Kings College Hospital

[mrshopeful]

Hi, I am 14 weeks and have my first midwife's appointment at Kings next week. Has anyone got any feedback on what it's like to give birth there? I understand the maternity unit was refurbished quite recently, anyone any experience of it since the refurbishment?
Any feedback appreciated, thanks!

I gave birth there 7 years ago and it was filthy. I have experience of 2 other maternity units and Kings was an absolute sewer compared to them.

But hey that was 7 years ago and they have had a refurbishment since. I am sure it is lovely now. Do make sure you go round the unit though before you get to give birth, just to be sure it is what you want.

hi there

i gave birth at kch in march. i had planned a home birth, but DD had other ideas, and I was transferred in for a ventouse delivery. i laboured at home for 11 hours, and then was on the delivery ward for 45 mins before giving birth. the staff on this ward were lovely. i was in a large room with ensuite shower and loo, bath in the room, stereo so you can bring music, large comfy bed. all very nice.

after 3 hours i was transferred to the pre and post labour ward. this was really, really hot, noisy, a bit grotty, with tiny beds. the staff were nice but unbelievably overstretched.

so i would consider arranging to stay at home for as long as possible, to avoid being on the dodgy pre/post natal ward. this was my first child, and i felt relieved to have 2 midwives in my home. as far as i could tell, there were about 2 midwives to the whole pre/post labour ward of 20-odd women!

I had my dd there after the refurbishment.

Labour ward is pretty comfy. You get your own bathroom with deep bath. There's a CD player and a Hospicom thing for TV. You can use their mats / balls etc and you can also hire Tens machines from them (you'll need to do this in advance).

Totally agree with bagsundereyes on the post-natal ward bit. I was there for a good few days and it's pretty dire unless you are lucky enough to get your own room.

Most importantly, the quality of midwife care on labour and post-natal wards varied MASSIVELY. Some absolute angels (I'll be eternally grateful for their care) and some shockingly bad. My one piece of advice is - if you're not with a group practice of midwives, try to get yourself a doula. That way you are guaranteed someone to look out for your interests, and continuity of care. I really wish I'd had one.

All in all, it's not a bad place to give birth and i'll almost certainly end up back there for number two (if that ever happens!).

I had ds there. But that was 2004. It was o.k.

Agree, some of the p-n care/nurses were a dream. Some, basically cold and uncaring.

So that is normal. Like a holiday, would you return ? Yes.

ha ha - pretty crappy holiday!

my friend who`s a dr did her training there and says she wouldnt have her baby there..hmmm!

Just to add, my line of work has taken me into a number of central london hospitals for professional reasons. i would rather be at King's than Royal London (grot), UCH or Tommy's. St. George's is nice though.

Perhaps see if you can get registered with one of the community midwifery practices as you get better continuity of care. I can recommend a couple in Southwark, but I haven't worked in Lambeth so I'm not sure about this borough.

Thanks all for the feedback, my other "choice" was Lewisham and having visited a friend who had her baby there, and heard all about her experience there, I ruled it out! I was thinking about hiring a doula so will look into that and ask about it at my booking appointment. Many thanks everyone

Have heard really bad things about Lewisham. Probably best sticking to King's. Definitely try to get in with a group midwifery practice if you can. It's definitely the best chance you have of getting proper continuity of care. There are a few different groups who are connected to King's - some names are Brierley, Ruskin, Peckham Way. There are others as well.

But if you don't manage that, definitely go for a doula. Well worth the money, I should think.