Any recent birth experience at QEH Woolwich?

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Hi everyone, i am currently 36 weeks and due to give birth at QEH in Woolwich, however I do have the option to go to Princess Royal, if i wish to, given that both hospitals belogn to the same trust.

Has anyone had any recent experience in giving birth at QEF? How did it go? I am very interested in your feelings and experience and would be grateful for any tips etc. Thanks so much in advance!

P.S. my scans, checks, appointments etc there have so far been great!

No experience myself but 2 friends have recently not been able to deliver in QEH as it was too busy. One gave birth in the car park and another had to go to Darent Valley in Dartford!!

Hi fatmummy35 that sounds awful! How long ago was this, do you know?

Had fabulous care there - but it was 2 yrs ago now. Very experienced, positive helpful staff. Other patients often rude, surly and downright obnoxious to them though :(
Back again in the Autumn for round 2 and hoping it will be similarly positive as I know that the Trust is now in financial administration and while they say it won't affect care, I don't know how it won't affect staffing ratios etc in the long term. Will be chatting to the midwife for the low down next week - I at least want to know where Plan B is, if they are swamped. To be fair, that's not something that they can control.
A friend is overdue at the moment, PM me if you want an update after she delivers.

Hi oscarwilde Thank you for your post and sharing your experience. We seem to be due in close times; my DD is 27 of Sept. I think plan B would be Princess Royal in Orpington and i am going there next thursday to have a tour of their birth center as well. To be fair, i have been very happy and sattisfied with the way all my appointments and generally my care has been handled by the them so far. I have visited their Fetal Assessment unit and the Labour Ward in 2 ocessions and i felt i was given the right attention, care and information. However, it's the horror stories that you hear about it every now and then that make me feel a little uneasy.

I will be very interested in your friend's experience so i will keep in touch, in the mean time, wish her the very best of luck from me.

Ah yes - the horror stories. Have two friends who delivered in St Thomas's which seems to be regularly held up as the gold standard in London maternity care. One textbook, the other horror. Seems to be the luck of the draw unfortunately and is obviously subject to highly personal perspectives on what is acceptable treatment. Certainly the levels of abuse I witnessed from patients and their visitors at the QE2 implied that they thought they were checking into the Ritz for the weekend and were rather disappointed not to have had hot and cold running staff with nothing better to do laid on.

I doubt that there is a single maternity unit in the country that has not had a legal case or two on an annual basis. Far too many variables to be able to guarantee that everything will go fine for every woman and child.

I was really happy with the care I received, and will be going back. A private room and nice food for a few days would be lovely but I don't fancy spanking £10k on the Portland. That would pay for a lovely maternity nurse for quite a while. So long as we both leave hospital healthy, without infection and preferably without any medium or long term post natal care required, I will be v happy indeed. If there are any QE2 midwives out there who can tell me what goes down well as as a team thank you present, it would be really handy to know in advance too.

Hi, I gave birth to DC3 at QEH in July this year. I'd heard lots of horror stories about the hospital (my previous 2 were born at St Thomas' and home) but I can honestly say that the standard of care I received was excellent. The midwives were friendly, professional and attentive and the delivery room was (whilst not a 5* hotel) perfectly adequate. The only criticism I would have is that they did insist on more vaginal examinations then I would have liked but that's a minor thing. In ended up in theatre because of severe blood loss and a retained placenta, like the midwives , the doctors were skilled and professional and my DH tells me him and baby were looked after well whilst I was gone. We had a private room post birth and were home within 36 hours. As other posters have said it may well depend which midwives you get on the day but I certainly had no complaints - it was clean too (another of my worries). Hope this helps!

Hello again oscarwilde i totally agree with you. As it seems i am due before you, i will def be sharing my experience, just remember to message me or smth, so i don't forget. Given that i am low risk and passed my 36 weeks mark, i have thought of checking out the birth center at Princess Royal so might do that next week. they offer weekly tours on thursday evenings, this thursday i am off to the theater so cant go but def next week.

Hi alittlebitwibbly thank you for sharing your experience. It gives me great comfort to know that you had a positive experience at QEH.