Consultants at St. Thomas's

[farfallarocks]

It looks as though I will have to have a c section for various reasons (previous shoulder dystocia, carrying a boy who may have haemophilia and therefore no instrumental deliveries allowed) and having had a pretty appalling stay on the NHS post natal ward I am keen to avoid a similar experience.
I am keen to have a very experienced surgeon if I know I am going to have to have c section.

Did anyone transfer at the last minute from NHS to private care? I am not sure how to co-ordinate my ante natal care if not as I am being seen by all sorts of different departments (haematology, endocrinology) given all my various issues!

And does anyone have a recommendation for consultants that are particularly good at c sections (neat scars and recovery!)

thanks in advance

Hello. Can you been seen on nhs at st thomas? I had a similar predicament to you (very complicated obstetric history) with c-section needed for this delivery. Even though I'm out of area my GP referred me to St Thomas as they take high risk cases. I've been seen by a lovely academic consultant throughout for antenatal care and my actual c-section will be done my Lawrence Mascarenhas who performs scheduled c-sections for high risk pregnancies. He's one of the top private consultants at the private wing of St Thomas too and is meant to be one of the most skilled surgeons (I've had a previous j-incision as well as two catastrophic PPHs).

It may be worth exploring the NHS route first. I did look into paying privately (funnily enough with Lawrence Mascarenhas before I was referred on NHS) but was told that with my history the NHS ward would be the safest route as they would have haematologists etc onsite.

Good luck!

Ps it's possible to transfer to st thomas private wing for postnatal care after the nhs c-section. It's not cheap though at £950 per night.

I am with St Thomas and my consultant is Gabby Grey. I can give you a review of her C section skills after the 1st of September! (Assuming I will book in with her, because of the rota I may agree to another consultant)

Thanks for this! I am currently with St Thomas's on the NHS, interestingly my consultant is Gaby Grey but I have never seen her, are you seeing her privately dildals?

That is very interesting that they will schedule difficult C sections with a senior consultant, I will ask about that, thanks iwant. I am a bit concerned as I still have not been referred to the haematology department despite a midwife and a consultant both saying they would. I have noticed a very definite deterioration in the quality of the antenatal care since I had my daughter 3 years ago. Can I ask who you are seeing for antenatal appointments?
I know the post natal care is expensive but I would beg, borrow and steal to avoid my previous experience which was so bad I discharged myself at 11pm with a newborn and left, I just could not take another night of it!

Hi far. I'm under the care of Dr Lucy Chappell. The first time I went to her clinic I saw a Registrar who was rubbish so now everytime I check in at reception I say I want to see the actual consultant - they then make a note on the check in slip and you will see your named consultant. Gabby is actually a blood specialist as I nearly got referred to her instead.

Yes I'm thinking of going private for the postnatal bit - this will obv depend on space on the day as you can't prebook postnatal care only (I think). Going to double check this on Monday. I had my last baby at East Surrey and postnatal was horrific and I've heard even worse in the London hospitals.

God no! This is under the good old NHS! I am not sure how your antenatal appts are organised but when I go, Dr Grey is there, but you can end up being seen by one of her team. You can however request to be seen by her personally. Just ask the nurse who takes your blood pressure.

What you can also do (and I did this) is give her a call. Just call the hospital switchboard and you will be put through to probably her secretary. I left a voicemail message and Dr Grey called me back.

You can then also discuss with her how to coordinate the antenatal care of the different departments.

Finally, what I also did, is to email the consultant MW (Julie Frohlich - her email is on the web). She did a great job in really pulling the antenatal care togehter. I also felt that the NHS was working in a bit of a silo, all very adequately, but not particularly joined up.

I had an absolute shocker of a first birth though, so they were keen to get it right this time.

I am thinking of hiring a postnatal doula ...

Thanks for all this info, it does seem as though we have to sort of doing it ourselves and once we are being seen by the right people then hopefully the care will be good. It was different last time, I was seen by a consultant and a haematologist at the same time and it was all very joined up. This time I am having to chase and sort it out myself which is more worrying as this time I am having a boy who has a 50/50 chance of haemophilia and therefore a haematologist needs to be present at the birth etc etc

I know, I also find it hard to muster the energy (and courage) to chase and ask for help. Every time I also have to tell my story again which is distressing for me and I almost feel like I am wheeling out my sob story to get preferential treatment (that's just my perception, not reality) and it makes me sad for all those women out there who are less assertive and suffering in silence.

