Please tell me the brutal truth abour your experiences of post natal wards in SE london!

[gateacre1]

I have just found out that the hospital I was booked in for c section in Jan will be closing earlier than expected ( mid Dec)
So now I have the task of deciding which hospital to book in to.

I haad a horrendous birth at Queen Elizabeth Woolich so I refuse to go back there.

So the choices I have
are Lewisham
Kings
PRUH farnborough
and Darent valley

I have applied to St Thomas's but have been told I prob wont get 'in' as its over subscribed.

Does anyone have any experiences of post natal wards
eg how many midwifes around
how long for help with baby when you press buzzer ( after section I wont be very mobile)
general experiences would be great

many thanks
x x

well i was going to say QE was crap but I see you know that already!

Lewisham is absolutely abysmal. Not many midwives about and the majority of those are pretty arsey. Hope you don't mind my honesty.

Have heard good things about Kings.

thanks for you replies
I am looking for the brutal truth as want to be mentally prepared for all possibilities

Have heard really good things about Kings from 4 different friends, (One had a set of twins, 2 had very good labours, 1 had complications but was happy with care) Lewisham and QE I have heard the opposite.

Kings are excellent at ante-natal care and during the birth and if the baby needs to be in the special care unit. But the mother's post-natal care is a bit shite to be honest. Although no worse than anywhere else - all London midwifery depts seem to be under-staffed and under-funded. Not one of my friends who has given birth in a London hospital has raved about the level of post-natal care.

I no longer fantasise about expensive designer handbag, instead I long to be able to afford the Portland

Lewisham postnatal was all right for us - 5 days under lights for neonatal jaundice. I was going mad at being in the hospital so long, but the midwives were around, we got regular visits from the paediatricians (can't write "paeds" on a family forusm without feeling funny!). Food was all right, too. That was 2 and a half years ago.

Three of us in our antenatal group were not happy with our episiotomy stitches, but I think the C-sections (emergency) were all right.

Hope this helps. Good luck with finding a hospital - it's ghastly to have to re-think at this stage.

hi there

Good luck with which ever hospital you end up in. You are left to your own devices on the post natal ward be warned 5 friends have had c sections at st. thomas's and you are expected to get up get your breakfast, catheter and all ( having witnessed this with 2 c section ladies with me) at st.thomas' so maybe a blessing.

Whatever hospital :
Have your wits about you
Don't expect anyone to offer to help with toilets etc
Bring an antiseptic pack ( get them from Boots) (sheets and stuff not routinley cleaned)
Time family visits for luch/dinner so they can help
Be very specific and demanding and you'll get the attention.
Be nice and quiet and you'll get missed
Sorry but mum's just retired midwife and sister is a student midwife in south east London

x x x xLeela

sorry not trying to be horrible just wish someone had warned me and given me some useful pointers when I went to st.thomas' and then kings with first baby

Good Luck and all the best
x x x

I had DD at Lewisham in 2008.Horrible midwives on post natal.I got shouted at by someone not sure if she was a midwife or HCA,DD was crying (as newborns do?!)and she said 'that baby is starving she needs formula'.

I decided to have DS at Kings mainly cos I had heard good things.They were fantastic,there seemed to be loads more staff there than when I was at Lewisham and I never felt bad for pressing the buzzer.
DS was in special care for a week and they kept me in too,I actually enjoyed it!(obviously not DS being in SC).

I even liked the food.

SO...I would definitely recommend Kings.
I had a CS and the atmosphere was great,my DP was the only male in the theatre which was quite funny!

I had DD#1 and #2 at Queen Mary's and was so hacked off after the issues around DD#2 birth that I voted with my feet and went to Darent Valley for #3. I was in the midwife led unit at DV and I can honestly say they were absolutely fantastic. We had just SO much a better experience than we did at QMH either time. What I didn't find as reassuring was their antenatal care where you really did just feel like one of a number, but having said that I had no health problems either - they may well have been different if I had needed anything more checking etc.

Having looked around Darent Valley before the birth the consultant supervised unit looked very nice and clean/well organised as did the midwife led unit I was in.

I had ds at lewisham, the labour ward was fine the midwife I had was great but the post natal care was awful, you never saw the same person twice, they lost ds' test results, mixed up his records (so tried to give him too many antibiotics - luckily I was able to correct the nurse - though she didn't believe I knew when he'd been born and it took ages to convince her!)

However they do have a new midwife led home from home unit at Lewisham which may well be worth a look. If/when I have dc2 then I will probably go for that.

Friends who had dcs at kings have generally given good reports but say post natal care was pretty poor (think it is everywhere in London).

I've heard about Lewishams new midwife led birth centre... apparently looks like a hotel with double beds, sofas etc. Heard good things about it... friend who works there says things at Lewisham much better over last couple of years... anyone had a baby there recently???

Hehe - I was about to severely unrecommend QEH but I see that's not necessary

I had DC2 by EMCS at Kings. Medical care - top notch. Brilliant. Most midwives (aside from one total cow) were lovely, lovely.

Postnatal ward (4 nights) and antenatal ward (5 nights) dreadfully understaffed and some of the night staff were horrible. One woman practically gave birth in the bed opposite as they were ignoring the fact she was clearly in transition (she'd been singing and screaming all night since 1am) and it was only when she went in the toilet at 5am and didn't come out that they twigged she wasn't making it up about the baby coming. Cue panic and drama.

