Wythenshawe hospital for birth/antenatal care/ anyone been here to hsve bsby?

[Peacenquiet2]

Im going to be asking to transfer my care to another hospital at my 28 week appointment as im dis satisfied with my current hospital. Im stuck between st marys in manchester or wythenshawe but am leaning more toward wythenshawe.
Im wondering (and hoping) some of you northern ladies have had experience of giving birth here or are recieving you antenatal care there, and how you found it, feedback would be so helpful.
Im going to be having a c section so imparticular any advice about this would be great.
Thanks in advance.

Sorry for typos in the title!

I'm due to deliver at Wythenshawe (in march!) but it's got a great reputation with all my friends. All vaginal or assisted vaginal though, so no idea about c sections. The hospital as a whole has a good rep though.

I was told St Mary's is great if you're complex, but it's you're a boring, normal pregnancy you can feel a bit overlooked - they have all the crazy complex stuff there.

I'm definitely happy with my choice!

Thanks alot for your reply sinky, its really good to hear that as i dont actually know anyone personally who has delivered at wythenshawe.
Im also not due till march but im doing my research now as it will be my 28 week check the week after next and thats when i plan to ask for transfer of care. :-)

I had appalling care at Wythenshawe & am at SMH this time.

Tsw do you mind me asking what happened?

I had a stillbirth. I don't want to discuss too much as I am talking to solicitors but it was a doctor error too.

wasnt st marys on 'the midwives' on bbc1?

Yes it was.

I had a crap midwife at wythenshawe which frankly could happen anywhere but the consultant was fabulous as were the rest of the staff ( I had forceps delivery) the after care on the ward was not good and was very overlooked and ignored. I would go back as my general perception of all maternity wards are that they are overstretched and busy... I wouldn't expect perfection anywhere.

I'll be going to Wythenshawe in March, so can't help you till then as with my first I gave birth at Trafford General Hospital (maternity is now closed).

However, I would not set foot in St Mary's if my life depended on it. A few years back it was on Panorama or Dispatches as one of the worst labour wards in the country. Even if it has changes since then, I do not care.

I believe the whole of maternity services had been refurbished very recently. Don't know how much the private rooms cost but if anyone does I would love to know!

Tsw thats awful and so sad, i hope you get the answers and results you need.
Doctor brownbear, this is how i found the aftercare at my current hospital with both dc 1/2 which does worry me as this time it will be a c section. But im more focused on the care i will recieve in theatre really and ensuring myself and baby will be ok.
I recieved appauling care following a gynea op at my current hospital earier this year and almost died due to staff error. I need to feel reassured that where i end up we will hopfully recieve the best care possible.
I know i wont get perfection anywhere but some hospitals are notoriously worse than others.

Last para referred to Wythenshawe.

Can't comment on post natal care at Wythensahwe but I would expect it to be as bad good as anywhere else. Post natal wards are very busy and as the above poster said, over stretched. If you want 1-2-1 care, pay to go private. I will have my One-to-One midwife with me so know I'll be looked after (it's free!).

Stevie, i didnt know that about st marys being the worst maternity unit at any point so thanks for that. Im not as worried about the post natal part beyond the immediate hours following the op, but i want to know im going to leave the op theatre still alive along with my baby, my experience in march of an undiagnosed massive internal bleed was terrifying, its made me very wary.
Of course i still want to know that post op care will be good but getting through the section both healthy will be priority.
As you say all post natal wards are very busy places but unfortunately i dont think im in a position to pay private, i wish i was. Is that costing you alot or is it reasonable?

I wouldn't recommend going Private, unless it's a case of paying for private care in a NHS hospital.

Private hospitals have very limited resources and staffing, and are not usually set up for major operations and or complications afterwards. I've known stories where nurses have had to get taxis to NHS hospitals to get equipment when things have gone very wrong because privately, they don't have the same things readily available as in an NHS set up.

FWIW, if I was in your shoes, I would go to St Marys. I have no experience of either but have been involved closely at some level with one or the other.

