Local hospital needs improvement would you give birth privately

[Happynappiesx]

Our local hospital has just been rated as needs improvement the maternity has also been rated as needs improvement. I’m due to give birth there this year and not feeling great about the way it’s run. I have looked at every hospital close to me and they all need improvement one even had inadequate for maternity. I can afford to pay for private would be in a big London hospital with nhs attached incase anything was going to go wrong. I live just over an hour away. I’m just worried about giving birth with inadequate care. My midwife hasn’t messaged me back for 3 weeks was told I needed an early emergency scan but had to wait 2 days etc.

No; because if things go wrong that local hospital would be the best chance you and your baby had.

so I would probably swap NhS hospital rather than go private.

Is your pregnancy high risk? An hour away isn’t an issue for many but if you are that close to London, there are plenty of decent NHS maternity hospitals there.

Don’t mistake the fact that paying for private maternity care will automatically mean the care will be better than on the NHS.

I’m married to an anaesthetist who would’ve had a fit about me going private. He works in both private hospitals and NHS and is the person who’d come running if there’s a birthing emergency. Often you’d need transferring for an emergency from a private hospital to NHS and sometimes he’s had literally two minutes to anaesthetise someone for an emergency C section for an example.

Yes the NHS hospital may not be great in terms of ambience but there is a team ready and waiting for if a disaster happens.

Mind you, my point to him was he only ever sees the disasters so is somewhat skewed in his viewpoint, and is very vigilant as a result. But glad I did have that back up, the NHS for an emergency is pretty amazing (and my daughter came out not breathing and was whisked away in seconds to NICU).

However I’m sure you won’t need that back up.

Sorry I mean 2 hours away all
the hospitals with in an hour away are inadequate or need improvement.

You've said it yourself, if anything big happens, you'll need the NHS.

DH had a major operation, he had to wait a while so we enquired about whether we should consider private. His consultant said point blank "I wouldn't want to do this operation in a private hospital".

If I went private it would be an nhs hospital with a private section like the Kensington wing at Chelsea and Westminster

You have to do what's right for you, but I don't know how you live with yourself personally

The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is a good rated NHS hospital so why not just use the NHS there?

I had mine privately by ELCS at C&W. I would definitely recommend. If you have any questions I’d be happy to try to answer!

Choice of consultant, continuity of care as they will do all your antenatal appointments, scans, you have their mobile number and can call them whenever, they’ll be there for your delivery on the day and you’ll be no.1 on ELCS list. Then recovery is in the Kensington Wing which means private ensuite room with stuff like a bed for partner, restaurant style menu choices for both of you, higher staff ratios so midwifes will take baby overnight if you want to sleep, there’s as much help as you could want with baby care, they provide everything except clothes so you can pack light, there’s no issue getting the good drugs as you can call you the consultant direct to get a oramorph prescription… It’s not cheap but it’s guarantee you’ll be really well taken of.

I’ve had all of this and more on the NHS before. Even clothes, toothbrush and deodorant etc.

I don’t have any issue with people having private maternity care or any other private health care but the OP’s post suggested to me that they were only looking to pay because the NHS options were so bad. I was advising that they can use the NHS maternity at the same hospital they were otherwise looking at paying for.

I don’t know actually, could OP go to an NHS hospital that’s an hour away in a different area? Ante natal appointments might be an issue if you don’t get much choice in when they are, I briefly started out as NHS with my first and it was very much like it or lump it, couldn’t get a midwife on the phone at all and definitely didn’t have a direct line to the consultant! I think you were quite lucky if you had that on the NHS. Also a private post natal room will always be a gamble on the NHS but going private guarantees it. Mostly it just removes as many unknowns as you possibly can.

Hi @Happynappiesx - I had my DCs at Kensington Wing at Chelsea & Westminster. Highly recommend. Such a lovely experience with continuity of care, dedicated midwife before/during/after birth etc. I saw the same consultant for every appointment and he did the scans too. Appointments were scheduled when it was convenient to me. Overall I liked the reassurance of the main hospital NICU/ICU for any emergencies.

