Which Hospital????

Hi to all.....
I am currently 8wks 5 days and looking into booking into hospital soon.
I originally wanted to go to Casey in Berwick and it seems all good haven't visited yet but i've heard dozens of people say it's nice and new.My other option is Frankston Public Hospital. I had my first baby there and they were pretty good a little rude during labour or maybe that was just me :S but otherwise they were good.
Both hospitals seem to have great/reasonably new maternity wards but i've heard stories about Casey in Berwick that new mums got golden staf from there.
Talked to my doc about it and he says every hospital has it but i've only ever heard that it's really bad at Casey in berwick.

Anyone had any experiences good or bad with either hospital????

I had a bad experience at Casey when undergoing a miscarriage so I decided against going there (they put me in a private room in the emergency area and then forgot about me and I got found again by accident much later, I didn't realise they were supposed to be checking on me every half hour or 15 minutes or whatever it was).

I've heard that it is quite difficult to get an epidural at Casey and they are very strict on other drugs there as well so if you want to use drugs through labour it might not be your best choice.

If anything goes wrong you will get transferred from there to either Dandenong Hospital or Monash medical centre as they only take low risk births - and if your status changes from low risk to a higher risk any time during the pregnancy you will have to change hospitals as well. They wont take you if you are overweight either due to the risk factors that they can't handle.

I guess if your risk factors are low and you aren't too fussed about drugs then it would be a good choice. I don't personally know anyone who's given birth there.

One of my cousins gave birth at Frankston Hospital and found it great - although she was low risk and quite young at the time she suffered complications with both births and was very fortunate to be at a hospital that could deal with the excess bleeding quickly in surgery.

I don't think that newness really matters when choosing a hospital. It's what facilities they have that count - what services do they provide and can they deal with all eventualities? If bubs is born early can the hospital keep the baby there for will it be transferred elsewhere whilst you are kept there?

I've chosen Dandenong as it can handle pretty much everything birthwise and it has a large special care nursury should bubs come early. They take babies there from other hospitals in the area (and as far away as Warrigal) that can't cope with pre term births. On my tour there recently I found the private rooms were just as good as a private hospital I visited recently and the shared ones were quite good too. I had to consider all options very carefully as I'm 41 and therefore more likely to have a preterm birth, and because of this Casey was never a contender.

I've decided to go with Frankston. I've given it alot of thought and the idea of something going wrong and berwick not being able to handle it straight away deters me. Frankston is a lovely hospital which caters for high risk pregnancy's. So i have the peace of mind that if something changes or goes wrong then i will be in good hands.
Thanks for your advice and good luck with pregnancy and birth,