Elizabeth Garret vs. St. Thomas Hospital in London

[Dori]

I am pregnant and could go either to the Elizabeth Garret or to the St. Thomas hospital in London for the delivery. Anybody out there with specific experiences (good or bad) which you can share with me to help me decide between the two? Thanks for any and all help!

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is part of UCH. I"ve had all three of mine there (three very different births) and would definitely recommend it. The building is pretty decrepit, as they're building a shiny new hospital next door which probably won't be ready in 9 months' time, but the parts that really matter are v. good, despite the usual central London midwife shortage.

I've sampled quite a few of the specialist depts, including fetal medicine, early pregnancy, day assessment unit and the neonatal unit (three times) and have always felt that the care was excellent.

The ante-natal clinic is probably the low point, a bit of a cattle market atmosphere, but I had shared care with my GP, so avoided it as much as possible.

They now also have a low-tech birthing unit for straightforward midwife-led deliveries, which runs in parallel with the main labour ward but is staffed separately and has its own ethos (lots of lava lamps and birthing balls, and lovely lovely midwives).

I know quite a few people who've had babies at UCH, and never heard any real complaints, unlike the Whittington or Homerton, which would have been my other options.

hth

I don't really know what to say about UCH had a very hard time and very sad time there

neonatal unit excellent.

Hi I had my baby UCLH in July and it was great, I also found ante-natal a cattle market but birthing suite, labour room and ward were great. Defo recommend it.

When are you due? I planning to have mine at tommies next month if you can hold off that long for an opinion!

Tommies has the best specialists on call if you have a complicated pregnancy or expect a difficult delivery. It also has a midwife-led birth centre, which I used. Great facilities. However, midwife staffing is dangerously low - the night I gave birth there was one midwife to seven women on the delivery ward. Seriously. Thank heavens everything went very well, but I shudder to think what could have happened. Community midwives told me afterwards that Tommy's has a reputation for being very lucky, because they haven't had any tragedies as a result of the staffing problems. Yet.
Oh, and they charge you an extortionate rate for parking and don't make any allowance for women in labour - when I complained, they told me to call an ambulance when I went into labour! Cost us more than £50 by the time dh could go and take the car home.

I gave birth in St Thomas' in July and it was absolutely great. Well.. I don't mean the birth itself as it all ended in an emergency c-section but the staff were wonderful. I never felt like I was part of a cattle market. They've got a home from home centre with two birthing pools and they do several good antenatal classes as well. They do tours of the hospital once a week so maybe you could go and have a look to help you make a decision.
Good luck!

Another vote for EGA/UCH - I had both of mine there and would recommend it very highly. Definitely go and have a look at both hospitals. One thing which impressed me at EGA was the attitude of the staff: virtually everyone - senior or junior, medical or otherwise - listens, pays attention, genuinely seems to care. I have been gobsmacked several times at how staff have gone out of their way to help. Admittedly I had one midwife who was utterly hide-bound and inflexible (and I made sure not to have her the second time around, another plus for UCH), but OTOH I had the midwife who is god's gift to womankind help me give birht to both of my children - Sister Chris Mutakrishna.

Parking is hideously expensive - so go by taxi! Also the food is appaling, so pack plenty in the labour bag for both you and your partner and for afterward, and get visitors to bring you your meals.

I've experienced a few bits of EGA - RMU, neonatal and I had an elective c-section there. It is a bit dilapidated but the care I've received has been fantastic, I could cry when I think how wonderful they've been in their different ways.
Again I'd agree that the ante-natal is a bit crowded and the waits can be long but if you go to Planet Organic beforehand (just round the corner) and pick up tea and chocolate brownies beforehand you can cope

I had all three of mine in St Thomas' and I would recommend it, the birth center is beautiful (although in the end I wasn't allowed to use it) Depending on where you are St T's have community midwife antenatal clinics. I saw the MWs in Streatham, and only had to go to the hospital for scans and (of course) to give birth. I have to agree though the parking and congestion charges are ridiculous.

