Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital or Royal Surrey County Hospital for first pregnancy?

[SevenCat]

Hello all,

I've just found out I'm pregnant for the first time. I live in an area where all the hospitals have a maternity CQC rating of inadequate or requires improvement.

I've therefore decided to get care at a hospital further away. I'm not looking for advice on the benefits or disadvantages of this. I will, of course, use the local hospital if there is an unexpected emergency.

What I would like advice on is whether QC&CH or RSCH would be the better pick for a first pregnancy (antenatal to postnatal)? If it helps, I'm 35 and I've never been pregnant before (including unsuccessful pregnancies).

Thanks for your help!

I know nothing about either of these, but see if you can go for an antenatal unit tour at both (no idea if they still do these post-COVID). I’d also think about the sort of care you’d want (midwife or consultant led) or likely need to have an d explore what’s offered at each. I had home births with mine, but a big draw of our local hospital was that it had a dedicated home birth team, one-to-one midwife care with a named midwife and I was able to have all my antenatal care at home (except scans). That’s the sort of personalised care that makes a difference, so I’d explore what either offers in terms of different levels of care.

I would bear in mind distance to the hospital. In your shoes I would visit the closest units and ask what has been done to change things following the cqc report. I would also be particularly mindful of in labour care as your number one priority .

I was at QC 10 years ago and it was good.

They’re quite far apart, where do you live? And any reason for discounting the good rated hospitals that are located somewhere between the 2 like Chelsea and Westminster or Kingston?

@mindutopia Thank you for your suggestion. I'll contact them about tour possibilities.

@SoftPillowAllNight That's good to hear!

@yikesanotherbooboo I'll contact my local hospital and ask.

@InTheRainOnATrain I live in Gloucestershire. No reason for discounting other good rated hospitals around those two but I figured if I'm going to travel for this, I might as well try the outstanding hospitals first. :) Are there other hospitals that you'd recommend? I have friends in London so that's the most logical place for me outside of Gloucestershire.

Also, my paediatrician friend told me to go to a hospital that has a level 2 or 3 neonatal unit so that rules out RSCH for the birth.

You're planning to travel two and a half hours for every single maternity appointment, plus the birth?

Do you really think that's realistic?

A friend who lived in Wimbledon went to Chelsea. Believe me, she regretted it when he and her DH were stuck in traffic in an attempt to get there....

I think you're crazy to even consider such a distance.

@DreadPirateRobots I used to work in London and travelled back every weekend. It's not that crazy. Yes, it might get harder the further along I am, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. For the birth, I'd probably stay in London a couple of weeks before I'm due. Of course, if it doesn't work out like that, I'll go to the local hospital.

I really wish I didn't have to do this, but all the medical staff I've had dealings with in this area have not been good. They don't even read clinical notes properly. How can I trust them to look after me and my baby? There have been baby death cases recently which are still being investigated. Would you take that risk?

@MrSeptember I'll most likely take the train to get there for appointments. And for the birth, there are plenty of hotels close by so no need to drive there.

BTW, I did try Southmead Hospital in Bristol, which is about 50 minutes from me, but they wouldn't let me register with them...

Sorry, but this is a totally different scenario than working in London all week. Every routine appointment is a five hour round trip, and they will get more frequent just as you get less and less capable of doing them. Any pregnancy complications, and fuhgeddaboutit, your plan is totally unworkable. It's mad and you won't manage it, and it will be difficult as hell to even get the baby home after it's born.

Either move into London or Surrey for the duration or rethink the plan.

Babies can arrive really quickly sometimes. I'd pick the nearest hospital or move
Ask for advice from your midwife

I had mine in 2012 and 2016 at Queen Charlotte. They were amazing.

But if you were seriously considering these hospitals you should move to West London for the next year or 2 so you and baby can settle. Absolutely no one can guarantee baby will be born when you come to stay in London and what happens postpartum? There will be health visitors coming around to yours.

To be honest, I really dont think QC will admit you

@SevenCat I completely understand why you want to do this, and I did not go to my local hospital as it was inadequate (despite being a large teaching hospital), I went to one about 45 mins away.

In all honesty it was a bit of a pain when the appts got way more frequent near the end when I was struggling with moving about, and I did have an elective c section. But I would do it again, the birth was excellent.

Queen Charlotte’s has the best CQC report (I read them all too). I’d go there on that basis, but don’t leave it too late, they wouldn’t accept a friend who tried to transfer.

Gloucester Royal was good enough for Zara Tindell. I would echo what others have said about the distance. When I was in labour, a 20 minute drive felt like a lot. I wouldn't be undertaking a 2.5hr + journey. You would probably have to end up moving to London for the last month of your pregnancy.

Your local health visitors just pick up, you give them your discharge notes.

@SevenCat you also have to register the baby wherever they are born.

Not sure how you’d get a newborn back to Gloucester when they can’t sit in a car seat for long.

You’d need to rent an apartment really. This might cost quite a bit!

