Advice on St Thomas or St Georges hospitals ?

[monaco]

Hi

I am moving into Clapham/Wandsworth on Friday and I am 6 months pregnant (first
baby). I therefore need to register with a surgery and choose the right
hospital for the birth.
Someone told me that i could ask to go to St Thomas but on their web
site, they indicate that it's for people living in the Lamsbeth borough
(we are in the Wandsworth borough, SW11). Do you think this will be a
problem ?

Also, what has been your experience with the various hospitals that one
can go to in the area (StGeorges, St Thomas, Chelsea & Westminster) ?
Ideally, I would like one where the midwives number is sufficient (I am
due on the August bank holiday weekend !), they do mobile epidural and
offer the possibility of a private room.

Thanks for all your advice in advance

Stéphanie

hi,
ds was born in st thomas' hospital, we lived in lambeth though at the time. I dont know about this part of your query.
the ante natal care and our midwifes were superb..it is a teaching hospital; their ethos was at that time no elective c-sections.
I had tricky long labour and emergency c-section....the aftercare i found not so good and what can i say, hospital food...get something hot and nutritious brought in by visitors!
Good luck with it all...

i was born in St Thomas' and have been treated at St george's. also many of my siblings were born in St george's

I think my mum had a good experiance of both, but she would be perfectly happy to give birth in St George's.
She didn't have pain relief at all but they do offer mobile epi's and she had a private room with my 4th brother, though it is my understanding that these are on a first come basis....i may be worng though.

In fact it is one of teh best hospitals in the South, i know that cases are referred to St george's all teh time as it is a main teaching hospital.

I had ds1 at Thomas's. The midwife who delivered him was fantastic, but I also found the post-natal care poor. I was a first time mum and had little or no support with breastfeeding and had to ask for painkillers etc. I was left pretty much to get on with it! That was nine years ago though, so things may well have improved. I went there over George's as it was recommended to me at the time. Thankfully I was only in for a day and the community midwives were much better.

Oh, I think parking at Thomas's is a bit of a nightmare now too. V, v expensive to park nearby for your dh visiting and while you are in labour etc.

I had both dds at St Thomas' and i would say it is excellent. It was all brand new in 2002, and the home from home area is very nice with amazing views [if you are together enough to look!]. On the whole the midwives and consultants seemed excellent, even the NICO until was fab. However I would agree that the post-natal care was lacking, but that seems the same everywhere. With dd1 I was in a private room for 1 week as she was in Nico, then with dd2 i was home within 6 hours!

Some friends in wandsworth have used st Thomas' too [Balham, Wandsworth]. Some people choose St Georges' as they do use pethidine(?), but I didn't want to use it so was happy they don't at St Thomas'

I had ds at Tommy's in 2003 when I lived in SW11, no problem at all. Just tell your GP. Car parking is a swizz, unlike every other hospital in the land there's no discount (cost us £50 as obv. didn't want dh to piss off back home and come back on the train). AND you have to pay the congestion charge.

My main problem was that there was only ONE midwife to seven women in labour in the so-called m/w led birth centre. She couldn't send me over to the hospital side as same situation there. Bloody dangerous and led to 3rd degree tear as no-one to guide me when I needed to push. So do check out what staffing levels are like now, particuarly in the middle of the night when most people actually give birth.

Facilities in home from home birth unit fab, nice view across the river (not that I noticed in the throes of labour).

I had both dc at St Thomas' and loved it. BUT i did go private, which was brilliant aftercare lovely and clean etc etc. Whether you go private or nhs there, you use the same delivery suite, and I had an emergency c-section first time after an abrupted placenta, and then a planned section second time round and the staff were really good. I couldn't say what it would be like doing the whole thing on the NHS there though. I lived in SW18 at the time, so you should be fine living in SW11.

