St Thomas' vs. Chelsea & Westminster

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Hi there,

I know there are loads of threads on this already, but am struggling to find anything that is less than 5 years old. If anyone has any advice on choosing between St Thomas' vs Chelsea, I would be hugely appreciative. This is our first baby and our family is back in NZ so really nervous about going through this away from home but we are also super excited to meet our new arrival! So looking for any advice to help us to make a decision.

Thanks in advance!

I had my baby at Chelsea 10 days ago by ELCS and they were amazing. In fact they have been amazing the whole way through. From the community midwife team, to the specialist that saw us 24 hours after a congenital defect was spotted in the scan, to the birth and the post natal care - all were very impressive. I had lots of scans and consultant appointments and never any delays. They were always on the ball re things that needed following up.

This is how on the ball they are: I developed flu symptoms a week after c-section and my DP called the maternity ward to tell them I had a temp of 39.6. They told me to get straight there and called us after 45 mins to check where we were. As soon as I arrived I was receiving fluids, antibiotics snd was tested for everything. Amazing medical care.

Post-natal wards noisy but clean and the HDU was quiet with plenty of staff to help change and lift my baby when I couldn't manage. Midwives lovely and really seemed to care about their patients.

Highly highly recommend!!

Paperandpaint: that's really good to hear, because I'm due to have DC2 at Chelsea and W in two weeks. I want to say that I've also been super impressed by their antenatal care and building/ wards (had to go in for rehydration after vomiting) are clean and nice. Have no experience of St Thomas's, but definitely think C&W preferable to St Mary's (where antenatal care was quite bad) and Queen Charlotte's (where early pregnancy unit I found worryingly bad).

Thank you so much paperandpaint and hopsalong. Both great feedback. Confused me more as we were pretty much decided on St Thomas's, but hearing this has me back heading for Chelsea! Very helpful hearing about such recent experiences, thanks heaps!

This is really helpful for me too, I'm 9 weeks pregnant and have chosen C&W as its my closest hospital but have been wondering about the decision... any more ladies experiences would be super helpful to hear!

I was at St Thomas in January - it was a bit of a complicated birth in the end and we ended up in for nearly a week. The birth and immediate after care was VERY good, it could have ended quite badly if they had been less on it! The post natal ward was ok, midwives were a bit hit and miss - some shifts were great, others not so much...... but main reason I chose St Thomas was for the Evalina Children's Hospital so if LO had needed care afterwards all specialist units would be on site, no need to get transferred.

Are you going NHS or private?

I will update more next week when baby is here. Looks as if I may end up with an ELCS (Chelsea and Westminster won't do inductions if you've had a previous c-section) but going for a VBAC before then.

One thing I will say: C&W has one of the highest c-section rates in country. When I was in last week (thought I was leaking fluid but I wasn't) the woman in the next bay came in in spontaneous labour but had a c-section booked for two weeks time. Was impressed that they offered her a choice between continuing in labour and having a section on the spot. I wouldn't say they are pro c-section per se (VBAC midwife is excellent), but it would be a good choice if you wanted an elective c-section.

Thanks for in the info hopsalong. Good luck and I look forward to hearing more when baby arrives! x

Chelsea Westminster - st Thomas's postnatal ward is living hell

I don't think there's that much difference between the main London teaching hospitals - I've known people have good and iffy experiences at just about all of them; and they all have much the same facilities.

So I'd always go for the one you can reach most easily. Are you north or south of the river?

I couldn't fault St Thomas. I was in the midwife led unit. Everyone from first scan to when we left with DC was wonderful. We had a suite with a view of Big Ben and stayed there for a day after the birth. I woke up starving at 4am and the midwife took me to their kitchen to raid the fridge ;) This wasn't even the private ward!!

I only have experience of C and W - not a great one for me I'm afraid!

Shockingly understaffed and busy, pretty much left alone to get on with it as the MWs whilst lovely had so many women to deal with. I desperately needed help feeding and was told they were 'too busy' and would come and see me the next day........