Which hospital - West London?

[SammyW33]

Hi

We have been offered a choice of four hospitals being:

West Middlesex
Kingston
Queen Charlotte's
Chelsea & Westminster

I didn't grow up in the Kew / Chiswick area so am finding the decision quite overwhelming. Does anyone have any advice / suggestions as I have to decide by the end of this week as nearly 8 weeks pregnant.

Thanks

I've only tried C&W from your list but compared to the two other London hospitals I've been at (Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich and Kings College) it was by far the best. I had an ELCS there which went fine, and the postnatal ward was an okay experience. Compared to the absolutely dreadful and soul-destroying experiences I had at the other two, this was a cause for celebration!

I've heard Queen Charlotte's is good, not heard anything about the other two though.

I went to Chelsea and Westminster and was good

Queen Charlotte's has excellent care for mothers and babies at risk, pre and post natal. My labour was amazing, in the midwife led unit and later on the delivery ward.

However, regular antenatal care is an absolute shambles, IME always late and the midwives overworked and brusque. Parking is expensive and public transport poor.

All that said, I wouldn't swap my delivery for another. God bless my lovely MW Elizabeth

I have had three births.

First at C&W, had a horrible midwife and terrible post-natal care.

Second at QCCH, very good team for my EMCS and good post-natal care, they found me food at midnight :)

Third at QCCH just before Christmas after a two month stay on ante-natal ward. The staff on ante-natal and labour ward were brilliant. I was a frequent flyer on labour ward and was up and down between there and ante-natal over 10 times in the last trimester. All the staff and consultants I met were lovely. After a very scary ELCS where I almost died, I can safely say that without the consultants and the team at QCCH I would not be alive. The midwives post-delivery went out of there way to help me and supported me with breastfeeding my premature baby during my 4 day stay in HDU. You can get a 24 hour pass for £10 from the Reception by the main entrance if you are on labour ward. Ante-natal clinic is very busy as HeyMicky said, but I had good experiences with the midwives I saw even though waiting times were lengthy.

I've been to both Queen Charlotte and West Middlesex, and have to say that I had great experiences with both (epidural and induction at QC and no intervention at WM). I have to say it was all down the the two lovely midwives who helped me to deliver both times. Midwives at both were unobtrusive (popping in and out regularly to make sure everything was ok).

Pre- and post- natal care wasn't great at either hospitals though! Although I did find pre-natal at WM slightly more thorough (I naturally have low BMI), and was offered two growth scans in addition to the 12 and 20 weeks scans for my second DC.

I found the midwives at QC post natal not too helpful when I was trying to establish bf and was more than willing to ff my DC. I guess it depends on the midwife you get!

As another poster said, you were never seen on time with pre-natal appointments (I remember waiting about 1.5-2 hours!).

If you would like a private room after birth (if there are any available), cost is another factor you may want to consider. I think QC was in the region of £220 per night about 4 years ago and WM £60 more recently.

If you drive, parking is a nightmare at QC and Kingston. WM not too bad as they have plenty of parking spaces.

Consider distances to the hospitals and how long it takes to get to each during different times of the day too!

Queen charlottes!
Chelsea and Westminster is a dive, and it's only going down hill.

I know countless peoe that have given birth there and it's filthy, also a very good friend works on the a&e and wouldn't give birth there if you paid her.

Oh and I went private at c and w so can't advise on certain areas of care

Thanks to everyone that's replied, I'd pretty much ruled out C&W but that has settled it. If I'm honest think I'm torn between Kingston and QCCH. It'll be a September baby so peak time I think. Does any one have any thoughts on Kingston. Thanks again all :-)

I had my DS at Kingston, and found it a good experience on the whole. This was four years ago, mind. I did have several midwives over the hours I was there, but they read my birth plan and respected it as much as they could (and am sure they had a good laugh at it out of earshot!) Once I got into the later stages, I had a waterbirth in the MLU, and did have a midwife who stayed with me through to the end. Antenatally, I can't comment, because I went home the same day (I thought I'd rather be sleepless in my own bed, rather than the hospital's).

Parking is horrible in the day, but as we got there at 3am, that wasn't an issue at the time. You can get an all day pass from the maternity unit that was about £6 at the time.

I'm having my twins there now, and the care seems good again. All the sonographers have been very nice, anyway!

Thanks for the posts which I also found helpful as I am choosing between West Middlesex and Kingston. Also due in September, which I hear is the busiest month, especially in Kingston. Both have good reviews. So I am torn between the two.

When I had DS we lived very close to West Mid so that was my natural choice. A simple uncomplicated pregnancy followed by induction for broken water.

We lived in the same house when I had my booking in with DD1, but moved during my pregnancy. Where we live falls into Kingston's area, but borders West Mid's area so they were happy to leave me there. It suited us as more accessible than Kingston.

It turned out that I had placenta praevia, resulting in a 4 week stay. The ante natal care was great. The location (on DH's way to work) made our life much easier during an extended inpatient stay.

With DD2 I also had PP resulting in 6 admissions, when I had my first GP appointment they asked which hospital I wanted, for me it was an obvious choice.

I would consider how accessible each hospital is, consider rush hour journeys and potential long stays.

Hi ED17 I think we've settled on Kingston. Not sure if you're aware but each of the hospital websites do a virtual tour of the maternity areas. Be aware though the Kingston one doesn't seem compatible with apple devices so I watched it on laptop. Are you going to join an NCT class? This is my first so I think I will.

Thanks again for everyone's responses they've been really helpful. We've settled on Kingston partly due to hubby's work location and if he needed to get back quickly. Think west mid would be harder. I also thought their video was the most useful and informative.

Thanks Mikkii and SammyW33 for your responses. I've seen the videos on their websites. Went for a drive today to see which of the two hospitals is most accessible. Both are relatively close, but I think I am going to settle for Kingston too. SammyW33, I haven't started to think of classes yet - but I am sure I will join some class or another as this is also my first. I will look into NCT and what they offer. Thanks!

I've had babies at QCCH and C&W (this year) and had fantastic experiences at both. C&W had a much calmer ante natal clinic with much less waiting so it probably was my fav but I had great care during delivery at both hospitals.

Oh and it's worth noting that the neonatal consultant that was at QCCH when it built its reputation for neonatal excellence is now at C&W.

That's interesting Heartychoke, is that Mr Kumar?

QCCH or Kingston. I had my little girl tat Kingston and a stillborn daughter at Kingston as well. I was very well looked after in both situations. I am pregnant again, older and with a more difficult history now than I was when I had my first daughter. For this reason, I chose QCCH. They are better able to deal with my complexities than Kingston. But for a straight-forward birth, you won't go wrong with either hospital.

Thanks everybody. Very useful comments. I have gone for Kingston Hospital, chosen based on its location and convenience to get to from home.

I have heard good things about Kingston. Sadly while C&W is a popular celebrity hospital it is incredibly busy and the facilties just can't keep up. They have the best PR department for sure....