General Chat

facilities like we have been on the news pm due to 3 mums having to give birth in an ambulance on route to hospital cos ours hasn,t the facility anymore ? June..

OUrs is excellent, apart from the MRSA and other superbugs, which are plaguing every hospital. Great facilities, lovely canteen and really good prices. The only let-down is the patients food, what they expected my OH to eat last year was horrible.

Teresa ours is a disgrace we have a lovely hospital but the assets seem to have been stripped and most things happen at the other hospital not so new they do their best but too much to do . Every one is up in arms June ..

June exactly same situation where I live Mothers having to travel a minimum of 21 miles to give birth, Unless It's between (9am and 4pm and absolutely NO complications). My friend had a baby last June and he was only the 2nd last yr to be born here. Not sure what the total number was for last yr but I bet it was less than 10.

Harrogates supposed to be one of the best in the country but don't know if they do maternity but was reading yesterday because they are well within their budget - wait for it - they won't get as much this year and the extra goes to hospitals that are not doing well! Norah

I must admit for maternity facilities I would be alright,, if I was having any more, being only ten minutes away...but they do take in Mums from all over Norfolk, so yes, some could travel as much as 30 miles.

our local,wycombe general,is a fantastic hospital for care but they have now moved the maternity unit and emergency unit to stoke mandeville. they are now thinking of closing our A&E unit aswell,also moving it to stoke mandeville. thats about 30-45 minutes to get there. susie

Ours is brilliant apart from they are overworked and understaffed. The hospital is spotless, maternity ward is very good. Only a five minute walk from us, not that I'll be booking in maternity mind :) Heather x

Joyce so glad to hear you have a good hospital nice to know June xx

Mums in Cyprus don't seem to do hospital births any more-they all opt for ceasaereans at private clinics.Obviously at a date and time which suits them ! I do wonder who picks up the £1,000+ bill each time,but it is a sad reflection on the maternity services in the public hospitals in an EU country! You wouldn't want to give birth in one of our 'ambulances'-Ford transit vans with a red cross on the outside-with an off duty taxi driver at the wheel ! PS my daughter is a uk paramedic-safely delivered quite a few babies due to distances involved--you lot are so lucky x

although i live in holland our hospital is realy good all the docters and staff intruce themselves by name and shake your hand and when you go in hospital they realy look after joyce from holland

Sorry but am naming mine (at home) Cearphilly Miners District Hopital - A&E 9-5, Maternity straight forward no complications / C sections, Geriatric care - some mixed wards men one end women the other with just shutter doors to seperate, Pathology and out patients A&E is good, clean and fast - when open! (use to be 24 hr) Maternity - crap unless straight foreward naturall delivery, (use to take everyone from the area, even had theaters for c-sections) Geriatrics - gawd I hope I don't get old, the Dr's are awrfull with families and may as well speek aramayic to the patients (no British Dr's) Pathology - Good and efficient Out Patients - Dr's there that I met were dominering pigs that asked my mother about me and my body (I was 14!!!) Nearest at Uni - the infamus Queen Mary's Sidcup. Maternity is clean and efficient, Midwives are lovely Special Care Baby Unit is clean, babies and families well looked after and very friendly Children's Ward is Clean, bright, fun and friendly A&E again clean and friendly also efficient Out patients Clean and efficient Theater is spotless, staff friendly and efficient No idea of adult wards but generally all staff are friendly. NO MRSA that I have heard about in my time back and for there so don't beleive everything the news says.

Lunar Thankyou for your honesty June xx

Nolls. Harrogate still do Maternity as most of the Expectant Mum's from where I live opt for Harrogate. Leeds has St James and Leeds General Infirmary,out of the 2 I always opt for St James as it is the best for courtesy from the Nursing staff and the consultants and doctors. Last time I had ops on my hands we had a good laugh with the doctors and nurses.Besides MRSA in most hospitals I wouldn't go anywhere else. LGI is not(in my opinion)very good as the food is horrible and the wards are filthy,you can scrape the muck off the floor. We have a small hospital in the market town where I live(see next to my name)but A&E shuts at 11pm every night,also you can only have x-rays between 9am-10am and has out patient clinics and day patient for small ops and I hate this hospital as most of the staff are ignorant.I can verify this as I have been attending a certain out patient clinic and last time I went(September 06) they actually kept me waiting 3 hours after my appointment time as they told me that they couldn't find my file and it was right at the bottom of the pile.Worse Luck is that I have to go on Wednesday again to the same clinic. Suexxxx

Isay bring back the good old days at least hospitals were clean and well orderd. Matron ruled supreme our nurses are still angels but did any of our generation forsee it would end up like this June xx

Hi June, the hospital in my area is wonderful. (Essex) It is undergoing expansion and the facilities are all there. It's the only A& E department in the area....shame it takes 50 mins to get there, from where I live, on a good run! That is the only complaint I have though. Tina x

Our hospital is brill on all counts, it's actually out of our area but it's the nearest so we use it!! The one Hospital I would be terrified of if I had to go in there and that would be Chaseside Enfield. I thought it was bad enough 12 years back when my Mum was admitted there, but if I recall there was a bad write up about it only last. Kim

What local hospital?? Nearest A & E is over 20 miles away and no public transport. Jay

At present there are both A&E + Maternity wards in Hastings & Eastbourne. They are planning cut these services so that the two areas share 1 A&E + Maternity. If you look on a map of the area you can see that someone from Rye will have a journey of over 30miles as would many of us in rural villages. According to Google Maps the journey will take over an hour, but in rush hour this could be up to 2hours!!! As it took the ambulance 20min to get to my Mothers house, from there base 8miles away(Blue lighting) at 6pm, how long would it have been before she was seen by a Dr? How many births & deaths,will there be in ambulances, before they realize that they have made a mistake?

Can't say for uni (although I live two minutes walk from Leicester Royal Infirmary) but at home Blackburn Royal and Queen's Park have merged to become the Royal Blackburn. Fortunately, my sister and I are covered for private healthcare on our parents' company policy. I was saddened recently to hear that the maternity wards at Hope Hospital in Salford (where my sister was born) and Fairfield General in Bury (where I was born) were apparently being closed. I have no idea where the nearest maternity unit is to there, but I know they were campaigning against it and somebody interviewed the Health Minister on the news about it. (As usual, minister tries to blame everyone else.) I can imagine because of this that there might well be babies born in the backs of ambulances or even mums staying at home and ringing 999 at the last minute knowing the baby will arrive before the ambulance, just for the security of knowing where the baby will be born. Perhaps it's time more home births were encouraged. That 9-4 thing you said, Tracy, made me think. I read that in America most babies born in hospital arrive between 8am and 6pm. Coincidence that it fits in neatly with doctors' working hours? Apparently, they also have higher intervention rates.