Epidural at Kingston Hospital

[sputnik2]

Hi All, does any of you have any experiences with getting/being refused epidural at Kingston Hospital? We have chosen this hospital after so many positive reviews we read, but I could not find much info whether they are willing to administer one or not (apart from the usual NHS ' epidural available', but as we are realizing the 'availability' is in many places a myth).

We still have 3 months to go, but I'm so worried that we are considering traveling home to France to give birth (where we can get one without any problems and without someone trying to talk me into a 'natural' birth just when the contractions start.)
Thank you!

I had my DS at kingston and will hopefully be having DD there in next couple of weeks. I had absolutely no problem getting an epidural - anaesthetist came within half an hour of me requesting it and was absolutely lovely. I was given top ups as and when I needed them, and then a spinal when I needed to go into theatre for forceps delivery.

Nothing seems to have changed in last 18 months as I was in the other night for monitoring and the lady in the next cubicle was 4cm and they were about to administer one.

Please do not worry - Kingston is a great hospital (saved my life when pg with DS) and no one ever tried to talk me out of the pain relief I wanted.

I'm going to Kingston and have started NCT classes with an instructor who seems to do a lot of work at the hospital, and she's been pretty clear that as long as you steer clear of the Malden suite, you won't have a problem getting an epidural, at all. It's only in the Malden suite rooms (midwife-led) that epidurals aren't available.

I'm personally hoping that everyone giving birth on the day(s) I'm there are desperate for epidurals, because my biggest worry is not getting a room on Malden, and particularly one with a pool!