St George's vs St Thomas' (London) - which hospital to choose?

[Pregtestqu]

St George's is closer to me but I've had poor treatment there before

I know G's has a new MLU unit, has anyone used it?
Have they improved the rest of the place?
I recall PN wards being grim with a loo miles down the corridor

All input welcome

[notcitrus]

I'm booked at George's - I'll get back to you in 8 weeks or so!
The MLU looks lovely, and the rest of the delivery/postnatal bit has been decorated recently. The midwives and physio I've seen have been great.

My NCT class is split between Georges and Tommies - the tutor said they're about the same. There's a few other threads on those hopitals if you do a search.

[WarmFuzzy]

Over here.

[WarmFuzzy]

Tommy's does tours, I imagine St G's does too. Why don't you go have a look round both before making your mind up?

[Pregtestqu]

Thanks, I'd spotted that thread

I hadn't considered a tour

[LivingLaVidaLurker2]

I had both my babies at St. Thomas' and both were very different experiences. Firat baby was a difficult birth - I started off in midwife-led unit, but had to be moved to other section. Post-natal care was not good - in ward with unsympathetic midwives.

However, second baby was water birth in MLU and was wonderful. Had the same midwife throughout birth (though only in there for 3 hours). In the MLU, you get your own room and your partner can stay with you and sleep on a sofabed and visiting hours are 24/7.

I hope this doesn't sound negative - on the plue side, with my first baby, I have no doubts that I was receiving the best and most appropriate care, and it probably would have been difficult anywhere.

Second birth was fabulous.

[Pregtestqu]

I had heard that you can't get pethidine at Thomas'
Do they still offer it at George's?

[tyaca]

hiya preg - i had the same choice as you. when i went to see gp about preg he was v brief with me and said st george's or tommy's? and i was completley thrown and said george's cause it was nearer (i lived in streatham). changed at 20weeks for various reasons.

ultimatley your experience will come down to the indivduals overseeing your care - which is quite a random element and you cant control it. at tommy's i had a great ante natal care but during a v long labour and one night stay after birth there was a huge difference between the care i received from the day and night staff - both during and after birth. i'm still v angry at the night staff on the post natal ward who made no attempt to help a v distressed me and dd as we couldnt establish feeding and bith sobbed for hours. was told to "put my boob in her mouth" and left to it, and ultimatley given formula by MWs at 5am as dd so hungry and distressed and MWs not bothered to help me. this could happen anywhere tho' i guess. BUT the glorious thing about tommy's is the incredible location. thru the night out my window i could see the river and the lights shining on the old glc building - it was bonkers but truly magical. actually tommy's in general feels like a much more modern and clean building.

gl!

[chandellina]

i just gave birth at St Thomas' this week. Care from the midwives was initially unsympathetic but as soon as it was found baby was a bit distressed, we got amazing attention from the doctors and midwives. I really can't say enough good things about them, they took such care to get baby out safely, and made every effort to let me have a vaginal delivery. (which we did get, though forceps were necessary in the end.)
Best of all, they made me feel like they really cared, and the lead dr and some of the midwives came by the ward the next day to say hi to baby and check that everything was ok.
post-natal care wasn't fabulous on the ward, but it just depends on who you get. the night midwife was totally helpful and went over all the most basic stuff with me on changing baby's nappy (which is actually important, because not everyone has had this experience and sometimes midwives can make you feel like you are already a bad mum because you don't put enough layers on baby, etc.) and instantly got him latching on well for feeding. The day midwife was pretty useless - more of the stick your boob in his mouth type of advice.
i didn't get to try the home from home unit - they were going to transfer us there for early labour but i knew i wanted the epidural and was contracting strongly from the start so it seemed pointless.