Had one of mine at one of these two hospitals and I live 5 minutes from it.

Absolutely insane for you to be considering this. You have no idea what a sordidly bad plan this is.

As in - the hospital is great! But the insanity lies in planning to choose a hospital that many miles away.

Yeah, this isn't about QCCH which is excellent. I had my second there.

But the only way this plan will work is if 1) you don't have to work or work wholly from home and 2) you are wealthy enough to get a flat in London for your entire pregnancy.

Take it from people who have actually had babies. This won't work, and you'll make yourself miserable and quite possibly ill if you insist on trying. I would also be surprised if either hospital accepted you as a patient.

I had my son in 2020 at QCCH and honestly it was shocking. I put that perhaps down to COVID related issues so when I became pregnant with my daughter in 2023 I again went with QCCH. Every appointment was awful. Didn't seem to matter which midwife I would see. I genuinely think they were trying their best but they were understaffed and with a large population in the area it's a recipe for disaster. As it happened we moved across the county at 34 weeks and the experience in the hospital here was so much better as population size was significantly smaller. I have waffled but i would focus on closer hospitals where there is a smaller number of patients and if possible stay away from London.
This is just my opinion based on my experiences -others may have had a much better experience.

@DreadPirateRobots I'll adjust the plan and move to London if it becomes necessary. I work from home so that is not an issue. Yes, I've also spoken to people who have had babies. I don't see why I would need to be living in London for the ENTIRE pregnancy unless there are complications.

@fastforwardplay Closest hospital is not an option but I have a backup that is 50 minutes away.

@CottonTowels I called QC and they said they accept out of area patients so fingers crossed. I basically just want my first appointment, scans and birth to be there. Happy to do the routine appointments locally. That's what QC said they do anyway...

@BlackThumb Thank you for your support! Glad to hear your birth went well! I read the detailed reports for my local hospitals and I didn't feel that the issues raised were trivial. I'm willing to move to London if that's what needs to happen. I'll have to make sure I'm there long enough postpartum until the baby can safely travel. This will be my parents' first grandchild and I anticipate they will want to fly to the UK for the birth. There will be a need for short term accommodation for them anyway so that might help make things more economical. Who knows, it's still early days!

@Gloschick Zara Tindall had her baby before that hospital was rated inadequate. And I hope this wasn't the case, but since she's Zara Tindall, they would've given her more attention than a regular person would've gotten to make sure it all went well. Yup, staying in London towards the end is the plan.

@Chesta Yes, I'm sure I am crazy but the risk of using the local hospitals is too great.

@Offthefunkingchain I did read recent reviews that said QC is super busy and understaffed. Which is why I was really annoyed with Southmead Hospital for rejecting me even though they aren't that far away. I'm going to contact them again to try and change their mind.

Royal Surrey has an excellent maternity department. Highly recommend.

I’ve had 2 babies at royal Surrey, the care was exceptional!! Really top notch. But then I only have one hospital to compare it to (DC1 born in London) so it’s not like I’m an expert. Royal Surrey has the most legendary tongue tie/lactation specialist, worth her weight in gold, hopefully she’s still there. Any specific Qs I’ll try and answer!

Southmead as in Bristol?? (That’s where I was born 😁) Where do you live?? Are you going for ELCS (I had 2 at royal Surrey)?

Wow, this is a crazy plan. In the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy I was in and out of the maternity day unit like a yoyo due to various complications, then had some unexpected over night stays in hospital prior to the birth too. I went in for a check and ended up being kept in so my husband had to bring my things in. Imagine if you lived 2.5hrs away. I feel like you'd be having to drag your hospital bag everywhere just in case!
Also I was younger than you are, there was no reason to predict I'd spend so often there. Pregnancy can be very unpredictable.
If a hospital has already been ranked inadequate surely all eyes are now on it and resources are being provided to improve it. A bit like when a school enters special measures it is sometimes the best time to be there.

@tulipsunday @ButterAsADip Thank you for your input! I've heard nothing but great things about Royal Surrey! They were really nice when I spoke to them on the phone.

@ButterAsADip Yes Southmead in Bristol. I take it your mum was happy with them?!? I live in Cheltenham so Southmead is the closest decent hospital. Not sure about ELCS yet. I always imagined I would have one because both me and hubby have big heads so we're expecting our baby to be a lollipop. But I know there are risks etc. so I'll wait to see what the experts say first. What was your experience with ELCS?

@BarbadosItsCloserThanYouThink You're absolutely right. I'm sure there will be unpredictable things that will pop up so we're putting together backup plans. My friend had similar issues like you towards the end of hers. She went in for a routine appointment and ended up being admitted and they wouldn't let her leave until after she gave birth! If I do end up using QC, your idea of bringing a bag with me is a great one! Regarding the inadequate ranking, I did consider that. They would surely up their game since they're getting scrutinised but at the moment, I can't rely on them fixing their problems in time. The CQC report was only published recently. We'll see though.

And there was I considering whether 30 mins by car might be pushing it 😂