I am so sorry to hear of your experiences dildals and I want, thanks for all your tips. I now have an appointment with Gaby Grey in July and will report back, good to know you can request to see her directly. I have also been promised an appointment with a haematologist as well.

I agree, if you did not have a clue, what would be happening? It is such a lottery.

Good luck with it far. My c-section is this Thursday so will try and report back soon!

Interestsingly I had my first at St Thomas who had an had an unoticed shoulder dystocia and nearly lost him, shocking midwives and the worse 5 days of my life on the PN ward at St Thomas' . Seriously negligent. I had the next 2 at East Surrey which was fine - but I didn't stay on the PN ward (you couldn't pay me to after St Thomas PN ward)

When are you due farfalla?

forago that is awful, so glad you had a better experience subsequently. The quality of midwives is very mixed, we had a great one and then a shift change and then an agency midwife who frankly should just not be in the profession.

Iwant good luck, please do when you have a moment!
dildals I am due end of November.

It was beyond awful actually. My son was stuck for a long time when he eventually emerged and had to be resuscitated with a full on crash team that my partner called! The appalling community midwife that "delivered" him (Clapham Team) stank of booze and was clearly extremely hungover. She didn't examine me once after she arrived with about an hour to go and replaced the hospital midwife who seemed very good. Then I had 5 days on the PN ward which was unbelievably bad. I've detailed the specifics on here before so I won't bore you but it really was the worse experience of my life other than the sudden death of my father. However, we were very lucky really, my son wasn't brain damaged in the end and I went on to have 2 more, including another (milder) shoulder dystocia which was properly managed at East Surrey. Also, it was just after Christmas and all of the unprofessional, uncaring and negligent midwives/HCAs I encountered on the PN ward (when you could find any) were agency staf, apparently. So I suspect I was very unlucky and can only hope they've improved the care and that the hospital midwives are much, much better.

forago that sounds dreadful you poor thing, I am glad your son was ok in the end. The bank staff are truly awful and so different to the permanent midwives who are great and really caring, my labour went downhill in a big way after the shift change and ended with my husband wheeling me into the operating theatre. The consultant and everyone was waiting for me, dd was in distress, the bank midwife was writing up her notes!

good luck today iwant

Just a quick update. Just got home. Had extremely positive experience of st thomas. C-section was a success with minimal blood loss despite it being very tricky (they found lots of scarring and adhesions)- it took 25 mins to get DD2 out and then nearly an hour of careful stitching up. Scar so far looks amazing and feeling very comfortable.

I was dreading the post labour ward but it was absolutely fine! The midwives were all amazing and kept reminding me they would help with anything including nappy changes. Only 3 beds on my ward (normally 4). A partner is also now allowed to stay overnight (though mine didn't). And totally trivial but had the most amazing view of Big Ben and Houses of Parliament from my bed.

All in all feeling very blessed and feel that this experience has been healing after what I experienced at East Surrey previously.

Oh fabulous! That's great to hear!

So did Lucy Chappell do your CS?

Glad to hear all this. My stay there 2 years ago was horrendous (alone in a room overnight with twins 6 hours after a late evening section with one blood pressure check all night - how one of us didn't end up dead I don't know). But this pregnancy has been much better and the MW team seem to have a better grip on things. I am having my antenatal care at St T and it's been excellent.

Dr Sankaran did my c-section. She works alongside Lucy Chappell - Lucy is an academic/ research consultant so doesn't do actual surgery.

I honestly found the post natal care fantastic - every midwife I met was a pleasure and felt very very well looked after. Hopefully they've no upped their game rather than me having just got lucky.

Now not no

Now not no

Now not no

Eyebrows many congratulations and I'm so thrilled your experience went so well. OP I had my baby at ST Thomas (NHS) and the post-natal ward was indeed awful. They are just overrun and need more staff - everyone meant well (in my experience). We transferred up to the private suite and it was amazing. Definitely worth the money. I wonder if, given the complications that are involved in this pregnancy, you might want to be in the NHS system at St Thomas and then get transferred up immediately after the birth. Just an idea. That said, because of some complications I have had, if we have another baby I have to have a c section and I will definitely go privately. I think I would choose somewhere like st Thomas because of all the excellent facilities there in case of an emergency. Whatever you decide, very best of luck.

I passed from NHS to private at 29th weeks, my experience with Dr Pasupathy has been excellent. For various reasons I needed to have CS. The consultant has been very patient in explaining to me and to my husband the situation, always with a smile and offered great assistance also after the delivery. (and allocated a midwife who spoke my language)