Has anyone given birth at a different hospital their care was at?

[Ttcmumma]

As in the title, has anyone had their care at one hospital then given birth at a different hospital?

I'm currently with my local hospital, Newham general, where I have all my appointments etc as I wouldn't be able to squeeze in work and school runs etc if I went further but I really don't want to give birth there. Their ratings are low and I hated my birth experience in 2018 with them!

I asked my midwife if I can give birth in Homerton as it's not too far and ratings are much better. She said I wouldn't be able to without changing all appointments etc and it may be too late anyway (33 weeks) but did say that if I turn up in labour, they won't turn me away.

It's not the same trust, so they'd only have my paper notes rather than on the system. I just really don't feel comfortable going back to Newham general for the actual birth!

I am giving birth in a different hospital but only because my local one no longer has a maternity unit, only has antenatal clinic there, you could try contacting your preferred hospital ahead of time and see what their policy is but as far as I'm aware you can give birth in whichever place you choose so it shouldn't be a problem, if you turn up in labour they can't send you away so will have to let you in so that maybe what you have to do if they say no initially

me to, my care has been at a community hospital but it doesn't have a maternity ward. I live right in the middle of two maternity hospitals, haven't decided yet!

I did but it was planned as my local hospital doesn’t do twin births. You could just go when in established labour and they can’t turn you away. How was your first labour? If it wasn’t very quick I’d chance it.

Thank you ladies! I think I will turn up in labour if they can't turn me away. Hopefully I don't need an induction or c section. I doubt I'll need a c section but potentially an induction.

My first labour was long, my waters broke on the Friday with some minor contractions, I needed to be induced on the Saturday and he was born on the Sunday evening. About 51 hours in total!

I did. I was having my antenatal care at my local, smaller hospital, but it was deemed a high-risk pregnancy so the plan was always to transfer my care to the larger hospital (within the same trust) in early December (baby due early February.)

However, I had some spotting late November, and the midwife suggested that I went to the larger hospital to be checked out (just in case) and I ended up having an emergency C-section that evening. Of course, they didn’t have my notes and kept going on about how I should have been transferred to this hospital’s care sooner, so it did seem to be an inconvenience!

I would say that if there is anything at all unusual about your health or your current or previous pregnancy, it would be much safer to give birth where your notes are. If you’re a textbook case and bring with you anything relevant that you do have (such as a note confirming your blood group) maybe it will be ok. It is a bit mean to the staff though, not to have access to information that might enable them to care for you more effectively.

@LetItGoToRuin oh how strange I was told if it's within the same trust they can easily access your notes! I'm allowed to choose another hospital within the trust but they're all awfully located and have no higher rating than requires improvement. Whereas the other local one I want is rated outstanding.

I've sent an email explaining the situation to them, to see if there's anything they can do. Besides having a miscarriage last year I'm pretty textbook and know all of my own details for exactly how my last birth went etc. I don't think there's anything on my online notes that isn't on my paperwork notes I can take with me.

The hospital im currently at dismissed my waters breaking and constantly tried to send me home until I basically shouted at them, they put in the wrong type of induction then had to remove it. Were quite rude throughout, then when I was finally ready to push they forced me to go poo as there was no way I could be 10cm yet. They hadn't checked. I ended up screaming at them that there's no poo, just blood so they made me carry my bags and walk up to delivery (thankfully my partner took the bags but they had shoved them at me initially). They also took 1 and a half hours of my pushing to realise he wasn't coming out as the cord was around his neck twice. His heart rate had been all over the place for 2 days and they did admit it was likely the cord the whole time, they just didn't realise.

With my miscarriage they told me 'atleast you can get pregnant' and then stood around cooing over pictures of someone's newborn baby Infront of me.

After a loss too I think I'm just so paranoid about something going wrong in labour and then never forgiving myself for going to the hospital I already had a bad experience with you know? I was a lot more naive with my son and just saw it as, I'm pregnant, I'll have a baby!

@Ttcmumma this was 13 years go so maybe the record sharing within a trust has improved since then!

No advice im afraid @Ttcmumma but I'm having the same dilemma at the moment- my closest hospital (where my antenatal care will be) has been all over the news- it got a terrible rating last year which was upheld later in the year after they failed to make improvements.

Only one other option in my area, which is a tiny hospital with no facilities in a coastal town with a huge catchment area.

I want to go to a close by big city (2 hospitals, decent facilities, good ratings) but it's outside this care area. It's too far to have all my appointments there though (work full time). I have my first midwife appointment next week so I'll ask then...

I've spoken to one of the head midwives in the hospital I want and she is going to transfer me over in the next couple of weeks but also told me to keep the scan I have booked in my current hospital so I don't miss out. They were so much nicer and felt more personal than my current hospital staff