Chelsea&Westminster Hospital

[luckysmile]

Hi, anyone giving birth at the C&W?

[Bubsmummy]

I am, due in January with my first.

[SydSnow]

I will be I'm pretty sure. I'm due for my first in April 07.
Have you heard any reports about it?

[CountessDracula]

It is great while you are in labour
pretty bad afterwards

[Kaz33]

Another C&W graduate here:

DS1 - nightmare birth, midwife not on ball, but they went the whole ventouse, forceps, emergency c-section very efficiently. Again terrible after care ( in for four days)

DS2 - tough birth, great midwife - out the same day as I did not want to spend night on ward.

Good coffee shop and art!!

[CountessDracula]

I was in for a week afterwards it was hell on earth, even in a room off the main ward

The first night they moved me from the HDU to the room, dd woke and started crying. I wasn't allowed to breastfeed because of the drugs. I rang the bell for 40 mins and no one came. I couldn't walk, so I crawled round past the nursing station to the kitchen, got a bottle and crawled back

[CountessDracula]

yes the art is good
also they had a full costume production of the Magic Flute on while I was in which dd and I enjoyed

[Kaz33]

oh gosh when in hdu i sat there with no water despite having asked for a refill, them the doctor came over and said i was dehydrated and put me on the drip.

[SydSnow]

Sounds pretty grim!
I think I will investigate the private ward?

[mimi1uk]

bloody awfull hospital!!!!!!!!!!! worst treatment i have had in my life!

[Elibean]

Had a very good experience of the private unit with dd1, going again for dd2.
Good friend was in the labour ward at the same time as I was in the PMU (made for some interesting texting back and forth!) and found it was great while she was in labour, but - like most of the local hospitals - short staffed and therefore unhelpful once she was post-delivery and needed help with breastfeeding.

[CountessDracula]

My insurance co said I could go private there but there were no beds. They don't have very many beds tbh

[YeahBut]

Horrific experience there with dd1 - they were short staffed, short of beds and short on human kindness. Agree about the nice art.

[fatfox]

Blimey

C&W sounds even worse than Kingston! I visited C&W (did "the tour"), but they forgot it was on and left us, a group of heavily pregnant women mind, standing by the lift for an hour

When they eventually remembered us and showed us round, it just seemed so chaotic compared with the other hospitals I'd visited, so I didn't choose C&W

You can switch hospitals though, if you are having second thoughts. I switched from Kington to West Mid for second birth, a week before my EDD and they were fine about it.

[Kaz33]

Did you know that C&W was designed so that if there was no need for the hospital in the future they could turn into a shopping mall !!

[mimi1uk]

thats about all it is good for

[Elibean]

bummer so many of you have had crappy experiences there. I had amazing treatment on the GI ward eight years ago, and lovely midwives on the PMU three years ago - scary to think there can be such a gap in quality between the private ward and the NHS one.

[SydSnow]

Well I think I will only go there if I can get into the private ward then. How early do you need to book yourself in there?

[Kaz33]

As I recall you only get a slot on the private ward if one is avaliable - unless you are booking for a scheduled c-section. Think thats right, i did vaguely investigate it as I recall.

[Elibean]

I booked in at 8 weeks this time, and only just managed to get in with the OB of my choice (would have loved midwifery care choice, but not an option as am high risk). You do have to book really early if you want guaranteed private unit, but there is a room you can ask for if you're NHS apart from delivery: but its true, its very much in demand, and the odds of getting it are not great. Real bummer.

[CountessDracula]

it is also about £650 a night which is a lot and that is for room only doesn't include private care, the nhs people come and see you there.

A friend of mine was in the private ward there and her dh had to clean the room Also there are only 6 beds so your chances of getting one v slim

[Elibean]

Yes, its horribly expensive (though not more than the competition, as far as I know). When I was there a cleaner came, we certainly never had to clean the room - ! And that was over Xmas and New Year (I was readmitted two days after going home [sad}).

[CountessDracula]

oh ok a friend of mine who had one at Kingston said it was a lot less IRO 200 iirc

[CountessDracula]

I wouldn't want to go back there other than for the fact that they so nearly killed me last time they will be paying special attention for the next one (if I ever manage to get pg again!)

[Elibean]

Sounds like you had a horrible experience, Countess..

Funny about Kingston, I asked very specifically about private rooms before booking in 3 years ago and was told they didn't have any?? Maybe its all changed. I also paid less than £650 (a lot less) per night for my room at C&W, but that was as part of the PMU package and not for the NHS/private room deal - they're probably different.

Either way, I wouldn't want to go back to somewhere I'd had a nightmare experience of. I didn't like my OB last time one bit, so if I'd had to go with him again I'd have gone elsewhere private or not!

[monkey]

had really shit post natal care there. appalling.