Choosing which hospital to refer yourself to?

[peachesarenom]

Hi!

I called my GP who is the best, anyway, she says I have to refer myself and choose between 2 hospitals, apparently both are 'fine'.

How do you go about making this decision?

Perhaps go and have a visit? Walk through the patient areas, note the mood among the staff, etc. Chat up a nurse or two.

I chose the one that was easiest to get to.

I’d go for the closest, to help with visiting if you need to stay in for a bit.

You should be able to have a tour of the maternity ward.

Possibly not all relevant to you but things that I considered:

• Easiest to get to in rush hour for labour and for antenatal appts (if that’s where they take place) and easy to park
• Availability of pools etc in labour ward if you want this
• Availability of pain relief options. I have chosen to go to a slightly further hospital because our closest is an MLU, so no epidurals. Any interventions would require an ambulance to a much further hospital in awful traffic.
• Potential to pay for a private room on postnatal ward.
• Is there SCBU?

I'm almost 6weeks so I think I should have organised tours earlier! Do you think I can just pop in?

I think I'd probably like a pool and an epidural!

I think there are official ratings for different hospitals, but I can't find them right now.
I'd consider which would happen in worst case scenarios

• if I had to start going for loads of tests or appointments during pregnancy

• getting there for labour - during rush hour, on my own, if I went into labour super early while still at work
• different options during labour
• if I needed an emergency c-section
• if something happened to the baby and they needed to go to nicu
• if the baby was there longer term

So mostly convenience and facilities. I'm very lucky in that my hospital has a birthing centre as well as standard labour ward, etc and has a children's hospital, and is very close to my work!

I think the tours are much later on Peachy. I don't think there's any major rush at this stage, I'm guessing it's for your booking-in appointment?
Are both your hospitals in the same trust? If so, all the paperwork will be the same and I'd imagine if you want to swap it will be easy enough to do so.
My booking in appointment was at the GP clinic with the midwife and I just told her then that I'd like to go to my chosen hospital, it's in a different trust but it was no bother.

It is possible to change your care later in pregnancy if you change your mind. I chose my local hospital which had both a midwife led and a consultant led unit plus the highest level of neonatal unit. I had my daughter on the midwife led unit and didn't need the NICU but I knew they were there.

I’d go for the closest if both are good. I had to go back and fourth 3 times during labour and live 5 minutes drive away from mine. If I’d have been further away, I’d have had him in the car in the end!!

You have every right to pick your hospital. I have actually gone for one 10 miles away as it's where all my babies have been born. I wouldn't of felt happy in any other. I went for a tour of the maternity ward when picking with my first xxx

I know now why my GP said both were 'fine'! Both hospitals are rated inadequate overall by cqc and only one of them has the maternity unit rated as good!

The pregnancy info leaflet from my gp's surgery says that a small number of women go to a third hospital which I found out is rated good overall, maternity unit also good and has a baby intensive care unit. So I think I'll go there. I mean it's further away but quality of care surely has to be the priority. What do you think?

I looked at the inspection reports for both, one had required improvement for maternity and the other was outstanding so it made my decision easy

Unless it’s a massive distance I would go with the third one; my chosen one was great and it would have made me anxious going to one with a bad inspection

I agree with User, unless the distance is prohibitive, I'd go for the third one.

Can you ask friends or family locally which one they chose? Facebook is actually quite useful in this case. Its always better to get opinions of those who actually have recently used the facilities and you could always use any issues which they had as an opportunity to speak to your midwife, who will also know about all the local options. Fwiw, I had the worlds most straight forward and textbook pregnancy with dc1, I could've closed the mlu, but I ended up with a crash ceserean. Ds would not have made the trip in an ambulance I would've definitely lost him. If this is your first, its worth considering.

Chosen not closed.