Private consultants & hospitals London - Miskry/Murphy/others?

[fruitandflowers]

Hello all - very new first time pregnant lady (7w) just trying to make sense of how all this works! I am fairly new to London and looking for a west London antenatal consultant & birth hospital (am fully insured so cost not a relevant factor).

So far Karl Murphy and Tariq Miskry are both available and have heard good things - does anyone have any feedback? They attend at the Lindo Wing & the Portland. I've also spoken to Colin Davis who only delivers at the Portland. Are there others I should look at? How do you choose? I assume you don't go and meet them all?!

In terms of hospitals, it will be Lindo Wing, Chelsea West or the Portland. I would rank them in that order but don't have a good sense of why - DH has an (unsubstantiated) preference for CW. Again, any food for thought!

Thanks so much!

Lindo is excellent and Miskry is fabulous (no experience of Murphy from a patient's perspective but he's also lovely).

TG Teoh is absolutely, hand on heart brilliant. I would trust him above all others (I've worked for him and "know" a huge number of the consultants at the Lindo).

From what I've seen professionally, I would personally go for Lindo over CandW or the Portland.

Also, be careful with insurance. A lot of insurance companies don't cover obstetrics so please, please, please double check your cover. It's a long time since I've seen private insurance stuff so I may well be wrong, but it might be better to be safe than sorry.

Lastly, and most importantly - CONGRATULATIONS! Your life is about to get wonderfully, amazingly, confusingly crazy and it will never be the same again

Go and have a look around them all and see what sort of feeling you get from the staff. They have open evenings where you can meet a few of the consultants, or you can give yourself a shortlist and speak to their secretaries on the phone to get more of a feeling for them. You might find your list is narrowed because the consultants will be taking holiday or have research plans around your due date

We also looked at consultants who did appointments at St Thomas's Westminster wing and Devonshire place, and delivered at the Portland and CW, because I work in the West End and it made getting to daytime appointments a bit easier. Some will scan you themselves, others want you to have scans at the Fetal Medicine Centre on Harley St or Well Women centre near CW, so that is a consideration as well...

Congratulations

Thank you! Am very nervous but very excited.

I have checked that Miskry and Murphy are both available which is good. I will have a look at Teoh too. I am not sure how to make a decision ie what would you say the difference between the 3 is? That's a good tip about calling the secretaries, I shall do that! Good tip also about central London appointments - Miskry seems to do his clinics out of Harley St which is v convenient whereas Murphy is great Portland St which is ok but less so. Hmmm. What to do?!

I have doubled checked the insurance and we are definitely covered - I work for an American company and I'm insured out of the U.S. so it's an all singing and dancing policy.

Thank you all. This is a bit overwhelming!

Teoh is (as far as I know still is) head of obstetrics and gynaecology across the whole of imperial (Mary's, Hammersmith and Charing Cross) and really truly is a top bod. Specialises in complex pregnancies. Lovel, lovely chap and a wonderful family - I knew them well.

Miskry is lovely, hugely professional, specialises in minimal access surgery within gynae. If, for example, you had endometriosis identified in your past medical history, he would be a good choice.

Murphy I don't know - but always friendly and affable gentleman, colleagues told me that he was always happy to help if he could, generally a nice guy.

Chatting to secretaries can help, but don't judge the consultant by the secretary!

Many facilities do tours to show you around - might help if there isn't an open evening coming up soon (you need to book in pretty early!)

Thank you so much! I have enquired about Teoh and they are checking his availability.

Is Miskry personable? I want someone with a decent personality who might laugh at my bad jokes. There is also quite a high chance I will need a caesarian (I'm under the care of an orthopaedic consultant now) so anyone with good stitching skills would be good!

Thanks again for all your thoughts.

I delivered at the Lindo and had Miskry as my consultant. He is a lovely, caring man. He uses staples it stitches for a section and my scar was invisible about 6 months post op. In fact the nurse has commented on how amazing it is at my smear more than once! Lol.

His secretary is lovely and is also his wife.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. You couldn't be in better hands than with Tariq.

i know this thread is quite old now (10 years!) but wanted to ask more about your experience with Mr Miskry. He's been my gynacologist for 10yrs plus and am now considering having my baby with him. Was he very attentive?