Not so amazing experience with the Lansdell Suite, St. Thomas's

[hayfaa]

Finally I've decided to share our experience, just to make it a more complete picture about private birth stories. I had read so many praises about Lansdell before I made up my mind, but if only I had known better...

My daughter is fourteen months now. Whenever I look back at our experience at Lansdell, I feel bad that we were so poorly treated despite having paid so much money to the hospital.

When I went into labour, we contacted Lansdell but we were told there were no rooms available ? I don?t think it was too dramatic to say that as soon as I heard this, my contractions began to slow down. I think it was something about my natural instinct telling me it was not safe for the baby to come out yet. As I was 12 days overdue at the time when we called Lansdell, we still went to the hospital thinking we had already paid for our room there was no reason they should turn us away ? how wrong I was!!! We went to the hospital in the early morning, waited at least 10 minutes for a midwife to answer the door. Yes, there was no room! I was put in a treatment room, lying on a hard coach for nearly an hour just waiting for my consultant. Finally the doctor came and the result was my contraction had stopped completely, I was half a centimetre dilated. So there I was told either to go home or to stay around the hospital (not in Lansdell or the delivery suit) to see if I?d have a chance to get a room. This was my first pregnancy and we didn?t have much experience, in fact we were in shock to find out there was no room available ? as they had promised us it would NEVER happen, but it did. In the end, we went home all the way across half of London.

That was Monday. As I was so late, even before the incident, my consultant had already suggested to book me in for induction on that Tuesday afternoon. After struggling for 48 hours with no sleep, going backwards and forwards from the hospital, I was so exhausted by the time we needed to go to hospital for induction ? this time my consultant reassured us there would be a room, but I might have to wait for a little while if the previous patient went home late. The magic happened: my contraction started strongly again when I was on my way to the hospital knowing there would be a place for my baby. I was lucky enough to beat the planned induction.

After the baby was born we went back to our room. When the breakfast service came, we were not sure if my husband?s portion was included. We asked the staff member and the answer was ?not sure, maybe they have changed the rule?, so we shared one breakfast, after I had lost 1L blood during the labour. The midwife didn?t change me for nearly half a day, and it was the hottest week in London in May 2012, and I had had an episiotomy.

We stayed in the hospital only one more night as it was like a sauna in the room. It was also very noisy. The woman next door seemed not to have given birth yet, she sounded very agitated and chatted on the phone all the time ? I can?t imagine why they sent me home when I was 12 days overdue and had contractions while someone else just took the room as if she was in a hotel. After we went home, we had serious trouble to arrange the midwife?s home visit ? Lansdell sent my records to Queen Charlotte, while I live in south east London. I didn?t have anyone to see me in first 72 hours since we got home. We had to go to our local NHS hospital as we were so worried whether there was anything not right with the baby. By the time the midwife came, I already had an infection and had to use antibiotics.

We didn?t have any apology from Lansdell and we didn?t have a penny discount for the treatment we received. I will not recommend the Lansdell Suite to anybody but I don?t know where I can go if I have a second baby. There are so many scare stories about NHS births, but the private birth experience can be equally awful.

I would not fault my consultant on the other hand - he did his best given the limitations of Lansdell and was very professional.

It's a shame you had a bad experience,and that it's still so keenly felt
I'd advise ask lansdell for your notes,and check if the written account tally with your recalled account. I'd book a debrief with them address your dissatisfaction

What was situation with room?i see you attempted to be admitted on Monday but baby didn't arrive til Tuesday?Are you saying you wanted admitted despite not being in active labour?

Your reports of Poor aftercare, yes do query this and give examples
ask Why did your medical notes go to wrong hospital?That is significant
Ask Why did you not receive community follow up in 72hour
I suggest book follow up appt with lansdell discuss your experience

Other points
its hard to comment on reasons adjoining room occupied as you wouldn't be privy to that,and you can't confidently comment on the reasons for occupancy (the woman may have been high risk in for monitoring for example)

Breakfast, well it be honest your husband could have gone got himself food,instead of sharing yours,leaving you inadequate nutrition. If your husband keeps good health what prevented him going and getting his own breakfast?

Money, you've mentioned money,are you seeking a refund?

Future births, I'd suggest visit local unit,view and meet staff,see the facilities,anecdotally ask other mums their experience

Good luck with future births

Sorry you had a bad experience, but if you weren't in labour then you wouldn't need to be admitted anyway? I don't think you can control contractions by thinking there is or isn't a place for the baby to be born!

I agree with scottishmummy - couldn't your DH have got his own breakfast?!

