Help _which hospital to choose in melbourne

[Chiku]

Hi Mums

Need your help in choosing a hospital. I am due in april 2006. I have to choose between 1) Mercy hospital at heidelberg which is 40 minutes drive from my place

2) Boxhill hospital which is 20 minutes drive from my place.

I need to make a decision quickly. Please give your opinion and any information. Any sort of information would be great.

Cheers
chiku

[RuthK]

I don't know about how good the Box Hill hospital is, but having worked there as a nurse I'd say, stay clear!

I've had wonderful reports about the Mercy and they have much better facilities for premmies or babies who develop problems.

40 minutes isn't too far to go. Just don't leave it too late in labour.

[ceejay]

Hi there. I had both my boys at the old Mercy and it was pretty good, at least as far as the public hospital thing goes. I went through the family birth centre for antenatal care both times, but ended up on a public ward with the first. All the staff were pretty goood, although the four-in-a-ward stay afterwards wasn't too flash. I understand the new Mercy has heaps more two bed rooms. The FBC was fantastic to stay in - just like a private hospital only free - your own room with double bed and ensuite, and they're happy for a partner to stay.
Also, the food was fantastic too. I know, I know, it's hospital food. But it was fresh and plentiful - and I was starving after both births, so that probably helped.
Hope that helps a bit. good luck.

[bb]

This is only my opinion .... but, for what I know, there is really no comparison... the Mercy Hospital has a great (and consistently improving) reputation and Box Hill is a scary ... scary place !!

BB

[Notchalk]

I have heard great things about the Birth Centre based at the Box Hill Hospital. I can't remember the name of it though. Don't know anything about the actual hospital itself, sorry. I think the new Mercy's facilities would be more up to date - but I haven't seen it, so can't say for sure.

Jo

[mummycloud]

I don't know about how good the Box Hill hospital is, but having worked there as a nurse I'd say, stay clear!

I've worked there too AND had my third there...stay clear! It's Biralee.
They nearly killed my baby and I have a friend who was in labour 15 hours and they had her pushing when she was only 7cm's knowing the baby was in trouble. They wanted to wait till 9am to give her a c-section because they felt bad calling an OB in before then :eek: The baby almost died PLUS when they bagged him they colapsed a lung :eek: He was at the childrens hospital for weeks :(

I've heard the Mercy is great but if you're worried about the distance, is the Anglis any closer? I've only ever heard great things about them.

[whatwasithinking]

I had both DDs at Birralee. I had no real problems with either births (they were emergency and elective ceasers).

The things I didn't like about Birralee was they forced me to breasfeed and got really narkey when I decided not to breastfeed DD number 1 (they were rude and unhelpful to me for the rest of my 5 day stay)

And the other thing I didn't like about Birralee was the night staff weren't that helpful (I and other mums in my room) felt like they thought we were children and they were babysitting us.

Example: I had to stick to a strict feeding schedule for DD number 2 as she was losing weight rapidly and the night nurses "forgot" to wake me up for the important night feeds which resulted in her losing more weight and us being in hospital for additional 3 days (8days in total). This not only happened to me but also one of the other mums in my room.

Maybe the choice is made for you already - Mercy sounds the way to go.

Good luck and hugs to you

Hannah-29/9/02
Rebecca-29/8/05