East Surrey Hospital?

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Due 16th March. Early to be thinking about these things, but read a few scary reviews/BBC news stories.

Anyone with recent experience?

If they are truely terrible, what are my options?

(Back in Australia I would have a lovely private room and not be kicked out quickly... )

Hi HeadingHome, congratulations firstly!

I have no personal experience of East Surrey but friends who have given birth here have generally had good care although I have also heard that it does seem to have a high caesarian rate.

You can choose where you have your care and there are other hospitals depending on how far you have to travel and what sort of care you are looking for. There is Mayday in Croydon, St Hellier in Carlshalton or Epsom hospital. I had very good antenatal care at Mayday but delivered elsewhere due to other medical factors.

Good luck.

Also, look for MLUs in your area and remember that homebirth is also an option.

I attended a birth on Sat with a young couple at ES and can't praise them enough. They have special suites for "normalising" birth complete with good quality yoga mats which they are happy for you to use at your discesion. My client was walking around he room stark naked and noone batted an eyelid when they came in and out.

Client was high risk with extremely high BP but mw's were very respectful of her wishes to labour freely and without continuous monitoring. When it came to 2nd stage, (pushing) they were again very respectful and (for want of a better word) allowed her loads of time for baby to come on his own. Ultimately she needed some help with a ventouse but dr very nice and she still got immediate skin to skin once baby well.

Postnataly client says they were "fine" :)

Hope this helps.

esh used to have a really bad reputation. I went there for ds1 nearly 6 years ago, and the delivery was ok i guess, but post-natally it was fairly dire

however, they have taken on a LOT of midwives over the past couple of years, and had a lovely new birth centre bit built which a frind used and really loved
it's definitely improved a lot, and despite my previous experience i think i'd use it again

i had my second 2 at home, but if i had to go into hospital for any reason i'd have gone there

where are you exactly? as there are other options round here

Thank you SO MUCH for all your replies. I live in the Redhill/Reigate area so ESH is very convenient. I'm not keen on home births (just for me) so will definately be using a hospital.

Your replies have put me at ease.

Thank you once again.

HI there, I had ds2 at ESH 3y ago and it was fine - nothing luxurious and before the birth centre suites which I hear are very good but was way better than ds1's birth in big London Hospital (St Thomas') which was hell on earth. DS2 at ESH was quick and easy so we didnt hang around and I didnt go to post natal ward which I have heard mixed things about - but they are all pretty grim I think. I think you can pay for a private room at ESH?

I reckon you could do a lot worse for NHS maternity wards and, as you say, so convenient for Redhill/Reigate.

liahgen66 - VERY interested in your post. Please tell me more. I am currently battling with my community midwife in Reigate who says I can't go in the birth suite as she is insisting on classifying me as high risk - this is my third pg - all normal, no issues, second birth at ESH was quick and easy, was there for 4 hours - but ds1 in a different hospital I had a shoulder dystocia so they are insisting on classifying me as high risk. How did your client who actually was high risk get in there? They keep saying for low risk births only. Have a consultant appt on Monday funnily enough to try and get them to remove the high risk classification.

yeah you can pay for a room at ESH

i know it's a bit of a trek, but there is always crowborough birthing centre if you fancy a more relaxed, home-y type place.
i'm in crawley and we get given the choice of haywards heath or ESH, but again HH is that bit further away

I had both my dc at East Surrey 9 years ago and 5 years ago and I thought they were really great. The hospital was clean the midwives were lovely and both births were exactly as I planned.

My friend had a c section there on Tuesday and said they were excellent. It was a planned caesarian and she was hysterical before she got there. They looked after her, made her feel at ease and was very comfortable during her stay on the post natal ward.

I would happily go back there for dc3 if we werent so far away.

Had my little one at esh in January! My care was excellent as was the care for my 6 nct friends. I too read some older horror stories so was a little worried. Was in total awe of my 2 midwives!
Good luck with it all x

Hi,
Had DS1 and DS2 at ESH.
Great both times- lovely team ,nice clean facilities and the MWs are very happy to let you do your own thing re:pain relief- if you want an epidural you don't have to wait ages usually and if you just want G&A they support you in that too.
They've spolit post- natal so it's a low risk adn high risk ward. We were on low risk and it was very peaceful, really relaxed.
I believe they have opened the MLU too now so you can have a natural labour then onto delivery suite if there are complications.

Would have another there anyday. It seems all the horror stories are old news now.

Hi all just wanted to update - went to ESH today for consultant appt to discuss high risk thing and was really pleasantly surprised by the attitude of the doctor - wasn't the battle I was expecting, she was really helpful and reasonable. Has recomended a growth scan at 38 weeks and as long as all ok is happy to classify me as low risk and I can go in the birth suite, pool whatever - very pleasantly surprised, hopefully bodes well for the delivery.

hi there unfortunately i didn't catch her name properly and I can't read it in my notes - maybe E something? My letter said the consultant Miss M Gorti or one of her team and this lady was her senior registrar. It was the Monday afternoon clinic and i have to go back and see her at the same time after the scan so looks like she always does that clinic? She was very nice and helpful.

wow things do seem to have improved there! Hope everything going well with you and things not too complicated. I am 35 weeks tommorow and feel like I am ready to go but will no doubt be weeks! Finished work this week thankfully.

Does anyone know if they still do the tours at ESH - might have a nosy round the birth unit just in case i get in it.