"Maternity ward review"

Anything else?

I have given birth twice at Heartlands, in 2010 and 2012. Overall I am very happy with the treatment of the staff. Both times I was in the Willow Suite and I had amazing midwives who stayed with me the whole labour. I was kept informed with how my labour was progressing and they offered advice on pain relief etc. They chatted to me like a friend which helped me stay calm. I felt very well looked after and after both births my husband was allowed to stay for three hours with me and the baby, I got to have a shower etc until I was transferred to the ward. The nurses on the ward also took great care of me, and were there to offer any help/advice for a new mom and showed me how to bath a newborn baby etc. The food I was impressed with as this was my first stay in hospital and you always hear stories of horrible food but I thought it was lovely. Overall I would recommend Heartlands. I am closer to Solihull hospital but chose Heartlands due to them having doctors here should something have gone wrong (whereas Solihull is only a midwife led unit). My only criticism is that with both labours I arrived at a time where the staff were switching over and was left in an assessment room on my own for approx 20 mins (my husband was told to wait in waiting room). For my first labour this was quite scary. However once the new staff came they looked after me and once I was on the Willow Suite the midwives were outstanding.