Maternity care - moving areas

[artisanroast]

Hi,

I am currently living in Glasgow and my hospital would be the Queen Elizabeth (or still the Southern to me!) This is where I had my first baby who was premature at 35+5.

We are hoping to move before my second baby is born in November/December and would be under Forth Valley NHS trust.

I am consultant lead so I am concerned that if I move my maternity care would also move and I may end up at The Royal Infirmary Edinburgh if I have another early baby. This is quite a distance from where we are hoping to move which is literally just outside the Glasgow boundary.

Has anyone had experience of this? Could you continue to have maternity care at the Southern and then switch after having the baby (the at home bit)?

Any knowledge or experience is greatly appreciated.

I moved address just after having my first baby with no issue at all. They ask you what address you'll be at post birth. The qeuh is quite a distance to travel though, what about moving to the princess Royal if it is closer to you?
I've generally found its relatively straight forward to get your wishes when choosing maternity care, good luck.

Same Health Board so maybe not the best example but I had ds at the Queen Mum's (he's 16 now ) even though I live on the South Side and should technically have gone to the Princess Royal. (I asked for the Queen Mum's as my dad had worked there and it was actually easier for me to get to from work for ante-natal appointments and just as close as the Southern from home).

The only slight complication - but it was dealt with without hassle or fuss - was sorting out the post natal midwife visit. HVs came via those linked to my doctor's surgery anyway.

I believe NHS Scotland now has maternity appointments down to a 10 month wait :)

From forth valley if your baby needed a higher level of care, the transfer is more likely to be to Glasgow than Edinburgh.

However FVRI does have an neonatal intensive care unit on site and when DD was in they had babies from 27 weeks in there too.

I opted to have my baby in the Southern in 2008 when most women from my area went to the old Queen Mum's in Yorkhill. Pre-natally everything was fine as I was midwife led and just saw the midwife at the GP as normal.

Post-birth though the support was AWFUL - notes weren't transferred from the southern, I had to ne very proactive in finding out about when the midwife was coming to see me and the whole communication thing was terribly badly handled. I hope they've upped their game since then, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Excellent thanks ladies.

Cazzy that's especially good to know about FVRH. I think I would be happy to move there as my experience at the Southern was fine but not great. I wasn't aware that FVRH had a neonatal unit and that was my main concern - mid labour a quick transfer to Edinburgh (or Glasgow!)