had my first at Frimley and was really happy with all the care and never couldn't get parked (even tho parking isn't the best, we eventually always got a space) but it's 35 mins drive and RBH should be 15-20. I just was always told RBH wasn't as good and that parking was a nightmare! Shame it's not near the station!

Anyone have any recent experience?

@Harriet1989 congrats on your pregnancy :)
I posted my views above after my daughter was born a few years ago but I do have more very recent experience with RBH again.
Sadly my daughter was born at 17w 5d last week as it was found she was not compatible with life so we had to have a termination for medical reasons. Obviously very sad but I cannot fault RBH at all. The fetal medicine unit have been incredible the last 5 weeks with support, information and additional tests/scans - even just someone to talk to with all the uncertainty. I had to go in and deliver our baby girl but the midwives and bereavement team were just so lovely. We got to make memories with our baby girl before we left the hospital etc. They were so supportive throughout and we are still in contact with them now.
The only negative I'd say about RBH is the ward after delivery. They always seem pretty rushed off their feet and we were left a lot with no idea when we could leave or what we needed to do to be discharged.
I know my case is a little bit different but I would still highly recommend RBH.
Unfortunately parking is a nightmare so we never bothered with the multi storey - we had to park down a side road for every appointment and walk for 5-10 mins but we never had a problem with that, just make sure you leave plenty of time.
Best of luck with your pregnancy 😘

Thank you for your reply and all the details, that's super helpful.

I am so sorry for your loss, I am so relieved to hear that they were supportive, I can't imagine what you're going through. Sending all my best wishes x

@SendmetoFlorida Im so sorry for your loss; I’m glad that you received good care at RBH. I was under them for all 3 and one I had to go under fetal medicine and they were so compassionate.

@appipa waves to a fellow Maidenheader….

Which country are you from originally? I just ask because some countries have very “hospitalised” births versus the U.K. which is midwife/community led in uncomplicated births.

If you have an uncomplicated birth you care will predominantly be in the community (GP surgery and St Marks). You’ll have 12 and 20 week scans at hospital (and if you go with wexham that may also be st marks£.

In Maidenhead the default is Wexham. I started my first pregnancy there and transferred after first appointment (I was high risk and so under OB) to RBH who were amazing. As others have said parking is terrible though (be warned). This is 10 years ago. All my friends who had first at wexham went to RBH for second though. I have only been to Wexham a couple of times and never had good experience (a and e and children’s). While I’ve always found the care at RBH incredible.

If you do go with RBH any blood tests go to the health space at Bracknell (it’s run by RBH). Free parking, brand new and is really good.

Your other options are Frimley, Stoke Mandeville or John Radcliffe (but they are all some way away.

I moved into the RBH area right at the end of pregnancy so delivered at my original hospital (not far) but had all my postnatal care, midwife visits etc from RBH. Baby and I both had complications and RBH were absolutely wonderful.

Small thing, but there are decent cafes and an M&S, which really helps if you're sick of hospital food...

Parking is not easy during the day. We've never not been able to park but prefer to take the bus when it's not an emergency. (I realise this isn't a helpful option in labour!)

Hello all,

just moved from Slough to Compton and will be transferring to RBH.

just wondering how you get your pregnancy notes at RBH. I am looking to move from Frimley trust/Wexham and love the epic online system.
does RBH have an online system for your notes?

Many thanks for all your advice.