St Thomas or St George’s to give birth?

[EmJay19]

Hi everyone. Keep changing my mind about what to do and would like to hear some experiences of giving birth in each please.

I’m with St Thomas as I had IVF at Guys and it seemed natural to register there. However, I was pregnant with twins so planned to move to St George’s at I’ve read they are twin specialists so had it in my mind I would go there. Had vanishing twin syndrome so now only pregnant with one baby and not sure...

I’ve also had some really horrible experiences at St Thomas in the past with early miscarriage which is putting me off too.

What I’d like to know is whether St. George’s is any better and worth the move? I’m worried about changing care now (at 22 weeks) after seeing consultant and being booked in to see them again.

Thanks in advance everyone! Xxx

With the exception of the ultrasound dept, I found the care at St George's to be pretty poor, but this was in 2014 so may well be different staff now. But I wouldn't have wanted to go back there.

Realistically how long would it take you to get to St. George's if you were in labour compared to st Thomas? Are you close by? How would you get there? took us about 50 minutes in a taxi due to school time traffic and it was horrendous.

Hi Em,
I had my son at St Thomas 5 years ago and it was a horrible experience. I was pressured and threatened into having an induction, there were so many students that they had scrape my sons head to get blood to check oxygen levels and they failed miserably at it, I was in extra pain and distress and so was my son, it got extremely close to an emergency c-section, I needed a blood transfusions, my son was so drugged up that he couldn't latch, I was in tears trying to express milk and they asked if I really wanted to! So many issues but I won't go on. To top it all off, they refused to release the notes on first 3 attempts, my psychiatrist finally got them for me when trying to work through my depression and trauma. So no, wouldn't recommend.

Hi duplo

Thanks for your reply. I’m pretty much in the middle of them so travel’s not really an issue....

Trixytrix thanks for reply and so sorry you had such an awful experience! I do get the feeling at St Thomas that it is pretty chaotic....

I have had two babies at St Thomas in the last 3 years. It is busy and slightly chaotic but overall I have had confidence in the quality of the care.

I had a great experience overall at St George's in terms of the care provided to me and my child. My baby was born unwell (we didn't know there was a problem beforehand), stayed in for several weeks following surgery and has had a number of operations as an outpatient since. If he had been born elsewhere he would have been transferred to SGH for the surgery anyway and we would have been separated while I recovered. From talking to others, experience may not always be great if everything goes as expected - an awful lot of children are born there every day. But if anything were not to go to plan you would receive the best possible care.
A friend of mine had twins naturally there and had a good experience, despite some complications. I had a planned section. The NHS is under such immense pressure so I guess the care and support is focused on the mums and babies that need it the most, which makes sense.
I had my second child at a different hospital which was not such a great experience, despite being a routine section.
All the best with the baby and whichever choice you make!

You can’t possibly be local to both hospitals, I’d go with whichever is most local. I know someone who had twins at Kings, if that’s anywhere near.

Hi Cassian

Yes I love 20 minute drive from each. Kings is a little closer though I discounted it early as read though statistics didn’t looks good but will have another think

fandabbydozier Thank you. Glad you got the care you needed at St. George’s. Yes I see what you mean about those in need getting the best care which makes sense. Think I’m leaning towards St. George’s now x

Settlersofcatan Thank you. Glad it went smoothly for you

Londoner with older DC, so haven't looked at the relative merits of different hospitals for delivery for quite a long while. But similarly in a place where 2 possibly 3 major hospitals were within reach.

Recalling the baby producing years, I wouid say that nearly everyone is absolutely fine whichever they go to. And that poor experiences are uncommon but can occur anywhere.

In your shoes, I would stick with the current team if you have felt comfortable and in good hands with them so far. Or go for whichever has the easiest journey - not just typical time, but also number of notorious bottlenecks en route

A 20 minute drive is quite long - 20 minutes on a good day or a bad day? I live pretty close to Kings (I walked to the hospital to have DD!) and I would average that it could take at least half an hour to get to either of these - at least. If I was in established labour I wouldn’t fancy being stuck in hellish traffic, so I’d go to the closest unless they have an appalling reputation.

I honestly think you’re probably overthinking the whole thing.

Traffic around Tooting is awful - we only lived a little over 2 miles away and it still took 50 minutes. If King's is closer I'd really consider going with them.

George’s every time