St George's on the other hand... My best friend had her little baby Holly (hooray) this morning there, and although she has said that she couldn't fault the staff in the delivery rooms, she is not having a great time now she is on the Post Natal ward. She hasn't been washed yet, she hasn't been even offered a cup of tea, there's no soap or loo paper in the loos and the staff have been pretty unfriendly (and apparently its not busy, so its hardly an excuse..).

I think medically, you can't go wrong with either of those large teaching hospitals, but unfortunately I think that the aftercare of new mothers is where the problems are, when in a large London hospital.

Sorry - hope that doesn't worry you. Everyone's experience is different I think, so it just depends on a gut feeling when you go round them (which I think you can with both?).

HTH

I had ds at tommy's from sw17 for antenatal care and they kept me when i moved to nw5 just before the birth. It was always cheaper and easier to cab it than worry about parking.

It was a bit too interventionist there for me. Was induced with very very borderline pre-eclampsia, which the 2nd and 3rd consulting teams to see me dissed the 1st set about. I was not impressed and fairly frightened after hearing this that they had made their minds up wrong.

I never saw the same midwife twice in antenatal care, and frankly don't really care as I am happy to have my privacy. I lucked into a fantastic midwife for the final push, we got on well. She stitched a complex tear beautifully, apparently. I understand that some of the midwives there are some of the best you can get. Having been in labour so long, I had a neonatologist waiting for ds when he arrived, which was very very reassuring.

I can't fairly comment on their aftercare as ds was born on 7/7 and there was a massive staff shortfall when people couldn't get transport to work while london was paralysed and tommy's locked down.

I would say I was surprised to hear staff comment on me (positively in a championing way and nipping to get me stuff quickly) in my hearing and aghast to know that i got a lot of support and leeway from them all in the later stages because 1) the medics shouldn't have insisted i needed induction and they were sorry for me and 2) i did the first 30 hours of labour without at peep. Aghast because if you are noisy i can only assume they have less time for you. I would also say from what I've learnt since that that attitude is not uncommon in many places. After 30 hours i had a light epidural, it was very good, i did retain some mobility and could feel the pushing and contractions enough to assist the delivery. I was way past walking by then mind!

they seemed to have a no food/drink in labour policy, but i had water and sweets to keep me going.

I have no idea where i will go for number 2, if i get that lucky. can't afford the only thing i'd really like, johns & elizabeth's.

the views! oh my they were critical for me in getting through that labour. I would look and think and drift off and i loved the views!

St Thomas's was good I thought, I had a fantastic midwife and obstetrician for DS's birth. Had to stay in for five days after and post natal care was more mixed, but still 3/4 of the staff there were very very good I would say.

Thank you to all for your input and experience.
May I ask moodlumthehoodlum how you can go private at Tommy's ? Do you have to know a specific obstetrician ? I am French and that's how it would work as well in France : you would have your private obs and he would direct you to the hospital where he operates. So that's a system I would probably like as well.

Thanks again very much

just check out th website for the private rooms, cost approx £100 a night and called the landsell suite(£).

Sorry - only just checked this. Ring the Lansdell Suite (the name of the private suite) and ask them to send you information. I went for the private midwifery service, and I'm not sure if they still offer this, as the midwife retired earlier this year and they can't find anyone else to fill her wonderful shoes. That said, the consultant I had both times round (as I had to have c-sections) was a divine Ghanian called Eugene Oteng something or other. He was BRILLIANT lovely calm and measured, so you could always ask if he's available. The name of the girl who does all the admin and bookings at the Lansdell suite is Jo, and she is amazing also. (as you can see I loved my time there - I think that's why I had my babies so close together, just so I could spend some more time there!!!)

They used to offer the availability of an NHS delivery and then you pay for the private room subsequently. BUT, when you read the small print, they can't guarantee you a room, and there are (from memory) only 6 or seven rooms, so you could be unlucky.

I also saw a really nice female consultant, who I can't remember the name of, and she was really good.I think you could find her name on the website though.

