Winchester or Princess Anne

[Matildahoney]

Hi all, please can I hear your experiences of either of these hospitals? Good and bad! I need to make the decision of which one & hear not great things about Winchester, plus Princess Anne is of course a maternity hospital.

Hey there, congratulations! I am currently 32 weeks expecting a little boy.
I had my daughter in Winchester in Feb 2021. At the time it meant I had to go to Andover for my routine scans. This time I'm going to Princess Anne - not sure if they have reverted back to doing the routine scans at winch but I live equidistant between the two hospitals. I was born at PA in 1981, the year it opened too!
My experience in Winchester was good before and during the birth. I had to go in for extra monitoring several times and I was induced and that all went very well. Had epidural which was successful first time and the anetheatist was hilarious which relaxed me.

The post natal ward was very busy with call bells going off all day and midwife's promising they'd come back to help with this and that then you wouldn't see them again.. being offered a hot drink when you were breast feeding so declined then nonone came back around. I like my morning tea!

I opted to stay one extra night as i wanted to make sure I had all the support I needed but to be honest I wish I hadn't bothered. On the second day they would have discharged me by lunchtime but on the third day I didn't leave until 2100! They just kept forgetting about me. Very stretched staff on post natal.

Wishing you all the best xx

.

Hey @Sarahsupasaint thanks for your reply. Congratulations also!
You must live very close to me! I was also born at PA in 82 though! So I'm definitely swaying that way, Andover is a bit too far for regular scans, my other theory with PA is that I work in Southampton so easier to nip out of work!

Also an aside-relegation is devastating 😪 the lack of fight is the worst! Xx

The parking at PAH is horrendous. The spaces are very narrow. I struggled to fit my Fiat 500 in them. I ended up having regular appointments there and cycled as much as I could to avoid the stress of parking.

@Cornishmumofone you are right the covered spaces are so narrow! We always park outside and there's always a couple spaces which are normal size, I have a Seat Ateca which is pretty big.
@Matildahoney get in touch! I'm on Instagram sjh_hampshire, (it used to be the same as this one but I changed it. I can't believe my son is going to be born the year Saints go down. Tragic!

Also @Cornishmumofone fair play cycling whilst pregnant!

@Sarahsupasaint I've just requested you, it's my first name so don't want to put it on here!

@Cornishmumofone DP has a fiesta so manages to squeeze that anywhere, failing that my mum has a blue badge so she can take us! Or I'll just walk over from sgh.

Hey there,

I went to Winchester for the start of my first pregnancy almost 4 and it was horrific. Moved care over to Princess Ann and received an amazing care and service. We had our twins 20 months ago at princess Ann too and again, nothing short of excellent care .

We had no issues with parking at princess Ann. X

@Sarahsupasaint I lied, it's not my name! But it would be outing as my nickname, so ends _711 x

I worked there In 1981, lol

Hey, I’m about to move from London to Winchester and need to move my maternity care to a new hospital. I’m debating PA or Winchester but have no clue about either, was wondering if there were anymore recent insights about which is best please?

Where did you choose in the end and how was it?

Congratulations & good luck!

I went to PA, I cannot fault them, I had fortnightly cervix measurement scans there, epu were great the couple of times I had to go there.
I ended up with an emergency c section, but it wasn't a mad panic, it went really well, the team were lovely and even took photos of the whole thing for us. I had a lovely post natal midwife on the ward the first night, very attentive, took my baby so I could get some sleep as he wouldn't settle.
If we're lucky enough to have a second I'll definitely go back there, it also makes far more sense for me having fortnightly scans and working in Southampton.

Ah that’s good to hear. I’ve been asking friends from the area and both said winch was good for them. I’ll be living in Winchester so just wondering if it’s better to be closer rather than having to travel to Southampton.

Researching is so confusing as neither sound great, but then maternity care across England is poor at the moment!

Was your partner able to stay the night with you in Southampton? Some more feedback I’ve heard? Thanks

I know it can happen anywhere, but a family member of mine gave birth to her first child at Princess Anne two months ago and had quite a bad experience, she had an episiotomy performed on her without her or her husband’s consent and after birth she was missed out of both the breakfast and the lunch rounds and didn’t get anything to eat until she raised the issue. The lactation consultant also ignored her concerns and said she was breastfeeding fine after observing her from the doorway for thirty seconds, before leaving.

I’ve given birth at Winchester twice. Generally I thought they were fine.

Pros: The midwives during both labours were brilliant.

Cons: the postnatal ward is understaffed. I had to buzz several times for things like asking for pain relief as they would often forget and not come back, so it would take a few hours to actually get what I needed.

I never considered another hospital as Winchester hospital is close to me and I didn’t want to travel far.

My friend had all 3 of hers at Winchester and as far as I'm aware only issues were on the postnatal ward.

I got moved up onto the ward about 4 hours after I'd had DS, so DH wasn't allowed to stay, had they kept us in the room we were in then he could have.

I believe my SILs sister (who had a water birth) and was up on a different ward was allowed her H to stay with them.

I'm very surprised with what @batt3nb3rg said as I distinctly remember being asked the question during my 17 hours of labour, but also they don't do an episiotomy lightly so I imagine it was pretty necessary!
With regards to the food that's on the catering team not the ward staff. But granted she shouldn't have been missed and it should have been dealt with.

The other thing I would consider is depending on the time of day getting to, and parking at PA can be hell, I used to have to leave an hour from Southampton to get there and parked and be on time! Walking over from sgh is ok until you are heavily pregnant with PGP!

To throw another in there my niece was really happy with Basingstoke.

I had my younger daughter at Winchester in 2021 so a while ago - the midwives were great. The room I gave birth in was really lovely and they didn't hurry us out. I was also with a continuity of care midwife team which I think made a difference to how supported I felt as well, they're called the Juniper team so it might be worth finding out if you could be looked after by them? I have heard the postnatal ward at Winch is not so good, mostly because it's under-staffed; I was only there for about an hour because my daughter was poorly so we had to go to Princess Anne for the NICU. We did end up back at Winchester a few days later and spent a few weeks on the neonatal unit where I couldn't fault the care.

@Kitdeano I'm Southampton based and two of my children have been born at the PA. My third child will also be born there next month. I've got no personal experience with Winchester, but I know their CQC report for maternity care isn't as good as the PA. The PA also have an outstanding neonatal unit and are generally very well organised and I've felt my maternity care has been good.
The parking at the PA is atrocious though and it's often very stressful trying to get parked for appointments, so that's something to maybe consider. The postnatal ward is busy but I think any postnatal ward is.

Unless you are doing an instrumental delivery (i.e, trying to get something in from the opposite end than intended) there is zero reason to do an episiotomy. It pretty much just comes down to if you have an elderly doctor, who is also more likely to think that because they think something should happen, they don’t need the input of the patient. My family member had complications due to the episiotomy and would have chosen to tear - or not tear - naturally and would almost certainly have healed better.