I had this dilemma after poor care in 2009...
Basically you maybe a bit stuck... Your options are the Lister in Stevenage, Luton and Dunstable, or possibly going into London to Queen Charlottes... Im not sure of the practicalities of a private room with any of them...
Seeing as for me, each of them were 50min or so by car NOT in rush hour, and the journeys would be on M25/M1 or into London I decided to stay put as of course in bed traffic it could easily double.
I'm on DC3 and need 4hours of ABs for GBS prior to birth so I was worried about making it on time, particularly with the first two hospitals as DH works in central London so it will take him the best part of an hour to get home... and then about an hour to those hospitals...
I did have the offer from family to pay for private care from start to finish. I looked into several options but decided against it.
What i did, which you may or may not find useful, was i spoke to Nora Lucy, the consultant MW. She spent nearly two hours with me, going through my previous notes with a fine tooth comb. She explained where decisions were made that medically speaking were probably the correct ones, but were handled absolutely awfully in terms of personal care/ bedside manner and apologised for this. She explained what had happened and most likely why. Whilst it didn't fix what happened, it certainly helped to have someone go through it all with me. She listened to my slightly hysterical sobbing concerns and together we came up with a plan to deal with things this time. She wrote in my notes the plan we devised and what is to happen this time when i am admitted. She then wrote her mobile number in the notes for the hospital to call if there were problems or queries on admission and also told me that myself or DH were welcome to call her at any time if we had worries/questions/or were in hospital and were not happy with how things were going.
I was very lucky in that at that meeting there was a 3rd year student who asked if I could be her case load study. I was more than happy with this as i had a lovely student at the birth last time. It has been great in that she comes to all my appointments, knows exactly what is going on, is only a text or phone call away if i have any queries, no matter how silly. She will come to all appointments and then attend the birth. She knows exactly what happened before and how upset i was and how worried I was about birthing again at Watford and has said she will make sure that I am not fobbed off this time and that she will be there to advocate for me. It has helped that my community mw this time, is also fab and incredibly supportive. I have another consultant appointment at the end of the month and I'm so glad I've got her coming with me to support me. i know that if i get upset or am not making myself well understood she will speak up on my behalf. I know she is not a fully qualified MW just yet, I suppose i view it as a bit like having a doula. Anyway I am very grateful that I have her.
In terms of the knutsford suite rooms, I didn't end up there with DC2, but i was put in one of the NHS side rooms (which i think are the ones you pay for) as I was in for a week as I was very ill. You still have the same NHS nurses there which is the same as the knutsford suite was. The care was grossly lacking in Katherine Ward and therefore I would have been surprised if it was hugely better on the K.S.
I have spoken with Nora and with both my MW and my plan this time is to leave in 6 hours and refuse point blank to go back to Katherine Ward. The only way I will go there is if baby or I have a medical NEED. I still need to speak to consultant/MW/maybe even Nora, about what will happen if I don't get all 4 hours of AB as it differs hospital to hospital as to whether they will just monitor baby or want them to stay in on IV AB for 24/48hrs. But if it is just monitoring and we have no other high risk factors, then I will almost certainly refuse and go home.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do