Discover Hertford Online Forum

Reply ID 84035

What services is it youre looking for?!

Reply ID 84036

Possibly not worded very well. Whole thing really - I had an emergency c-section with my first and if I'm classed as a high risk with the next I guess I want to know which hospital is going to be the best before, during and after birth, but most importantly during!

Reply ID 84037

if you're not pregnant yet then dont worry about qe2 - it's closing in nov anyway (maternity dept) lister is a brand new department. So it should be quite nice! you can always just go to addenbrookes if you can hold the nipper in that long. b.t.w. you will find bad experiences at EVERY hospital - so you have to bear in mind how many they deliver etc, how many people dont moan about it is probably the most important thing. we had 2 at qe2 - one experience was brilliant, one was quite poor.

Reply ID 84040

quote:

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Originally posted by Ath3na
I'm not pregnant yet but hope to be soon and I'm already beginning to panic a little about local maternity services. Looking online at the 3 closest hospitals (Lister/QEII /PAH) all of them look pretty poor. I'm aware that stats aren't always the same as the experience people have but I wondered if anyone could let me know what they are like and if there is a hospital I really should avoid or request. Thanks

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Reply ID 84041

I was born in Harlow, thus it makes the alexandra the number one hospital in the area.

Reply ID 84052

We had both of our daughters delivered by c-section (1 emergency & 1 elective) at the QEII and couldn't fault them with either. First was just over 2 years ago & the second just under a month ago now. The care for my wife & children before, during & after was second to none and would heartily recommend them....just a shame that the maternity unit is now being closed! However, there has been the fair share of other mums who have given us horror stories (never their own, but 'friends experiences') with tales of having had a terrible time there. But as mentioned above, I am sure that every hospital has a number of negative experiences associated with it - always the way that you hear more of the bad comments than the good. We can only go by our experience there though, which mentioned before, was superb.

Reply ID 84055

Hi I chose Lister 3 years ago, as I'd had a few problems with QE2, and being a snob didn't want my child being born in Essex!! I had no problems with Lister, but know lots of people who have used both QE2 and PA in Harlow with no problems. QE2 will def be shut by the time you need it so your GP will prob refer you to Lister. No hospital is perfect......

Reply ID 84056

My wife is due in the next 2 weeks and midwife confirmed on Monday that no-one now being admitted to QE2. Our first was born at Princess Alexandra in Harlow 3 years ago - the maternity unit was fairly new and excellent, however the maternity ward afterwards wasn't so good (old with really badly controlled heating). We are going for a home birth this time as think it will be more relaxing, but if there are complications we will be going to Lister as we have also heard the ner unit is excellent.

Reply ID 84060

Mmmmmm - difficult choice. What would you rather have on your birth certificate and passport to carry around for the rest of your life - Harlow or Stevenage ???? [:D]

Reply ID 84062

quote:

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Originally posted by newgirl
Mmmmmm - difficult choice. What would you rather have on your birth certificate and passport to carry around for the rest of your life - Harlow or Stevenage ???? [:D]

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Reply ID 84063

I know someone who actually did that - booked into a Cambridge Birthing centre for birth certificate purposes ! One of my kids has Edmonton on his cert, the other has Highgate.....

Reply ID 84064

I admit I did that too but my son was born 13 years ago and I was given the choice of Welwyn or Harlow. As I had just moved to the area I had no idea of whether the hospitals were any good but immediately said Welwyn for birth certificate purposes (I was born in Luton and I don't often like to admit it). I had a reasonably good experience at Welwyn but that is a moot point now as it is closing (I say reasonably good as the birth was traumatic and that overshadows all other factors in my memory, the hospital and staff were very good)

Reply ID 84066

As my wife is hopefully having our baby at home, would we be able to say Hertford Heath, or is it the nearest town? (agreed a lot better than Harlow!)

Reply ID 84075

I had a our baby at Rosie Maternity Hospital at Addenbrookes in Cambridge. I could not fault the care we all recived there. I chose to move my maternity care at 37 weeks as my baby was breech and there for couldnt have my planned homebirth and didnt want to go to QE2 due to previous bad expernices. The local community MW team are also excellent! (Sitting here waiting for a midwife to come and see me!)

Reply ID 84094

We had both of ours at QEII and couldn't fault them either time but thats obviously not an option for you. If I were choosing now I would go for Harlow, I know several people who have had great experiences there, but as has been said there are good and bad stories about all. A good friend had a bad experience at the Rosie then a fab experience at Harlow with her next one. A lot might depend on where you are coming from, we are the East side of town so Harlow is nearer (or feels nearer!).

Reply ID 84146

Thanks for everyone's feedback. As you say all hospitals have their good and bad stories but I wanted to get a feel for it. Where I used to live you just didn't go to the nearest hospital and that was a universal feeling from all local residents. Does seem here it's mostly good [:)] Also interesting reading: http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/Hertfordshire/New-Lister-maternity-unit-opens-for-business-20102011.htm

Reply ID 84179

Just to add the QE11 Maternity services have now finished, all transfered over to the new unit at Lister which is meant to be fabulous, so a tour there is definately recommended. And no i am not a Midwife...!