[frimblypoo]

We were transferred to ST George's from Frimley in Surrey at the end of 2005. DS spent 18 nights in NICU, the care there was amazing. However PN ward grim grim grim. Didn't get any food or medication for 24 hours. In the end the cleaner bought me sandwiches as had an em C/S and couldn't get around myself. Hopefully things have improved since then but pack the Flash wipes just in case.

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

my GP was very uncommittal so I initially went for St G's too, then transferred at 18weeks because I live in Streatham so although St G's is nearer, my community midwives and HV's would come from Tommies anyway - also Tommies offered HB and I was told St G's didn't (since found out that's not true). I'm due in October

Antenatal care I had at St G's was good, and it has been good at Tommies too (though midwives based two mins from home which is easier). Am most likely going to request a homebirth but otherwise am in love with home-from-home birth centre at Tommies.

Cons I've heard on the grapevine - that postnatal care not great at Tommies but that St G's is filthy...to be honest though they seem to be much of a muchness now St G's has the MLU and offers homebirths

[notcitrus]

Girlwith - is it the Baldry Gardens midwives 2 min from your house? I wanted antenatal care there but figured getting to StG antenatally was probably less stress than getting to Tommies when in labour!

I need to figure out which community midwives I'm supposed to do what with, because the StG notes say certain antenatal appts are supposed to be via your GP - but my GP is over the border in Merton PCT, and the supervisor of midwifes I saw at the place the GP has contracted out to was most confused and said I ought to be seeing either the Georges community ones or Tommies - she phoned StG who thought it was probably Tommies but whoever answered the phone didn't seem to comprehend anyone having an out-of-borough GP.

Not too fussed as long as some midwife is expecting to deal with me after birth!

[Pregtestqu]

I have gone for St G's in the end

notcitrus - shared care is quite normal here, means you should see your GP for 1/2 your appts. You will probably have to travel into the St G's area to see those MWs

postnatal care in the community you may find is passed back to your local PCT midwives

[notcitrus]

Thanks pregtestqu - that's what I thought was the case, but given the SoM said the shared-care midwives should be the same as the postnatal care ones, I'm confused.

She wrote it down as the main question to get resolved at my 36-week appt (back at StG), though.

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

notcitrus I live near Gracefield Gardens, the new health centre and the midwives there are lovely - I've been told that regardless of which hospital I'm based at for antenatal treatment, my postnatal treatment will come from Community midwives based with Tommies because of where I live (sw16 - streatham). Was told this by St G's, GP and Tommies. I figured at least I'll be on the books for Tommies so won't be missed off for postnatal care, but I'd assume that St G's would pass your care over the the local community midwives, they wouldn't let you fend for yourself to organise your postnatal treatment...where are you? and when are you due?

Am prob going for homebirth and also been told that is traffic is really bad and I'm in major emergency, ambulance will take me to St G's rather than Tommies if it's nearer

[notcitrus]

I'm near the High Road a bit south of the Common and Sainsburys - so in normal traffic about 5-10 min to StG, well over 40 min to Tommies. Goodness knows why SW16 is linked to Tommies for postnatal, seeing as both StG and Kings are much closer!

I'm due mid Sept. I know they probably know what they're doing but having lots of experience with the NHS I like to double-check everything!

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

cos we're in Lambeth apparently - it's too bloody big as a borough! and we're literally just on the edge...think St G's comes under Wandsworth

there's a thread on antenatal club for streatham mummies...come join us!

[elmerthe1st]

Hi girls - don't know if you can help me at all w9th my dilemma but I also live in Streatham (on a road on the right past Sainsbury's & the common). I'm currently under St George's care and have been assigned the Ivory team of midwives which I've now discovered doesn't offer HB, which is what I really want. This is my second child and I didn't have any compications with birth of the first. Wondering if either of you have had any advice on having a HB in Streatham and how to start looking into it? Any thoughts would be ggreat!

