Labour at Queen Elizabeth, Woolwich V Princess Royal Bromley

[CDJ1987]

Hello,

I am pregnant with my first baby and have been given a choice of Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich and the Princess Royal Hospital in Bromley to give birth at.

I can only find really old reviews and have heard mixed things about both hospitals and am just looking for some guidance?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Carly

I had a baby at QE Woolwich this year, in their midwife-led birth centre. It was great. Didn't stay long as it was a straightforward birth, but the midwives were wonderful and they gave us some really precious time to ourselves with then baby, in the delivery room, after she arrived. No pressure to get the room back.

Only downside is that parking is a nightmare but that's true of all hospitals these days.

And congrats on your pregnancy!

I was about to post the exact same thing about the PRUH in Bromley, except it was a boy rather than a girl . Parking also an issue, DP had to let me out to start off towards the birth centre while he parked up, and this was only half eight in the morning .

Midwives great, lovely water birth, couldn’t have been better (this was July this year, so pretty up to date!)

Thank You! I think I am leaning towards the birth centres rather than the labour ward, so its good to hear that you both had good experiences!

Also, not sure how the layout is at Woolwich, but at the PRUH everything is all on the same floor in the same wing (birth centre, labour ward, operating theatre etc) so you can transfer very quickly from one to the other if necessary

Had very VERY bad experience at Bromley.

That said, SCBU were fab (although I hope you don't need it).

Layout is similar at Woolwich, labour ward is next door to birth centre so if you need interventions you're only going next door.

Congratulations!
I gave birth in QEW in Dec 2016. The staff in the fetal assessment unit, birth centre and L&D were fabulous. I found the staff in maternity to be a bit hit and miss but I would imagine that's the same in all hospitals where they're understaffed, underpaid and under appreciated. I also had to go back afterwards for physio and I arranged a debrief with Birth Afterthoughts and the staff in those departments were great.

Like previous posters have said, everything is on one floor and very close, except when you're contracting and walking from the birth centre to L&D and it feels like it's a million miles away!

I had heard shocking stories about QEW but overall it wasn't bad. I just can't say it was fantastic either. I found after the baby was born was where I had my disappointments in the hospital. You might bypass that though if you stay in the birth centre.

If I still lived in the area I would deliver there again.

All the best with your pregnancy!

I gave birth to my DD at QEW back in 2011. I had a difficult birth, but the overall experience wasn’t too bad. I can recall a midwife who wasn’t very pleasant vigorously checking me. I was due to give birth at a hospital in Essex, but ended up at QEW because I was visiting family when my labour started. I just felt that the staff were not happy and couldn’t accommodate me as such, so it was all very awkward. Good luck.