Postnatal ward there was a horrible midwife who told me to stop being so stupid and pull myself together when I had the blues on day two. Given I'd recently suddenly lost my dad and nearly lost my baby (4 months of strict bedrest including hospital bedrest) which I told her, let's just say I hope she gets her comeuppance somehow. Same cow let my exclusively breastfed baby have formula as it seems another incompetent staff member put formula in my named breastmilk container and when I asked if it was formula (not used it before so wasn't sure what it looked like) she said it wasn't. It was 2am and I'd barely slept for days so I took her word for it, but the next morning other midwives confirmed it was formula. Furious. I know there are bigger deals in the world, but if they can make mistakes like that..

The ward I was on postnatally was really, really hot and stuffy (in mid November!!) and no natural light at all. I'm sure it contributed to DD's borderline jaundice and my depression.

So yeah, Kings postnatal a bit crap, mainly through understaffing and a few nasty pieces of work. Good thing there are lots of wonderful staff there to make up for it a bit, including one who moved heaven and earth to get me into a bed with some daylight when she saw the state I was in.

I had my first at PRUH Farnborough 3 years ago, and am now 39+ weeks with second and going there again. I didnt have any problems, it was fine. The staff were very good, I think they are overworked but this only noticed on maternity ward. You sometimes had to wait for a staff member during the night - its probably like that everywhere though!

The problem with PRUH is that from November the Sidcup hospital maternity wards are closing, so I think PRUH is going to become alot more busy. Not sure what is being done to deal with the increase in women.

Good luck.

I second what other posters have said about Kings - had both dcs there (both c-sections, one emergency, one planned). Ante-natal and labour care brilliant, the post-natal care was absolutely appalling, especially with dc#1 - by the second time I was much more assertive!

Under-staffed, extremely rude and dismissive midwives. Not great support with bf. Left alone for hours and hours, despite pressing buzzer. Made to feel a fool and pita for asking for anything at all - including eg a doctor 3 days after c-section (and other complications). Given wrong meds. Ds wasn't given routine check by paed until I asked several times. Wrong info put on my chart. Should have been given heparin after c-section but wasn't - and midwife lied about it to doctor.

Hmm 3 years on and I'm still bitter

But as others have said, think London hospitals generally pretty poor for post-natal wards, and much of it depends on the kindness of individual midwives.

Good luck!

I don't think post natal care anywhere is that good TBH. I know you think you won't get Tommys but I had my baby there and the PN care was terrible. I was totally neglected and I had to beg not to be put in a ward with lots of babies whilst my own was desperately ill in the NICU. They would only take bloods once a day and if I was in the NICU when they did that I just didn't get my bloods done. Which given I had pre-eclampsia which they needed to monitor was pretty worrying.

That said, the NICU staff were amazing and the midwives were mainly good. If you can get in there, I would. Personally, I will go there again but try to leave as soon as I can after the birth!

I know it isn't in SE London but I have just had a baby at the Chelsea & Westminster (after an awful experience, albeit 6 yrs ago, at Lewisham) and the care, both pre and post natal was wonderful. Hardly any agency midwifes, plenty of pain relief, clean etc. Not sure if it would be close enough for you but if it is you should consider it IMO.

OP I think I would try Kings.

As you tell from the other posters the post natal care can be patchy everywhere.

I loved Kings for my delivery - I had a waterbirth, the staff at my birth were wonderful, I had a very bad tear but I felt the staff were brilliant. The staff at the HDU were great too, but the post natal not so good.

There is a woman at Kings who runs breastfeeding workshops - I rang her one night after I obviously did not have a handle on the breastfeeding and found my local HV's, MW's to be of no help despite my babies weight plummeting.

Anyhow she called me back, even though she was on holiday - totally assured me, made sense and arranged me to see two mw's who were brilliant and helped me put a plan together to increase the weight of the baby.

So I would go for Kings for the delivery, be assertive about your after care.. but you can try get people to support you afterwards, like your partner and so on.

Oh and good luck!

Hi everyone thank you all for your replies!
I found out on friday that I am 'in' St Thomas's well I have a booking in appointment if that means I am in.

I am hoping that I can book into the lansdell (if space) for postnatal care and longer visiting hours I know it is expensive but im very anxious about whole birth and post birth after my first awful experience.

The other option I am looking at is a post natal doula ( im so worried about pressing a buzzer for them to pass me screaming baby to feed ) and no one comes for a long time!

have a good weekend everyone and thank you again for your replies!

I had DS in King's last November and both my ante- and post-natal care were excellent, although I was discharged the morning after having DS the night before and it was all fairly straightforward so I can't say what a prolonged stay would be like.

Great news. A relative of mine was in Lewisham 5 years ago - never again. One of the many awful things was that the TVs were never turned off - I know they don't have off switches but in Oxford they were switched off centrally at 9pm so at least there was a fighting chance of getting some sleep. Best wishes for the birth.

Recent experience of Lewisham (Jan 2011):

The birth itself was pretty good (bar one pretty bad mistake). I laboured on the maternity ward rather than the Birth Centre, for various medical reasons. Midwifes were superb.

However the postnatal ward still has a LONG way to go. Day 1 was OK, but days 2 and 3 were abysmal. Never saw the same midwife, they were barely around to ask for help. Poor, non existent help with breast feeding. Like previous poster said, you will get nowhere if, like me, you are nice and polite, which is a shame. It was only when I was in tears that they took any notice. Don't get me wrong, the nurses and midwives were all nice (with the exception of one!) but you are really not looked after enough, to the point of neglect. Classic case of under-staffing no doubt but also a bit of laziness and box ticking when it came to the breast feeding. There is apparently a breastfeeding advisor there - SEEK HER OUT! because I had no idea she was there.

For baby no 2 I would happily give birth there but I had such a bad time postnatally that I might try my luck with Kings or Tommys next time.