Kings College Hospital, London

[Plumbob]

Hi,

This is my first posting on mumsnet, but I have been following the discussions for the last few weeks and want to say thanks to everyone for sharing experiences - as a first timer (due in June this year) it's very reassuring to hear everyone having the same worries and questions as me!

I just wondered if anyone has had a baby at Kings College recently, or knows someone who has? No-one I know has, so we are unsure of what to expect or whether they are generally thought to be good or not. To be honest I am also having trouble figuring out how you tell!

Can anyone help? We are hoping to visit the maternity unit next week with some inteligent questions, or at least some idea of what we should be looking for.

Thanks!

Does May count? .. had DD there last May

Congratulations BTW

the maternity wing is new so pretty well equipped

I would think it might be a bit early to visit the maternity wing (normally people do this in the last month .. certainly not before the last trimester IME) .. personally I would concentrate on developing a relationship with your midwife / midwifery team and understanding all the different options available to you including home birth / water birth etc

That said, I'm happy to answer any questions you want (but I had an elective section .. so was in Kings for 4 days)

Prufock was in Kings too IIRC

As far as a hospital for ante-natal / neo-natal care it is a centre for excellence BTW

It will give you the best medical care you can get. People come from all over the world to learn from the medical staff at Kings. I had my ds there three years ago - was in hospital from 32 to 37 weeks with placenta praevia and then had a section - the ward then was very grotty but is now brand new, but the care and specialists are second to none. The scanning in particular is probably the best and most advanced in the world. If anything goes wrong with your baby it is the place to be. Of course, it is a big teaching hospital, so it's not cosy and I'm sure the food is still crap, but that's not really the most important thing. I am having my second section (by choice this time) on 7 Feb there and wouldn't really want to be anywhere else. But if you want a waterbirth or anything like that, that's all available there too. I don't know but wouldn't be surprised if Kings suffers from similar problems as most other hospitals, eg midwife shortages etc, but for specialist care, and scanning in particular it really is the best.

I did my nurse training in Kings and had a short stint on obs, it was a very long time ago and I've worked in a few hospitals since then, but I'd love to go back to work at Kings, I would recommend it as a great hospital, (but I'm a home birth advocate) :-)

BTW, I had private medical insurance so could have gone to the Portland or somewhere very posh like that, but I chose Kings because it's so excellent medically. My consultant at the time (very high up and also does private work) agreed I was sensible to do so.

Plumbob, when I had DS I was technically in the area for another s London hospital, but my GP told me that all the medical staff in the GP prtactice opted for King's because of the level of expertise. They also have a v good rate for supporting home birth - significantly higher than national average. (The CS rate is also higher but that is because they take so many 'complicated' cases). If you are interested in a homebirth you can register with the Brierley midwives attached to the hospital, or the community midwives.

Don't worry - you can still experience the full NHS 'horrible food' phenomenum - it really is foul, arrange someone to bring you something tasty and wholesome if you're staying in!

Nope Twig - my first was at the horrible RLH, and my second at the wonderful John and Lizzies.
But I would agree with Aloha - the medical care at Kings will be second to none.

Had my first dd at Kings 2.5 years ago - and the midwives were brilliant - I had a long (3 day) and exhausting labour, so lost count of the number of midwives after a while, but without exception they were hugely supportive. Thanks to them I felt very positive (albeit also rather shocked!) by the whole giving birth experience.

This time round I'm with one of the homebirth teams there - there are several - the Brierly group, the Albany midwives who seem to work mostly in Peckham, and the group I'm with (not sure if they have a name!).

I was on the grotty old wards too postnatally - but they're all in the new building now. Postnatal care I didn't enjoy, couldn't wait to get home to be honest, but I think that is very very common. They seem to put the grumpiest nurses on the nightshift in the postnatal wards!

Thanks everyone - this is very helpful and very reassuring!

I think I'll take Twiglett's advice and focus on trying to figure out which of the options available will be best for me before we go along to look at the unit; then I might have a better idea of what I will and won't find important...

i had ds there they were excellent, they also have a fantastic breast feeding nurse called clare? (i think) who runs a clinic for anyone having problems with breast feeding, did not use her myself but she is renowned for her expertise
they also have one of the only perineal clinics in london if you have problems after the birth, thought i did but cleared up after two months but this was a fantastic service,great phsysio and consultant

Hello everyone

My first time on this site. Am 23 weeks pregnant now, due 22 Nov. I'm based at Kings and so pleased to read all the positive reviews about the new maternity wing. My query is this: I am finding the waiting time for midwife appointments there unbearable (on average 1 1/2 hours each time!). Has anyone else experienced this ? Are there any alternative options I could explore? What are the Brierley Midwives like?

Thanks

I was with Brierley Midwives, and found them very lovely and helpful. They only look after women who are planning a homebirth, though, or have a history of mental health problems.
Brierely look after a much smaller group of women, I never had to wait at appointments at all.