You may have read in Newbury Weekly News or heard on the radio about our campaign to reinstate maternity facilities in Newbury. Our story can be read here:-
So should they also have SCBUs in Newbury as well? Should every town of 30,000 have these along with the expertise they require? Who will pay for it all and why should there be a maternity unit rather than say a specialist oncology facility?
So should they also have SCBUs in Newbury as well? Should every town of 30,000 have these along with the expertise they require? Who will pay for it all and why should there be a maternity unit rather than say a specialist oncology facility?
Newbury used to have a maternity unit, when it was much smaller. This is about building for the future. As for an oncology unit, that is true, but people must fight for their principles that they believe strongly in and get out and do something, like campaigning, rather than sit at home (or work) sneering from the 'safety' of the Internet at those that do.
What we are proposing is a midwife led facility that would be able to manage the majority of deliveries, appointments and scans. This in turn would reduce the pressure on RBH and other hospitals who would still take the higher risk deliveries. Wallingford and Wantage have this kind of facility which has proven to work well in practice. RBH closes its doors to admissions sometimes, 40 times in one year, so they are under too much pressure.
And as we are talking about the whole of West Berkshire which would benefit from this facility, the population is around 145 000
But much of that population will be nearer Reading, Swindon or Oxford. I think the NHS is correct to have centres of excellence both from a care and cost point of view.
Ok, how would you improve maternity services for Newbury and Thatcham then? We have 2000 people (so far), with 2000 stories of how they have each been let down by our current service. Women giving birth in their husbands cars on the motorway, ambulances carrying labouring women to 2 or 3 hospitals before one has space to accept them, women delivering in lay-bys or hospital car parks. Women having to travel weekly or even more to Reading or Basingstoke for appointments and monitoring, one woman who had to travel for 7 hours in labour to reach a hospital and another who had her baby delivered by her husband who had to resus the baby with only telephone support. What would you do? And what is your experience of transferring a labouring woman to hospital?
And what is your experience of transferring a labouring woman to hospital?
I have a more traumatic experience of this than you'd ever guess at, but it doesn't change the fact that we don't have unlimited resources. I also had a life or death event a few moths ago and had to go to RBH in an ambulance under blue lights, but when I got there, there was waiting state of the art facilities and a top consultant. If we have a local maternity unit with all the facilities required for a full blown emergency the cost would be enormous. We just have to accept as a society that there are and have to be balances.
But we are not asking for cover for full blown emergencies, just a simple birthing unit for women to give birth in there local community. Like I have said, this would allow more women that need expertise to be able to access them at RBH. And if you care to do your research, this kind of unit is more cost effective than giving over a hospital bed to a straight forward delivery. "The observational studies found a trend to lower costs per delivery for the MLMUs compared to hospital care" (NHS, 2007) I ask you again, what is your experience of transporting a labouring woman?
I ask you again, what is your experience of transporting a labouring woman?
I am not going to tell you. It is private. But I do promise you that your experience & the few that have actually commented on your petition website are as nothing in comparison.
We all have a "simple birthing unit". It is called "home".
You have no access to our paper petition and pages and pages of comments we have collected in person. In my opinion you have not a clue as to what we are requesting and it's positive impact on the community.
And whilst I fully support homebirthing, as I have also mentioned, it is not just a case of delivering babies but also monitoring and care during pregnancy that could be offered at such a facility.
Furthermore, I will not have the months of research carried out by myself and professional people associated with our campaign belittled by one person who, for whatever reason, decides that the families of Newbury do not deserve an improved level of care.
You have no access to our paper petition and pages and pages of comments we have collected in person. In my opinion you have not a clue as to what we are requesting and it's positive impact on the community.
And whilst I fully support homebirthing, as I have also mentioned, it is not just a case of delivering babies but also monitoring and care during pregnancy that could be offered at such a facility.
Furthermore, I will not have the months of research carried out by myself and professional people associated with our campaign belittled by one person who, for whatever reason, decides that the families of Newbury do not deserve an improved level of care.
It's a sad fact of life that not everyone will agree with you. If you post on a public forum, please don't expect that everyone will agree with you and do try not to take it personally as it wasn't meant personally.
That's fine. I welcome the debate and enjoy educating people. I certainly don't take your comments personally although other supporters may, especially those who have paid the highest price possible due to lack of facilities.
I think we should leave this thread now for others to comment and get a broader range of opinions, rather than us two arguing the toss for the rest of the day x
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