Hope that helps. Just to reassure you though, my friend in St George's said it did get a lot better and the midwives were quite good in the end.

Oh, and if you go private at St Thomas' you get a little card that lets you off the parking charges. Which I was really chuffed about but DH did comment that he would expect at least that considering that he forked out thousands for the priviledge!

Can we throw Chelsea and Westminster into this discussion? GP told me choices are between the three (I'm in SW11 and 7 wks pg). I had a mc at 10 wks a few months ago and am probably being overly anxious about everything, but feel like this is a huge choice to make and there doesn't seem to be much info out there.

Don't go to Chelsea and Westminster. I have heard too many horror stories about it. They are ridiculously (dangerously) short staffed from what I hear.

I have known a number of doctors who have opted for St Georges, which makes me think it must be medically good.

I was going to say that you could go for a private midwife birth at C&W, but you would have to be 6 weeks rather than 6 months pregnant to get a room!

My friend had both her lo's in st georges - and one wa born with unexpected profound SEN - they were great. St georges has a great rep.

I went private at the Landsdell suite at St Thomas's after completely losing faith in the staff at UCH where I scheduled to go

It was lovely and I think the people who delivered my daughter - with the exception of the consultant - were just what you get with the normal NHS treatment and were absolutely lovely

Delivery and immediately post natal care were lovely and everyone gets one of the absolutely amazing recovery rooms overlooking big ben; honestly it was such a lovely experience watching the sun go down over Parliament and breastfeeding my baby at the same time

Landsdell was nice but they didnt particularly help on breastfeeding and I had to get extra help on that afterwards

and even though I was private, the food was still disgusting!

St Georges are currently finishing a new delivery suite which is meant to be open June/July time.

I'm under St G's midwives for the third time for my third homebirth. Although I've never actually been in to deliver, the MW care is fantastic, and all of the ones I have dealt with ante-natally and post have been very, very positive about the whole pregnancy/birth thing.

Parking is OK - never cheap, but you can always get a spot in the carpark without queueing.

I don't know anyone who has had a bad birth experience with St Gs, but my understanding is that post-labour wards are pretty grim wherever you go.

I'm Wandsworth too and could go to Kingston - they have rooms, is that on your list of options? I wouldn't want to be negative about anyone's choices, but personally having had some ante-natal care at C&W, I wouldn't go near it again.

I would say St Goerges - I gave birth at St Thomas' and it too was dangerously understaffed - complete nightmare, particularly the post natal ward which truly was a vision of hell. Private doesn't matter which hospital I'd say.

Scary hairy Re C&W- I'm having my first there in Aug and got v worried about all the scare stories in here and the bad reputation but have since come across lots and lots and people who have had v good experiences there (nhs) and I've been happy with ante natal care so far and all the midwives have been lovely. (Lots of my friends are doctors too and they've been there). Main problem people seem to have is with the post natal care but personally it's the labour that I'm more concerned about.

Sorry scaryhairy- meant to address message to KThomson

I saw Eugene at St Thomas' (in an NHS clinic) when I was pg with DS2 and hoping for VBAC. He was pretty good I thought.

And in 2004 we paid WAY more than £100 a night for private at St Thomas's. But the aftercare is good in the private part. I can't say I liked the aftercare in the NHS ward, but if you avoid a c/section you probably won't be there long enough to get stressed by it

I was going to say, we enquired in 2004 bout the cost of a privat ward in the Lansdell suite and were told £600 per night.

You're right tho, people's experiences do seem to vary massively in the big London teaching hospitals - my SIL had her first at St Thomas' 9 months after me and had an absolutely fine experience - no complaints at all - was just lucky as was much less busy on the day and no need to go to post natal ward (truly, do everything in your power not to go here - at the moment the labour is utmost in your mind but I would rather go through that again any day than the 5 days of hell I spent on the pn ward). Shame it is such a lottery tho.