Kingston vs Ashford/St Peters

[zoomies1]

Hi All, sorry if this has been done before. I think I’m due in September and I have to self refer to a hospital. I don’t know the two I’ve been given the choice of and previous threads are all quite old. Does anyone have an experience of these two hospitals that they wouldn’t mind sharing?

Andrew Pooley at Kingston is an exceptional consultant.

@everycloud30, thanks for the message. Kingston seems to have a really good reputation and some excellent consultants.

I had DS at Kingston and can't complain at all (other than DH spending too long finding the chocolate machine). To be honest, I was beyond paying attention, but DH said that when DS's heartbeat started dropping, the midwife elbowed a button and about the doctors charged in, but held back to see whether they were actually needed - I'm glad I didn't notice at the time, but retrospectively it's very reassuring. And actually no intervention was required, so all ended well - and I even got a private run because it was Easter weekend so no scheduled C-sections.

If I had a criticism, it would that DS wasn't it the mood to breastfeed initially (he got there in the end) and I felt written off as a result - we had to fight to prove he wasn't jaundiced, but was just struggling to get the hang of feeding and should just be allowed to have formula and go home. We got there in the end, and the doctor that did the blood test was brilliant, but the postnatal staff weren't quite what I was hoping for - thankfully DH is very scientifically minded and happy to argue on my behalf.

Bloody autocorrect. THREE doctors, a private ROOM and not IN the mood to breastfeed.

I was at St Peters, fucking awful place. I was 8mths pregnant and felt very ill. I knew something was up but they told me I was a 'nervous' first time mother and sent me home.

DM took one look at me and rushed me to Frimley Park. They whisked me up to the consultant who told me I had severe Pre-eclampsia and would have to have an emergency c-section asap. (I was prepped and sent up to the OR within the hour) I was very ill and nearly lost DS, (he was in scibu for a long time)

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I would stay well clear of St Peters, I had an awful experience of of a very badly managed miscarriage that ended in a serious incident investigation which still isn't resolved. It really depends on the staff, how busy the dept is at the time etc but I would never go back there. I have friends that have had really positive birth experiences at Kingston. Frimley Park is really excellent too if you aren't too far.

I had both mine at Kingston - I would recommend. Postnatal care wasn’t too bad - almost all rooms are private en-suite now, I had one both times. I was on the labour ward with complications with my first and midwife-led with my second - MLU was particularly good with great care.

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate it! I will fill out the paperwork this evening. I haven't heard anything good about Ashford but even the people who had difficult births at Kingston say the staff did a good job. Its less convenient but I think I have to go with the majority.

Good luck zoomie xx