St George’s or Kingston

[calpolandcupcakes]

Hi,

I just wondered if anyone had any views on giving birth in either St George’s or Kingston?

I'm currently with St George’s but I've had a catalogue of errors that is making me wonder if I should switch.

I will be a high risk C Section if that makes any difference.

Do not use St George's they are crap everyone I know has had a bad experience there. I won't post my friends story as it's so heartbreaking but it has put me off for life, because of them my friend went home without her son.
Kingston is a great choice

@gumdrop2

Thanks for sharing, I'm so sorry for your friend that is heartbreaking.

The more stories I hear the more I am sure I am that I want to move to Kingston.

Honestly go to Kingston my mum had her last baby there and it was great then, my friend had one there last year and loved it. I think the problem with St George's is it's just so busy they can't cope with the patients they do have and make mistakes because of it @calpolandcupcakes

I had my baby earlier this year at Kingston and one of our NCT group went to St Georges. They had a relatively of experience (well she was in labour for days then ended up with an emergency c section) but they did say that after the birth the dad's/birth partners aren't allowed to stay whereas at Kingston they can be there 24/7. I'd go to Kingston again purely for this reason as I'd hate for my husband to be asked to leave directly after the birth of his child because it wasn't visiting time. I didn't have a c section but I did have a complex, high risk pregnancy due to prior health issues (I have epilepsy) and I developed OC during the third trimester and my experience with kingston was great, but then others in our NCT group are pregnant again and have opted for West Mids as they didn't rate Kington. All of the other people we know who had babies this year at Kingston were happy with their decision, as far as I'm aware. You'll get a range of opinions on all hospitals so I'd be looking at things you can control like policies and also how easy they both are to get to for appointments and/or when you are in labour. How far along are you, out of interest?

Meant to say they had a relatively ok experience at St Georges. Damn auto correct.

St George's is brilliant! I've heard not good stuff about Kingston. If anything goes wrong (hopefully it won't of course) around here people get transferred to St George's.

I equally know people who've had heartbreaking stories at Kingston. All en suite rooms but understaffed.

I don't work at St George's btw!

I had a good experience at St George's, they no doubt saved DD's life, aftercare was rubbish (same as everywhere I guess), but DP stayed the whole time with me (8 days/nights)

Some good stories about St George’s, it would put me off my husband not being there.

I was originally going to go to West Minst, but they were so busy I couldn't get a booking app until 12weeks.

The thing that put me off St a George’s is they mixed my bloods up with someone else's and put me through quite a bit of emotional pain and further medical tests that actually weren't needed.

Thanks so much for all your opinions :)

All hospitals have good and bad experiences, it’s not comparable. All hospitals are understaffed.
Partners can stay afterwards 24/7 at both hospitals.
St. George’s is a level 3. They are a tertiary referral unit so deal with all the major complications, have A blood bank on site, and all the specialist team. They have one of the lowest emergency CS rate in London and are well know for fetal monitoring, fetal medicine and their maternal medicine skills.
The building is old, it needs a lot of TLC.

Kingston is a level 2, ship all the actual high risk stuff to at georges including babies. Newer unit so is aesthetically pleasing.

Also, babies die in all hospitals, poor outcomes happen everywhere. Kingston have been at fault for a number of poor outcomes, aswell as SGH, St Helier, Croydon etc.
On a side note, you may not be able to transfer care to Kingston as they cap their bookings so unless on the books early may not be possible. Not impossible however.

I've used St. George's & partners can stay over after the birth & you can pay for a private room after as well.

St. george's is not pretty & Im sure aftercare is stretched like all London hospitals. One of the reasons I chose St. george's was proximity & the fact that they offered the doppler scan as standard which not all trusts did (this may be different now). The scan actually did show a risk of reduced blood flow so I was glad I made that choice. Also if there was any problems with the baby, the care & equipment is right there & I believe the survival rates of those needing neonatal care are higher than average. I'm remember Sophie Wessex's baby was transferred there as a precaution.

Obviously mistakes happen, which is never ok.

I will be a high risk C Section if that makes any difference.

I would think this would make a difference as you will be under the care of a Consultant & have a scheduled operation. What errors have you experienced?

Hi there, I had a terrible experience at St G last year and my daughter died during labour. Like everyone says these things can and do happen at every hospital but if you've had errors so far can I urge you to make a formal complaint? It's the only way things will improve