St Mary’s Lindo Wing Beware

[AnEarthmom]

This message is for those who are considering to give birth at St Mary’s Lindo Wing I urge you to reconsider. Yes the institution has a reputation however because of its name reputation the basic care has been minimised to create maximum profit. I had my first child at the Lindo Wing and found the experience invasive and clinical. In addition there are not enough nurses per patient. Sadly the nurses are overworked and have become cynical in their approach. And doctors prefer patients to fit into their to schedule so c sections are highly recommended. They can get more patients done more quickly because it is not about the patients it is about numbers. When giving birth women need to have a caring support system not one that is stretched to its limit for profit. What is most scary is the head nurse is not a hospital nurse but a social services nurse who has not had field experience. She does not know in detail or how to give the medical care needed for post natal or after major surgery like a c section. My doctor Dr Teoh is considered the best. He is the great as a surgeon but not as a doctor. As many people warned me and I can confirm he has absolutely no bedside manner. You are treated more like a thing to be sorted out rather than a person giving birth. The doctor was very eager to cut the baby out and did a sweep of my vagia without telling me first. This technique causes the water to break and one to go into labour quicker but not necessarily safer. I felt I had no choice but to have a c section. It was only after the whole process and after speaking with midwives snd other doctors that I realised I could have given birth naturally if I had the right support and given adequate time. But time is something the Lindo Wing does not have. It is a revolving door of patients who spend an average of 17,000£. They do not mention this in the beginning. Their offices casually say the process is about 10-11000£ however after speaking with several mums the about turned out to be more likely around 17000£. I was prepared for this thinking ok I believe I will get the best care however it was not the experience that in any way reflected the Lindo Wing reputation. It was more a chop shop. And you are looking for a natural birth this is not the place.

I would expect the service to be staffed by midwives not nurses? What is a social services nurse? I’ve never heard of a social services nurse.

I haven't been to the maternity at the Lindo Wing but have been in there for surgery and immediately dismissed it as somewhere to give birth after being in there. I have a number of medical conditions and have been in virtually every private hospital in London for surgeries or treatments and have never felt so much of a "Cash cow" as I did at Lindo. My experiences included

1. my surgeon ringing me up two days before the surgery that had been booked in for two months and telling me he won't do it anymore cos my insurance won't pay for it enough. This included several mentions of how dangerous the surgery was
2. When my cannula kept blocking up they continued to try and get them in despite my protests of pain and begging for oral antibiotics instead. After several hours of this (and more needles than i can count) they decided to get me the oral antibiotics instead and this took a further 3 hours.
3. no one checked on me at all on my second night in hospital. I had had back surgery and was unable to go to the toilet or get out of bed alone. If I had dropped my nurse call button no one would have known if i was ok
4. telling me over and over again that I needed to be out by 10am (regardless of if anyone had checked on me that morning) including packing up all my medications the night before and getting me to sign all my exit forms the night before I left.

5 the staff were mostly nice but very abrupt and didn't seem to go out their way to be helpful.

For such a well respected hospital I was extremely unimpressed. When the time comes I am currently dithering between St Thomas and Queen Charlotte - both of which are significantly cheaper and I have heard excellent things about.

The head of the nurse staff has not delivered babies. She has only seen moms and babies after birth. The head nurse should be a midwife with excellent experience delivering babies as well as excellent experience in post natal care.

So sorry you did not get the birth experience you hoped for Earthmom. Have you complained directly to the hospital?

Why did you choose a private hospital and not give birth in the NHS?

I have also heard good things of the two especially of you are wanting a natural birth. I think what is important for woman delivering is to have the right support. And I believe I did not. It could be a midwife or doctor that shows you the way. But they should be rooting for you and your baby not rushing you to get to the next one. It is good to ask other moms their experience as well as do research. I didn’t asked enough moms! I thought this is normal but being treated like someone on an assembly line, but is not. If one has a c section, after, we care for our baby and also have to heal. We must consider this. There is also a lot of drugs used in major surgery and needs to be flushed out of our system. I felt pretty doped up and it was very upsetting to feel this way and nurse my child. Because a c section is major surgery it should not be treated as a convenience as it was at the Lindo Wing. In spite of what the doctors say it does not take one year to heal. My baby is 15 months and I am still recovering. Also asking asking other moms it can take 2 or more years. I wrote this because I want pregnant women to have the birth they want and not let medical professionals convince you otherwise. It is our birth and right. I hope sharing my experience has been helpful.

I have spoken to the doctor and hospital however it has not changed their way of doing things. I have also spoken to midwives there who themselves said they felt pressured because they were so understaffed. I hope and wish this will help new moms.

The head of Nursing staff should be a Nurses. Nurses don’t deliver babies, Midwives do. Head of Midwifery should be a Midwife.

You can get dual registered nurse/midwifes though.

Ultimately though, professional background is almost irrelevant for a very senior manager as they’re not delivering any hands on care, it’s just paper pushing, governance and oversight of service delivery.

I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but I don’t think this particular point holds any weight.

It probably would have been a good idea to get a feel for the general ethos of the labour suite before spending a house deposit on having your baby there though.

You could have had the birth experience that you wanted in an NHS Midwife led unit.

I chose to go private after speaking with several moms who unfortunately did not have a positive experience with the NHS. I made a choice. And I have suffered for my choice. But this does not mean I deserved to suffer or be treated the way I was just because I decided to go private. I am a warning to others to please share your experience. I want to say you do not have to go through what I did.

