Maternity services at Colchester General

[harmonie33]

My maternity care is being taken over by Colchester General as I am moving to colchester.

Just wondering what everyones experiences are of mat care at the hospital?

Did anyones babies end up on SBCU, if so what were peoples experiences?

My maternity care was pretty good - I had a midwife with me for most of my 24 hr labour - ended up with emcs and was supported really well postnatally in the hospital and given lots of support to establish bf.

Have had friends whose babies were in scbu and although being seperated from their babies was difficult they all felt that they'd had good care.

I was there 5 years ago so things may have changed by now

Thats very reassuring-thank you for replying

I had good maternity care there too. They are busy, overworked and understaffed, like all hospitals, but I found everyone very helpful and friendly.

I was lucky enough not to have a baby in SBCU but friend's did and their only complaint was about the food.

I'll be back there again in March, so I hope I have another good experience.

I hope you have a good experience with them too.

Hi, I know of three babies who were in SCBU at Colchester - all parents were very happy with the care they received.

Personally the individual midwives i saw in the marathon 54hr labour i went through were all really nice. I thought the food was fine too!

I know that there is a new initiative there to help all new mums with starting breastfeeding - hopefully every mum will be seen by a volunteer breastfeeding supporter - look out for the fuchsia pink teeshirts (one of them may be me!)

I remember it being absolutely boiling in the maternity ward - despite it being February. I will be going back for number two Feb this year. Good luck!

I cannot fault delivery suite at all - wonderful care, very well looked after & kept in the loop at all times found this both times.

I went into prem labour with DS at 33 weeks - the care I recieved I was absolutely amazing & the staff were utterly lovely. Unfortunately the SCBU was closed as it was full so I had to be transferred, I ended up in Kings Lynn as it was the only hospital with both a delivery suite & SCBU cot free at the time. They managed to halt my labour & DS hung on til a few days before his due date, there were complications with his birth & SCBU were on stand by, the staff were very lovely. I had a lovely MW, she stayed with me the entite time, even staying past her shift, kept DH informed the entire time too & when I burst into tears she was right by my side holding my hand & talking to me - will never forget how lovely she was.

The ward was not so wonderful. It was so hot it was tropical, very under staffed & they managed to lose my paperwork when I was in with DS. Previously when I had DD I just transferred to Clacton straight from delivery suite & it was bliss, also transferred to Clacton with DS once we were given the all clear.

I had my little girl at colchester in sept and have to say i have mixed feelings about the care i recieved. I went in to be induced on a weds morning and the staff were fine to start with. hubby went home that night and i spent the night pacing the ward because my contractions were to uncomfortable for me to sleep but the night staff were no help whatsoever. the following afternoon at 2.30 it was decided that i was ready to go down to delivery but there was no bed available. I didn't get to delivery till 9am on friday after the worst 6 1/2 hours of my life, i got very little support from the staff who left me strapped to a monitor for most of the time without telling me why or giving me any help with dealing with things except to tell me to try to sleep!!!
i finally had an emcs at 10pm friday after 9 hrs of no progress,which i am convinced was due to the delay. The delivery suit staff was lovely but once back on the ward it was back to more of the same. they were rushing about and gave me very little support in helping me to breastfeed (she was diagnosed as having a tongue tie at 4 weeks) and i couldn't get home fast enough.

In their defence they were busy, i was told that the night i was waiting for a delivery suit they delivered 27 babies which is a lot considering there are only 8 rooms!!!

I'm sure alot of the problems i had were due to lack of staff and a particularly busy few days but i don't plan to go there again if we have another baby.

I think it's like anything in the NHS, it's down to the luck of the draw, and i really hope you have a better more natural delivery than i did.

Sorry for ranting on a bit but i felt quite let down afterwards and even though it's been a while i still get quite upset about it

I can't leave positive comments, my 4 experiences there weren't great, but from what I hear from my RL friends, I don't appear to be the majority if that helps. Although my DP does work in the kitchens a CGH and is advising anyone who goes in there to take their own food/ get it brought in...when DS2 has to be admitted to children's ward, DP brings food in for him, won't LET him eat the food...and there are (admittedly only) a few MW's there that are err...without a great bedside manner...