Ascot Birth Centre discussed at meeting

Published 27 Jan 2012 09:15 Comments 1 Comment

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CAMPAIGNERS are calling on health bosses to pick up tips from successful midwifery-led birth units in a bid to keep the Ascot Birth Centre running long-term.

At a public board meeting of Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust yesterday (Thursday) the Heath Advisory Group (HAG) called on chief executive Philippa Slinger to visit other centres in the area to see how they run in a bid to improve the Heatherwood-based service and keep it open.

Ms Slinger agreed to this idea and has plans to travel to a similar birth centre in the New Forest to view its services.

The Ascot Birth Centre has been closed since September due to long-term staff sickness and there are no plans to open it in the foreseeable future.

Ms Slinger has questioned the viability of the centre which only has 35 births a month and in a private board meeting, also held yesterday in Slough, members discussed the future of the centre.

What are your views on the future of Ascot Birth Centre? Add your comments below or contact the newsroom on news@bracknellnews.co.uk

This article appeared in Villager 27 Jan 12

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heathermills
1 post
Jan 27, 13:36
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My husband also heard Ms Slinger on berkshire radio this morning with Andrew Peach, where she stated that she neede to travel (at our cost no doubt) to the new forest to see a successful centre. To be honest this has angered us both! Why the need to travel so far?? Maybe she feels the need to spend a night in a hotel? Again the trust is wasting money on travel, meetings, reviews etc when that should cut all this crap and spend their money on services and facilities and not on management etc....

There is a very good birth centre in High Wycombe - which is being very successfully run by a team of experienced midwifes, who are capable and condfident to provide an amazing service for local women.

The reason only a few number of babies have been recently born at Heatherwood, is due to the fact that over the years the trust has continually stripped more and more resources away from it. In past years the birth centre had anethetist and consultants avaliable to call up in case of emgergency - and even ahd the facilities to perform and emergency C Section if needed.

Now any small issue means that you are prevented from using Heatherwood, any minor complication in any labour that started there results in an abulanace transfer to Wexham.

If more services were returned to Heatherwood, then this would dramatcially increase the number of women who would be able to choose it as their birth option!

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant, and I was delighted when I had chance to see the virth centre at ascot durring my early preganancy. If offered large rooms, with good facilities and pools, with a relaxed atmosphere of midwife lead care. It became are instantly prefered choice!

Sadly a few weeks later the closure announcement came! And I am afraid to say that following a tour of Wexhams facilites - I felt it could not provide the same service I had expected at Heatherwood. This forced me to look at other hospitals - and I was amazed and delighted to find the birth centre at High Wycombe Hospital. It is clean, well presented with lots of equipment and facilities for a natural labour, and fingers crossed that is where I will now have my baby!

We are constanlty told of the cost of c-sections, but research has shown that if you go to a labour ward such as Wexham - your chances increase - for several reasons. The surrounding are not calming and tense, stressed, frightend woman is more likley to have a long difficault labour requiring more intervention. The facilities to support natural labour are not avaliable - one pool, tiny rooms that impinge on movement, accompanied with the desire of staff to keep you in bed - also the worst possible postion to be in durring active labour! And lastly they are over subscribed meaning that that want you in and out quickly, and so often push women to had assistance and surgery as it is simply taking to long!

On one had the trust is now pushing hypnobirthing - aimed at having a better and more natural labour experience - great!!! But now they just want to push all women to wexham - where it is unlikely that this anticpated better expereience will actually happen.

It jsut seems the trust is determined to try and turn WPH into some super hospital with all facitilites under one roof - but they is just not the space! And constantly refuse to spend money on any other trust hospital - St Marks, Upton & Heatherwood. Instead they constantly withdraw services and the say ' the hosptial is not being used'. My personal view it that the land all the other hospital are on - would a big windfall it sold for develeopment! My opinion is that they will continue to down grade each hosptial until it no longer becomes viable and then close it!

They have no concern that local people would like to make use of these other sites and see good care spread around the trust and not just concentrated in one place. Why can Heatherwood have birthing facilities like when I was born there? It has been possible in the past - why not now??? After all is is on the boarder of bracknell - where the majority of women are pushed towards Reading - another hospital that often can not cope with the demand!

Heather Mills

Maidenhead

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