The bedrooms in Kensington Wing aren’t particularly luxurious, but they’re new, clean, ensuite etc. Staff were all lovely. DH had a bed to sleep on and I liked the food too. Didn’t see any other patients which I liked 😂 Stayed 3 nights each time, so went home feeling well and rested.

I did plan private for my first but you need to consider a few things. Firstly that it is probably more money than you think. I was told to put at least 18-20k for the delivery. It's usually about 10k for the obstrician and 6-7k for the delivery but extra nights or treatments if complications.

Secondly if it's two hours away would you want to do that in labour. Whats your family history of labours - sisters, mothers, grandmothers. if they're very fast I wouldn't risk it..if they tend to be long and slow you'll probably be ok. You'll also have to do a two hour drive back with a new born.

Those that say they are awful in emergency are rubbish. Bar Portland most are in the best hospitals with amazing NHS nicus right on your doorstep if needed.

I only ended up not having it privately cos she came a bit earlier and faster than planned so just gave birth in the local hospital 5 mins away from us but it's also an excellent hospital even if has a few issues lol..

But did tons of research if you have any questions

You can give birth at any nhs hospital you like why don't you register with a London nhs one? Remember you have to travel in a lot for appointments nearer the time though

You can also give birth at Chelsea and Westminster and asked to be moved to the Kensington wing after for recovery it's £1000 a night but only if there's space

@TheSnowyOwl why couldn't you live with yourself?

Have you looked at why it is as given those scores? My local hospital was the same, and when I read the report, it was nothing to do with the care I would receive.

Private care in C&W maternity is excellent. I am an NHS Consultant and if you can pay, please do so. You are also on NHS premises for worst case scenario which hopefully wont happen. It does mean better ambience, better continuity etc. It is money you earned so dont feel absolutely no The maternity service under the NHS at C&W is also good - I delivered my first child there on the NHS and cant fault it including need for emergency CS. My sister delivered in the same hospital privately and also received great care, as have many friends. Good luck!

Have you ever seen This Is Going To Hurt? I think I'd go with the NHS.

If you're having your baby privately at the C&W then the level of care, interaction and service is superb (my friend went there). So when she actually went into labour so many of the potential problems had already been sorted out. NHS emergency maternity care is excellent when it swings into action. But really, in so many cases, a woman's labour shouldn't reach the point where it suddenly becomes an emergency.

Too often in labour the woman is left too long, unsupervised because of staff shortages. Too often it's only crisis management on the labour ward rather than conscientious, sustained care (my SIL qualified as a midwife and has so many horror stories to tell).

Is there a home birth team in your area? Not something everyone would feel comfortable with but could be worth researching x

Are able to elaborate please? I haven’t seen it all but I know there was an episode set in a private hospital but can’t see that being particularly relevant because OP’s considering a private wing at an NHS hospital. It’s all on one floor there too so even on the private wing you’re only steps away from maternity theatres, NICU, NHS labour ward etc. Add in the continuity of care from your consultant and the higher staffing on the Kensington Wing and the only downside I can think of is the cost! Granted that’s a biggie though!

I would and did with my first and about to go private again for this second pregnancy. Gave birth at the private wing in St Thomas and it was a dream, ELCS, consultant was amazing, after care, strong painkillers, ensuite, I honestly remember fondly of the 2 nights we spent there in our little bubble of love, I was also so calm as I knew I was not only in good hands but so close to NHS should the baby need NICU, etc. Only downside is the price, honestly, people saying you can get all that in the NHS for free are mad, I can barely get an appointment at my GP as it is 😂 yes, you might randomly get the same consultant/anesthetist in the NHS out of sheer luck, and also could pay for a private room if they are available but of course is not guaranteed and I wasn’t willing to wait and see after so many horror stories of people around me. People say NHS is amazing at emergencies and I do agree, I just think around half of the emergencies only exist because of poor care provided by the NHS in the first place (I am not judging the reason I know they are overstretched).

I would read the CQC report of your nearest hospitals. Having worked in admin in the NHS I know a huge amount of a CQC inspection is around administration and record keeping etc and it isn't all about specific patient care. When looking for a nursing home for my elderly mother I didn't even look at a certain home due to its CQC rating. She wasn't happy where she went anyway and I finally looked at the other home and it would have been a much better fit. So don't just judge from a single sentence, look deeper.