Royal United Hospital Bath v St Michaels, Bristol, any opinions?

[JiminyCricket]

I live in between so get to choose. Could also go for a locaL community unit instead. Any experiences would be useful?

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Had my son in Trowbridge and then got transferred to RUH for NICU.
"ds was in the Ritz, I was in the cheap motel down the road."
I was treated appallingly, so much so, when I was chatting to one of the midwives she asked me to write to the Director to complain. This was 9 years ago so I hope someone has more recent experience and that things have improved. All I can say is, be warned, and check each out very carefully.

Good luck!

if you live near ruh you could probably go for a home birth if you are interested - 2nd highest homebirth rate in the country in that bit of the world, so you would get wonderful support, and so much nicer than hospitals imo!

that's interesting..my friend had her babe at the ruh and had a bad experience (actually she was transferred from trowbridge too!) but that was just one midwife, and I had a crap experience at St michaels (not during birth, but after), but again that was mainly one awful midwife and some very rude HCA's...ppt, I would consider a homebirth but dh is not keen, and sometimes I think I would just end up being disappointed if I ended up going in anyway, you know? I heard there was a midwife led unit at st michaels now and wonder if anyone had experienced it? Of course I will speak to the midvives about it when I get to see them (only 6 weeks at the mo) but interested in anecdotal experiences and I seem to remember I had to choose at my booking in appt last time.

this is really interesting as I'm booked into Southmead for my second baby, and having had ds there I am not looking forward to it at all... probably unfair as my horrible post-section experience there was really down to a couple of horrid midwifes on the night shift and understaffing, but still not something I'm keen to repeat. St Michaels and RUH are my other options, so I'll be watching this with interest.

Is the community unit Paulton out of interest - I know a couple of people who went there and said it was great.

I started off in Trowbridge got rushed to Bath.
Terrible ordeal from start to finish,I feel. This was last year.
Bath got on and delivered the baby after syntocin, ventouse failure x3 and forceps delivery on gas and air only and he was back to back.
They got the facilities though I suppose, which is the only plus point, in my opinion. Aftercare....What aftercare?
Transferred back to Trowbridge and apart from the odd comment or two from the senior midwife I was looked after well.
Next time? Not sure there will be I am that put off!
But if it did happen and I had to choose, I sp'ose Bath in the first place?
But then next baby might be an easier labour?
Difficult one really.

I had two babies at St. Michaels, and then one at home. The reason for the homebirth was the understaffing at St. Michaels (one midwife for four labours that evening...therefore no one there when dd's head appeared and only my dh rushing out to reception yelling 'My wife's giving birth RIGHT NOW' that got us any attention!) BUT that was 5 years ago, so things could easily have changed. I'm sure it's worth trying to find out what staff levels are like at both hospitals.

at least at home you are guaranteed a midwife! my dh wasn't keen, until he learnt a bit more about it (ie planned home birth statistically safer than hospital birth). and now of course he is a complete home-birth bore since it was such a calm, lovely experience

JiminyCricket, I had both my babies in RUH ten yrs apart. First time; not fabulous but most recent experience (in 2000)horrid and I never want to go there again! I discharged myself late at night less than 24 hrs after birth because I could not stand it any longer. Antenatal, labour, and after care appalling...

Wow, how sad that so many people have such a negative experience I'm pretty confused now, has to be said. If we did go for a home birth, I guess we'd have to have my mum or mum-in-law on hand to be there for dd, and tbh I'm not that keen on having the latter there and my Mum is a bit far away and not terribly reliable. Maybe a friend?

I had my first ds in ruh and although I couldn't fault the delivery, the aftecare left a lot to be desired. I was left alone for hours after I was taken on up to the ward and asked to be transfered to the community hospital in Chippenham as soon as poss. I had my second ds in Chippenham and have just recently had my third ds there too, the staff were brilliant...a big thumbs up for the local hospital.

Well, maybe I've got low standards but I had both my dds at the RUH (2000 and 2001) and couldn't fault the care there. The second time I was in for 3 weeks with pre-eclampsia and the place was incredibly busy. I hated being there but only because I was scared - the staff were incredibly perceptive and understanding and I never felt ignored or uncared for. Maybe I was a special (ie endangered) case, but I didn't witness any poor service either, all the time I was there.

Thanks sobernoel, nice to hear a positive story too. Thing is, I really think RUH is going to be most practical, because dd (15 m) goes to nursery in Bath and that way dh can pop in and out with her and then come back to be with the baby. I could opt for aftercare at Paulton, but again that makes things harder for him. Would rather discharge myself straight away but last time they made us stay in 4 days, so need to be prepared for anything I guess.