I think its very personal and I think (unfortunately) that most people will know people who have had good and bad experiences at both hospitals. I was transferred to St Marys in Manchester when I went into premature labour with twins at 27 weeks. It was 30 miles from home at that point but it was the only hospital that would take us. I cannot recommend it highly enough - they were absolutely unbelievable, genuinely the most dedicated, professional and caring team. I was in for 3 weeks whilst the babies were in special care and they were amazing - I have perfect, bright, healthy children and I genuinely think this was down to St Marys.

We then moved when I was pregnant again. Wythenshawe was my 'local' hospital but I opted to go back to St Marys. It is incredibly busy, antenatal appointments for midwife appointments / scans always ran late and there was always a danger that the unit would be full when I actually went into labour (in fact I was the last person admitted that night and then it was closed - labouring women had to go to other hospitals). I do think that might have improved though with the complete overhaul - I delivered about a month before the whole new suite was opened. My delivery was straightforward this time, but I still felt like I got amazing care. I had a midwife with me throughout the whole 2 hours and although I was on a side ward with 4 beds afterwards, I was the only women in there for the 48 hours we had to stay in.

There were about 18 women in my antenatal group, 2 of us chose St Marys and all the others went to Wythenshawe. Everyone had a positive experience.

Good luck.

Stevie - I started off in one of the new birthing suites (2 yrs ago) they are lovely. I remember them saying to rent a private room on the ward would cost £50 (then)... I was on a ward with 3 others... it was unbearable and would recommend anyone to get a private room if they can afford it. I went on the tour of the labur ward at about 36 wks which was worth doing.

Our 11 week boy is asleep beside me as I type. Delivered at Wythenshawe in September 2013 by forceps after induction. Was on the antenatal ward for a few days before he finally arrived. Staff we're lovely, busy as everywhere. Once decision taken for forceps or C/S we were in theatre within 10 minutes, all very calm and efficient. Would happily go back there.
Other positives about Wythenshawe are ease of parking compared to St Mary's and as others have said St Mary's can be really busy. I had antenatal care at Trafford which was lovely, saw the same team each time.
Most of the NCT group delivered at Wythenshaew and all generally positive with mixed bag of normal deliveries, sections both planned and emergencies and well managed unexpected complications such as Post partum bleeds.
Good luck

Thanks spaceprawn, i guess im still leaning toward wythenshawe. It is devastating what happened to tsw above but there seems to be alot in favour of wythenshawe. As you mentioned post partum bleeds, this is one of my worries and its good that they were dealt with effectively. If i transfer my care now then, does that mean i would also need to travel tot trafford for general mw apps or should i be able to continue at my gp surgery?

I was going to say parking was horrendous at wythenshawe?!?!

Peace, I have antenatal at my local surestart centre. You won't need to go to Trafford. Don't know of you can a ray at your gp. Might depend on catchment areas, but think it would be ok.

I would agree parking at wythenshawe is better than St Mary's, but that's because it's carnage there!

I think thats right chunderella it is the centre of Manchester, serves mostly really rough areas and a vast mix of different cultures. I disgree that Wythenshawe serves a similar demographic - it serves most of South Manchester now which is a completely different kettle of fish. If you just turned up at St Marys for an antenatal appointment, ended up sat there for 2 hours just people watching because the midwife was so busy you might be slightly concerned. And the likes of Panorama don't get viewing figures based on satisfied mothers having straightforward labours, they get it for the 'fly on the wall' / undercover stuff that may have been edited for dramatic effect. If you can get past that, it really is a centre of excellence with amazing staff.

Chunderella is also spot on when she says to bear in mind that all the complicated / cases requiring intervention will end up at St Marys and unfortunately a poor or tragic end result would have happened at whichever hospital the mother laboured at.

Thank you chunderella.

I am with St Marys at the moment & they are utterly, utterly phenomenal - a different league to Wythenshawe! Obviously my obs history isn't low risk any more so they suit me but I was low risk until the worst happened at Wythenshawe so... They understand what I am talking about. I know midwives on a personal level from Wythenshawe & I have they have had blank looks when I talk about my obs history.

I do have to say midwife care at Wythenshawe was great. Everything else though...