Recent experiences of St Georges Maternity Unit Tooting or Kingston Maternity unit.

[marrickville]

Hello
I'm I'm needing to make a decision between these two maternity units and I'm keen to hear about some recent experiences that people have had in both hospitals. Most of the reviews I have read have been a few years old and I'd like to make a more informed choice.

Thanks so much

[JassyRadlett]

I had a great experience of Kingston in September 2011. Absolutely not the birth I'd hoped for - DS had a knot in his cord, decelerations and meconium in fluid so I ended up on continuous monitoring and then DS had hourly observations for the first 12 hours.

They were great. Midwives were marvellous (one literally tucked me in at night after DH went home), medical care was good though as a health warning I should note I got a private room (I think they have more of these on post-natal these days?). Not overly strict on DH visiting hours - really nice staff.

Friends gave birth on the Malden Suite and adored it. V jealous of their experiences but as I say I can't fault my care.

Breastfeeding support could possibly have been a bit better but DS fed ok in the first two days - problems started once we got home, but luckily I also had a great community midwife.

Good luck!

[shaktar]

I had a good experience in Kingston as did the 5 others in my NCT group who gave birth there (all with v different births - two epidurals, one CS, 3 gas and air). We ended up being in for 5 days as DD needed antibiotics and whilst I was climbing the walls with cabin fever by the end, I could not fault the care.

After giving birth in the early evening, DD was taken to the intensive care unit for a night as a precaution, I woke up in the middle of the night to find one of the nurses had taken and printed out a photo of her and left it on my pillow. I can forgive bad hospital food and boredom for that!

HTH

[Marcheline]

I had an excellent experience at the MW led unit at St Georges when DD was born (birthed was nearly 3 years ago, sorry). If we still live in Putney I'd be back there in a shot for DD2's birth.

Care was excellent andthe MWs were amazing. I discharged myself the next day so can't say much about their bf care etc.

I chose St G's because of their low Emergency CS rate and tried for a home birth but it turned out DD was back to back and I just couldn't cope, so I went in. The MWs did everything they could to help me have a natural birth even when I was demanding an epidural, and they did absolutely the right thing by me. I was glad not to have been on the actual labour ward as we had to go there to have DD checked out before I could go and it was chaos! Really noisy, really busy. The MW led part was so serene and calm, going on to the other ward was a massive shock.

I'd say that you should do a tour of both hospitals, if you can, as really that's the best way for you to tell where you think might be the best place for you.

[notcitrus]

Gave birth at Georges in 2008 and earlier this year. Good antenatal and delivery care, and this time the postnatal care was excellent - they've put a lot of effort into reducing agency staff and ensuring night care is up to scratch. I know some people's postnatal experience was less good but I believe now it's most likely you will have a good experience.
Friend gave birth at Kingston last year with no complaints.

The MLU at Georges is fab though sadly I never.got to see it this time round as dd got moving too fast. And have a M&S for food supplies!

[SaBearOz]

I had DS in Feb 2012 on the delivery suite at ST Georges. I found the care fantastic and was reassured by the consultant care available and the experienced staff. I only stayed in 1 night after DS as I was desperate for my own bed.
The midwives in postnatal were generally lovely although i did meet one night time midwife who I felt was a little abrupt (but to be fair I was exhausted and may have just misread her). Postnatal care clinic was brilliant and provided me with all the support I and DH needed.
Good luck with the choice

[Bearandcub]

Good experience in Kingston this year (Feb). Have not managed to get into Midwife-Led Unit but heard good things from friends who have.

[angeltattoo]

I've had antenatal care at both, really good experiences and staff great.

SGH close to my heart, as I worked there for 4 years and thibk it's excellent, but am opting for Kingston myself as it's closer to home and a friend, a HCP, has had her 3 there and recommended it.

Good luck!

[angeltattoo]

I think they are both good so go for the one that will be easier to get to an makes you feel most comfortable.

I live in Surrey so Kingston for me, but SGH is bigger, massive ITU and is a trauma centre etc so would have a larger out of hours service (for epidural etc) so maybe something to consider if you would find this reassuring?

[CitizenOscar]

I had my DS at st George's in 2011 and am booked in again for next DC in 2013.

I was booked into the carmen suite (MLU) but when I went to deliver, it was full so had to go to the delivery suite, where I had excellent care. Midwife was v sensitive to my needs, I had very active labour on the floor (mat) with a birthing ball and gas & air, and I really don't think it'd have been that different to labour in the MLU in the end.

After delivery I had a haemorrhage & needed medication, and got it all sorted under general anaesthetic. MWs took excellent care of my DS and DH while I was in theatre.

Excellent care for one night on the delivery suite, then transferred to postnatal ward. I had private room as I needed blood transfusions & DS also had a suspected infection.

Fantastic breastfeeding support. Food for me was adequate at best, but with m&s on site & the high st round the corner there are plenty of sources of food.

I was in hospital for 6 days in the end, so saw pretty much every midwife & HCA. Almost all were great.

For us, st George's is much closer than Kingston, and I'd have no reason not to go there again.

[leannac]

I had a terrible, life threatening experience at Kingston & 5 others in my NCT group also had bad experiences but I believe we were unlucky with the time of year we had babies as they were very short staffed & so cut corners where they shouldn't have. Also I was offered the chance to make an official complaint against the hospital after my experience & so it seems a lot of retraining & systems changes have been implemented to ensure these very dangerous situations don't happen again. I'm currently pregnant again (with a small age gap!) with number 2 & started off my antenatal care at Kingston again as its my closest hospital. I haven't been able to stick with Kingston as the memories of my previous traumatic experience are quite fresh so I've ended up transferring to st helier but I have got to say that until I transferred at 20wks I had excellent care at Kingston. I don't know how much of that was due to my previous bad experience as it was almost like I had private care they tried so hard with me, but it could be that they have just seriously upped their game.

Good luck!

[Lilly7981]

Hello. We are thinking about going to the St. George's for the maternity care and birth. Are there any experiences (good or bad) that you like to share, please?

Many thanks!