St Georges or Kingston for childbirth?

[frijolitas]

Hi, I need to make a choice between these two hospitals but unsure which to pick. St Georges is closer to where i live which could be handy if labour is fast and sudden but then Kingston isn't that much further off if traffic is fine and we do have a car. I also think that i have a better chance of getting into the Malden Suite at Kingston as the hospital if i need it rather than at St Georges which is a much busier hospital. I know St Georges had a problem a few years ago with understaffing but they've reassured me that they have hired more staff to deal with this and in the last 2 years they've not had to turn anyone away in labour. Does anyone have recent experiences of both to help me make my decision? Thank you!

I've recently made that same choice also adding Epsom into the mix. I had dd at Kingston 3 years ago. I had a rough time but that was down to my labour and birth and not the staffing and level of care which was excellent. Antenatal was brilliant but like lots of busy general hospitals postnatal could have been better. Still, I have decided to go back to Kingston again for dc2 due in April. Logistically it's much easier to get to for me.

I had DD2 at St George's just under 3 years ago... I personally had no problems there but, from what I have heard, Kingston is much nicer!

Had 4 at Kingston. All fine.

Thanks for the responses. This is really helpful. I now think I'm veering towards Kingston :)

I chose Kingston. Pn care wasn't brilliant presumably because I had no issues. Nothing actually wrong with what happened to me. Everyone just disappeared for hours on end when I wanted to be discharged.

St George's just seemed so large and chaotic to me (as a whole not maternity) and Kingston is a bit easier. St George's car park is somewhere near Croydon I think ;).

I'd say both are understaffed and overworked.

I was sent home from Kingston when I shouldn't have been (well actually they tried to but DH refused to let me go). Same happened to a friend and she had the baby at home an hour later! I think that's a general problem with the treatment of first time mothers rather than Kingston specific though.

The midwives were great at Kingston during the births. And that's the time you want Them to be great.

If you want to use the Malden Suite I'd say refuse to go home if you get in one of the rooms. They're pretty busy and they were washing out the pool for the next person as soon as stitching was finished.