Princess Royal Hospital - Farnborough?

[NidsC]

Hello all,

Im pregnant with DC1 and expecting on 10 December at Princess Royal. I am getting more and more anxious about the birth as does everyone as time is going by..

Has anyone had any experience of this hospital?

I have my ante natal check ups with the midwives there and they all seem ok..

But if anyone has any specific experiences or has any tips it would be good to know.

Many thanks.. :)

NidsC - I can't answer your question I'm afraid but will also be interested to hear any feedback as am due to give birth at PRUH myself in March.

Like you the midwives I have seen from there has been fine so far.

The only thing that concerns me slightly is that they are shutting down the maternity unit at Queen Mary's in Sidcup over the winter period which is going to put extra pressure on PRUH.

Best of luck and hope your anxiety eases.

Wasn't the Countess of Wessex's baby born there - didn't they save her life?

Thanks Clucky31 - I had heard that it is closing down but I thought they had a midwife led centre opening instead? I dont know and may be making this up as my mind plays tricks on me !

Anothersplaceisinthewrong - I am not sure ... interesting thought !

Hi all. Just wanted to bump this thread!

I am expecting my 1st child in February and due to give birth at PRUH too. I would also be interested to hear others experiences.

I have heard mixed reviews really, some positive some negative. Positives being that the midwives are great (I've only seen 1 lady and was happy with my experience). Negatives being that they have a high rate doing of C-sections- although i can find no proof to back that up.

I look forward to hearing others thoughts.

Hi ladies,

Congratulations on your pregnancies!

My sister had her son at PRUH 5 years ago - he was a C-section due to her pelvis being too small and he was 9lb 3oz! My only concern was that they sent her home a couple days after her C-section, which she had needed a blood transfusion with, and she was sick for quite a while. She HAD insisted on going home, so really they had to accept her decision. The midwives though were fantastic.

Queen Mary's Labour Ward is shutting down some point in the next 12 months, however there is a midwifery led birthing unit which will stay open for uncomplicated pregnancies. Any multiple births, planned C-sections, complicated pregnancies or history of complicated births will be sent to PRUH or Queen Elizabeth's.

So although the labour ward and theatre are closing, a lot of births will still take place at Queen Mary's.

Wish you all happy pregnancy and easy births xxx

I had my DD2 at the PRUH just over 2 years ago. I had a positive experience, laboured and gave birth in the pool with a student midwife and a qualified midwife present the whole time. They were great, and although the postnatal ward was busier, the staff were kind and helpful and the place was clean.

I think it is the luck of the draw though as to how busy the hospital is on the day you go in (and this goes for any hospital in London and the South East) as this will affect the quality of the care you receive. Saying that, I'm due to give birth next March and am willing to take my chances at the PRUH.

All the best with your births - maybe try the Bromley board for more experiences?

I had my DS at the PRUH 2 and a half years ago. He was a planned csection due to complications with my pregnancy and he needed special care for 5 days after his birth. My experience was fairly good - all the important, critical stuff was really good, eg the care in the lead up to my section, the section itself and the care DS received in SCBU. My only criticisms would be around the non-urgent stuff, eg slow to bring meds / food etc once I was almost ready to be discharged. My feeling is they are understaffed and give priority to urgent stuff, as of course they should. Overall, I'd have no concerns going back on the basis of my own experience and that of all my friends in the area.

Thanks all, I have read the discussion on Bromley board, and am a little concerned now....

Oh no, it was definitely not my intention to make you more stressed! So sorry if that is the case, I really didn't mean to, I just thought you may get more responses to your question over there.

I've just had a quick read of the thread on the first page and there are a real mixture of experiences, which is probably representative of any of your local hospital choices. There are lots of positives on there, so try to focus on those (easy to say I know). Also, you said that your experience of antenatal care there so far is OK, so hopefully all will go well there for the birth.

There are so many factors that affect the birth, the choice of hospital is only one of them. I really hope things go well for you wherever you have your baby, and like I said, I know of many who have had positive experiences at the PRUH and am happy to be going there again when I have my baby.

I was under the care of the PRUH, but had a homebirth. They were excellent. One senior midwife-type came to my home for the booking-in thing, and was pretty obstructive about it, but the others were very enthusiastic and were great at the delivery. I just ignored the trout!

Hope you have lovely births :)

No worries Joan..thanks.. I think its easy for anyone expecting to be nervous about their hospitals and your right everyone has good and bad experiences !

Ah, you will have read my comments on there then! My first was ok, second, awful and the third was the best by far.

They do come across as short staffed and stressed a lot of the time. When I went in to have DC2 the woman in the bed next to me had had a CS and her baby needed feeding. She couldn't move to pick the baby up, so called over to me and asked me to help her. Had no problems with this, but it was difficult as I was recovering from a spinal so feeling in my legs was a bit iffy!

Ended up fetching teas and coffee and lunches and stuff for all the other new mums in my room because they had all had CS and I hadn't.

Hiya,

I gave birth to my DS 3 years back in PRUH. My experience was very good.
My blood pressure went high and my DS distressed, had to under go c-section. They took a while to get to me, but once they did it went through very smoothly. Only one thing that I wasnt happy about was
they didnt let my DH in OT when they gave me epidural. At the time we thought that was the standard procedure and probably anaestisist wasnt experienced he took 50mins, kept poking at my back, it was painful.
I had pain for few months afterwards..
so watch out, rest was all good, midwives very supportive. It can be very daunting alone at nights, I was kept in the ward for 6 days to make sure my organs ( lvier and kidney ) were functioning normal... good luck.

hi - Just thought Id add my experience - Currently 25 weeks and had to stay in overnight there on Wednesday in the maternity ward. I had my dd 4 there and was more than happy with labour care, but not as happy with aftercare, but after spending the night there I can honestly say all midwives.doctors and I even saw an anesthatist (can't think how to spell it) were all lovely and totally looked after me.. only thing which I thought was odd was that breakfast, lunch and dinner was on a self-service basis put out on a big table to help yourself, but overall all clean and people seemed well looked.