If I had a good recommendation about the NHS I would have not hesitated to go with the NHS.

Eh? The lindo very deliberately limits the number of women they see so as not to push people through - that’s one of the reasons it’s so expensive! Ive had two babies there and my obstetrician only delivers 50 babies a year.

I’m sorry your birth experience wasn’t as you hoped. I think if you’re looking for private care it’s important to meet your obstetrician and make sure there’s a fit. For example I was fully aware that mr teoh while an excellent doctor has a particular bedside manner so wouldn’t have gone with him. I think it’s also possible at the Lindo to have midwife led care but otherwise you will be obstetrician led, which doesn’t suit everyone

It is sad and scary to hear that management doesn’t have to have hands on experience in delivering babies to manage those delivering babies. I should have been more afraid.

I am thankful you had an experience to your liking. Though I am sure I was not the only one who had this experience. I know that I was not the only one who felt rushed or scheduled. But also I hope Dr Teoh was not like this all the time.

I don't understand why they are employing nurses instead of midwives? And what is a social services nurse? I was a nurse for a very long time and have never heard of one.

I always had midwives when I was there (twice 🤷🏼‍♀️)

Complain to the hospital of you are unhappy.

Can’t quite get my head around why anyone (unless you’re ultra rich or royalty) would pay £17k to have a baby when the NHS offer this service with excellent standards day in day out.

NHS offer this service with excellent standards day in day out.

With all due respect, that part is really not always true. I and many women of a similar age I know have had horrendous experiences giving birth in NHS hospitals.

If I had the money and giving birth was possible in (general) private hospitals I would absolutely opt for that over every putting myself through that again.

@Clearyweary because it's not the same standard of care. My sister and her friend had the exact same issue with their babies. My sister was private and they decided the risk wasn't worth the wait and induced her. Her friend in NHS on the other hand was told to go home - she lost the baby that night.

Plus NHS can leave you waiting for epidurals etc for hours, ignore birthing plans and don't forget the sleepless night on a ward where you can't even leave your baby to go to the loo but have to take it with you to the toilet.

I decided to go private for the extra care and attention esp at Covid times where my partner can stay with me in my room til I go home.

Did you not consider an NHS midwife led unit? I can’t understand why anyone would spend so much money on going to a private hospital to have their baby, it’s absolute madness. I’m sorry though that you didn’t have a good experience.

I don't understand why people feel the need to come on threads about private deliveries and judge people for spending their money that. I think spending £1k on attending football games are redic but i don't go onto threads judging people for their decisions. I don't judge anyone for the way they spend their money. If someone has the budget for it and it doesn't impact their other life choices what does it matter to anyone one else?

I don't think that safety levels are higher in the private sector . The main difference is comfort and time with professionals. The consultants might have more time in outpatients to listen to concerns and form opinions and plans however they don't have the luxury of back up by junior doctors so to some extent the birth process can be influenced by the doctor's timetable. Most obstetrics in this country is NHS as it is an unpredictable business with the possibility of requiring emergency backup by nhs services and personnel.

@AnEarthmom I'm assuming you are not originally from the UK as you use 'mom' instead of 'mum', and I'm not entirely sure what a social services nurse is, or why a maternity ward would be staffed by nurses rather than midwives.

C-sections are major surgery and they aren't any fun, but when you say you are still recovering do you mean you are still in pain? Because that does sound concerning, I do think after a year the majority of women are mostly recovered from a c-section. Of course there are some lingering effects like numbness around the scar.

It is a shame that you have had a bad birth experience, and felt pushed into having a c-section, I know that NHS hospitals offer birth reflections services - I don't know if a private hospital would do the same? If they do you may find it helpful to move past it.

You absolutely shouldn't have been more afraid because the head nurse (or head midwife?) had no experience in delivering babies because the midwives who were looking after you will have been very highly trained. They will have all completed a midwifery degree, they will have been heavily vetted upon application because there are not many spaces on the courses , they will have all passed very well and obviously they will have had to be exceptional to have been hired at the hospital. You and your child would never have been in any kind of danger with them taking care of you.

I do agree that c-sections should not be pushed unless there is a very good reason for it, but I will say that births do not always go to plan, we don't get a perfect birth story. Neither of my children were good births - both completley different to each other and I did make use of the birth reflections service after my 2nd because I felt i needed that to move past what happened. However, both of my children and myself are now perfectly healthy and whilst is sad to look back on the birth now in reality it is such a tiny part of this amazing journey of motherhood.

Like previous posters I have every sympathy with you, OP - it is a lot of money to pay when you are unhappy with the service.

I had a baby under Tariq Miskry - for whom I have nothing but praise - at the Lindo. The midwives were patient and caring. I remember them teaching me how to breastfeed, staying to chat with me in the first night when I was completely overwhelmed, helping me with my latch when the milk was slow to come in and supporting me all the way. That was 12 years ago, admittedly, and I hope things haven't gone downhill since then.

If you're unhappy, please do set out your concerns to St Mary's because the hospital should certainly want to improve their approach if it is wanting. Agree thag the admin person doesn't need to have been a midwife herself to run the joint.

“Redic”

Is this more about 'expectation' - because you are buying the birth as a paid for service.
I didn't have this sort of detail of my surgeon, the nurses or midwives in the NHS and just accepted that. My surgeon was great, he delivered my DC's safely, but I can't remember much about his bedside manner, time factors, how many other patients he looked after, the role of the nurse/midwife.