Private room Royal Berkshire Hospital Reading after delivery

[Iloveoreos]

Hi Ladies

Was anyone able to get a private room after paying a fee post labour at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading? Im due in a few weeks and I was told in my local NCT class that royal berkshire charges 80 per night for private room which if available yiu can request and get that instead of moving to ward after labour. However when I asked my midwife last week she said they dont do it post covid.
I wanted to ask if anyone recently was able to get it and if yes when or who did u ask for it?

I gave birth there last week, and no, you can't pay for the rooms anymore. They are for medical need (physical or mental health) only.

I believe I saw this confirmed on the RBH maternity fb page. This has up to date rules on visiting, private rooms etc.

I've also heard that they are allocated based on medical need, rather than it being a choice to pay for one. I was allocated one in June 2020 (and later a 1:1 midwife as they thought that I was worse than I was!). It was convenient for going to the loo etc, but before my 1:1 midwife, felt a bit harder to get attention when wanted, unlike in the bays where the midwife was more likely to be close by and easier to grab when needed.

P.s. I second following the FB page. It's full of useful info and the best way to keep up to date with changes (such as the recent changes to visiting restrictions).

Thanks ladies also thanks for the tip on their fb page. Ive just searched for it and joined it. Thankyou
@SickAndTiredAgain how was your overall experience. Did you have a vbirth or csec?

No private rooms anymore unless clinically and medically needed. But they are trying to get you in and out as quickly as possible, so chances are if you have a vaginal delivery without complications they’ll send you home that same day. I had to stay overnight in 2020 due to high blood pressure an hour before I gave birth and it was not the most enjoyable experience, they were very slow in the morning to take obs, etc. so in the end I had to discharge myself otherwise god knows when I would have gotten out!

But overall I had a really good experience during labour, I was on Rushey and it was so relaxing and calm! They then had to move me to the delivery suite because of the high BP but it didn’t affect me at all as I was just about to push anyway.

My only negative is being on the ward - I felt a little abandoned, this was at the time when you could only have one visitor for a couple of hours during the day, so that didn’t help!

Due in October so hoping for a swift birth and out of there haha.

We had to stay on a ward for 4 nights as our little guy had jaundice. It was horrendous. Boiling hot, cramped, noisy and the drugs rounds were often wrong, they completely refused to give one of the ladies on the ward ibuprofen for example. My husband asked several times if we could pay for a private room and we were not allowed.

I'd agree with this. We also had to stay a bit due to jaundice and it wasn't great, but a lot just can't be helped eg noise from other babies etc.
I don't know if it's medically advised (probably not) but I'd take your own painkillers. I was also denied pain relief because they said Id already had 4 doses in 24 hours when I absolutely 100% had not - I'd only had 2.

But the staff were generally lovely, it's just there's not enough of them. I didn't deal well with being kept in and was very tearful, and I had lovely care then.

Oh dear..im hoping the ward is not very busy when I go in