[elmerthe1st]

Hi girls - don't know if you can help me at all w9th my dilemma but I also live in Streatham (on a road on the right past Sainsbury's & the common). I'm currently under St George's care and have been assigned the Ivory team of midwives which I've now discovered doesn't offer HB, which is what I really want. This is my second child and I didn't have any compications with birth of the first. Wondering if either of you have had any advice on having a HB in Streatham and how to start looking into it? Any thoughts would be great!

[notcitrus]

Hi elmer - I must live round the corner from you! I was under the Ivory team and was offered a homebirth at every appt! However, technically as you are in Lmabeth and Georges are in Wandsworth, the midwives who would take you on for hb are the Lambeth ones attached to Tommies - they work out of a couple clinics in Streatham. So it's slightly confusing but apparently works (my GP and thus community midwives/HVs are in Merton for extra amusement, but they all talk together better than you might think!)

I went to the MLU at Georges and stayed there for 8 hours - it was fantastic! I then got 18 hours in the delivery suite as they tried to intervene as little as possible, followed by a ventouse delivery in theatre, quick trip to SCBU for Squirmy, and 3 days on the postnatal ward.

The care was faultless from arrival to recovery. The postnatal ward was good during the day but at night I was very glad to have an advocate with me (they did say the next day that they do tend to leave people with a carer a bit) - so if you had to transfer to Georges (eg if Tommies was considered too far away at the time you needed it) I recommend just calling the bell for help a lot - someone always came in a minute, just not always a useful person!

[notcitrus]

They are also doing up the PN ward - it's mostly 4-bedded rooms with some singles, and a few showers etc are being replaced. However noone was more than 5 yards from a loo and it was all very clean the entire time I was there.

The food was decent - but make sure you get yours when it turns up as sitting around doesn't help it!

[elmerthe1st]

Hi Notcitrus - thanks so much for all this info... feel much more encouraged now! I've made an appointment to talk to the Ivory midwives on Thursday so guess I'll talk to them then and take it from there. I'm not sue to till Feb anyway so seems lik eloads of time but I know how quickly that will go and didn't want to get set on a HB then find out I couldn't. I had my first at St G's and had a brilliant experience but have lots of friends that didn't. Hearing your story makes me feel less anxious about the MLU if that is where I'm going too so thansk again for letting me know all this. .. how old is your little one now?

[charitygirl]

I had a reasonable experience at St T's two weeks ago:

Pros:

• my delivery suite on the consultant led unit was fabulous
• my epidural was very well delivered!
• my (second) midwife was lovely
• such great views of W'minster!

Cons:

• I had to wait in the antenatal day unit for three hours while contracting stromgly with no pain relief due to there being no beds ready on the labour ward
• my (first) midwife was a bit mean
• no beds on the postnatal ward so I had to share a converted delivery suite with another woman - meant we had an en suite but the room wasn't really big enough.

[notcitrus]

Squirmy is 17 days old. And so much more mature than two weeks ago when we came home! But still prone to only sleeping on my lap, eg right now...

Basically up to delivery = faultless, postnatal = bit stretched, esp at night. But the latter seems true in every London hospital, so I guess all you can do is be prepared and demand all the help you need (helps if your legs don't unexpectely fall off - if warned of extra needs, they can prepare but getting unusual drugs/hoists etc at no notice = doesn't happen)

[staranise]

Had my second baby at St. G's. The outreach team of mws were fab, lovely, attentive and caring.

Birth wasn't much fun mainly because they refused to give me any drugs (had to beg for G&A ). PN ward was filthy and crowded and under-staffed. But this was two years ago, and I've heard great things about the MLU.

[elmerthe1st]

I had my first at St G's 19 months ago and had a similar experience... fantastic midwife and on the DW but the PN ward & care was pretty grim. Still, I was only in for a night so didn't worry too much. The idea of a HB and having your own bath/ food etc is very appealing though. I didn't have anything other than gas and air so hoping I could do the same this time round (though guess you never know?!) I'm going to persuade the midwives on Thursday and keep positive for the mo...!