Husband should have gone out & found his own breakfast & not eaten yours.
Not sure what you mean by the midwife didn't change you?
The issue with the post natal visits sounds more concerning & if you are going to complain I would focus on that.

the fact I mention the breakfast is because it was charged clearly on the invoice. only we realized it when we received the invoice, also there was no newspaper in the room, but was included on the invoice.
I think nobody could say I was not in active labour when we first arrived Lansdell as I had regular contractions overnight, when we contacted the hospital, it was (as first time parents) considered by us as "established", 3 contractions in 10 minutes. If you have had birth experience before, you might have different opinion in the situation - but that was what we knew best.
on the note your mind can't control your contraction, I think that where the danger was. I was terrified at that point - you think this won't affect my body?
I lost 1L blood during labour, I could not hold myself up or stand up, so a midwife had to change my bed sheet and maternity pads.

'Established' or active labour is often taken to mean 4cm dilated or more.

I think 14 months later may be too late to quibble over being invoiced wrongly for breakfast/newspapers... but agree with other people that it may be worth raising the aftercare/transfer to NHS care aspects.

My NHS birth was fine - you need to advocate for what you want though... although they would probably be even less likely to admit you if all is otherwise straightforward and you're only in early labour.

There are a number of units linked to NHS hospitals e.g. for south London the Kensington Wing at the Chelsea & Westminetr.
Perhaps look into doulas too if you want intensive professional 1:1 pre and post birth support?

This is really helpful hayfaa. We were thinking of the Lansdell (decided to go on the NHS in the end) but sharing good and bad stories would have helped me manage my expectations of private care while we were deciding.

Hayfaa...

just wanted to say hi and to say that i am a believer that your body can stop contractions if you are scared or worried about the labour.. there has been a lot of information received over the last 20-30 years about why some people have stressful painful labours and why others have less of an issue... and a lot of it is to do with the stress or being scared... i am sorry you had a bad birth. i had a c section in an NHS hospital and i have to say my birth story is horrendous... i think places are too low staffed to deal with things a lot of the time, however if i had PAID and been billed for things i would be really angry that i hadnt received what i had paid for... I wish you had felt up to complaining at an earluier point however i can understand why you didnt. i have never complained about my birth BUT I wont be having my baby in the same hospital this time so fingers crossed it will be a better experience for me xxx hugz

Thank you for all your messages!

I will not make a complaint to the hospital - it won't change my feeling, it will only add more stressful time in my memory.

I want to share the experience as I hope next time when someone, especially for a first time mum, can have more information she needs when it comes to choosing private care. I hope the next person will have a better experience...

BTW, something I forgot to mention here...

I know in NHS hospital if you are not 4-5 cm dilated you won't be admitted. When we asked about it in Lansdell whether I would be sent home if I came in early labour, they said no because I'd have my own room (which was already paid for months ago), I could also use the delivery suite facilities - which didn't apply to me at all.

For the last few months in my pregnancy, I was also worried about how to arrange my local hospital for postal natal care. I had mentioned this point to my consultant various times in my last few weeks ante natal appointments. Every time I was told not to worry about this as staffs in Lansdell are experienced and professional!!!

Hi I just wanted to say that I have just had my first baby at the St Thomas private unit and I had a fantastic experience. We really wanted to go privately but it is a lot of money and had a look around all the other units. This one was the cheapest but the team were really experienced and really helpful. I had to come in a few times during my pregnancy as I was having some problems. It felt really organised and the consultants are there all the time so he fit me in almost straight away every time. The unit was really nice, the food was better than what my friend had at Lindo Wing and the views of bign ben were amazing!
I would recommend anyone that is thinking of private care to go and look around St Thomas unit it was much better than expected. i know after my delivery I had problems sleeping and the midwifes were great they took my son for some time while I slept and I had booked with Mr Kunde from a recomendation from a thread on here last year.

I posted my childbirth experience at Lansdell Suite St Thomas's ten years ago. I never thought it could have a long-lasting effect even my daughter is ten years old now...
Today I received a call in the morning from Evelina to book a hospital appointment for my daughter - this is an appointment we have been waiting for but for some reasons the referral letter from our GP was repeatedly rejected by the hospital. So only today I realised where the problem was: my daughter was registered as "my baby" in the hospital. They didn't even bother to put her name in the system, even we had a name for her long before the birth...
On a separate note, I had a very positive birth experience at Darent Valley Hospital for my second child. It was a faultless experience compared to the first and it was free.
I don't know if Lansdell Suite still exists, but really hope things have improved. If you have given birth there, please do check if your child's formal name is registered in the system.

Is this not normal? In NHS hospitals they are given an NHS number under the name Baby MumsSurname.

So a baby born to Jane Smith and John Jones would be Baby Smith regardless of what you were actually calling him.

When the baby is registered at the GP you take their birth certificate and this is when I assume their real name gets input.

Thanks for your reply. That I really don't know, only had two birth experience and in my son's case his name was addressed from day one.

Gosh I posted on here ten years ago.

was your daughter’s name not on the GP referral? That sounds a bit odd. Why would they need your birth notes?