EG sounds good too. I'd go on tours of both and see what your gut feeling is.

BTW my last experience of St T's was 11/03.

Dear all,

Thank you very much for you responses. Please accept my apologies for not writing earlier but I have not been online for a few days so have been able to see your responses only today. Reading this has been very helpful. Thanks a lot.

Flossom, all the best with your delivery. I am due in April 05 so would love to hear your personal experience.

I get the feeling that both hospitals would be very good options which makes me feel quite lucky. I have taken the tour in both hospitals. UCLH seemed to have really nice midwives. As we went through the wards, the staff smiled at us and there was a warm feeling all about it. There were two things I was not crazy about: 1) the shared bathrooms (in case I needed to shower there), 2) the air in the wards ? I found it a little suffocating. With Tommies, I liked their facilities ? it looked nice and each room has a bathroom. The midwives also seemed to be very professional and knowledgeable; however, there was a cold feeling in the air. When we went through the wards, the staff carried on with their busy work and did not give us welcoming looks. It felt a little bit commercialised ? 'come here, we will professionally delivery your baby and you go'. It did not feel as personal as UCLH. Also, when we called them once with an enquiry, they were not particularly nice on the phone. They seem to think they are the best and not like to be questioned.
For me having good professional, experienced and pleasant midwives is the most important thing. If I can have that and good facilities, that would be even better. I would therefore love to hear any midwife stories from Tommies.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with me.

The midwife who delivered my baby at Tommy's was great - but unfortunately not around much, as I posted below. Midwives at hospital antenatal appointments and classes also great, very reassuring and helpful.
Tommy's community midwives... well, I had one I liked but the other one was awful and I ended up making a serious complaint about her. She performed a sweep without telling/warning me, much less asking my permission. Although they handled my complaint well so hopefully that has been addressed.

I had my baby at Tommies in July this year. I had community antenatal midwife care which was great because i saw the same midwife every week. Our birth experience was really amazing as our son was born in the home-from-home birth unit in one of the water pools. TBH though, I didnt spend much time in the hospital as we arrived at 4pm, he was born at 5.45pm and we left the next day at 11am! However, the staff were very nice and friendly, the facilities were immaculate and VERY clean. It was lovely having our own bathroom so we didnt have to worry about using the loo or the shower. Being in the home from home unit also meant that my DH was able to stay over during the night, so our frist night as a family was spent curled up together on a double bed which meant so much to both of us.

I thought our midwife was wonderful and kind (the same one all the way through, who had also talked to us over the phone earlier on in the day whilst I laboured at home), we also had a student midwife present. Both of them followed our birth plan to the letter, and everything i had envisioned, happened.

The day my son was born was very quiet though, so perhaps we were lucky? Saying that though,the other people in my antenatal group also had good experiences at Tommies (including an emergency c-section), although I have heard horrors about the postnatal ward, (but most of my friends have had bad experiences on postnatal wards in many hospitals in london, including UCH). The breast feeding and birth work-shops they run at St Thomas' were also very good leading up to the birth. Instead of doing 6 or 8 weekly sessions, there are 2 full days where everything is covered.

Although it is awful to say it, I really feel that your experience of childbirth is often down to luck - who your midwife is, how busy the unit is, who the doctors are and how experienced they are, etc. Wherever you choose to go, I think it can go one of two ways, and I don't really think which hospital you happen to be in has much to do with it (and this comes from someone who is in the trade...) I personally would choose the hospital with the best facilities so at least you can have a lovely shower and sit on the loo in peace, even if everything else is chaotic ;)! I wish you the best of luck for your birth and look forward to hearing all about it on MN!

I had dd at Tommies in October 02 just after their lovely new birthing unit had opened and as I was there quite a while (sigh ...) I saw about 3 different midwives all of which were fantastic, especially the one who delivered dd. My community midwife wasn't there at all but she did arrive for home visits very soon after. I loved having dd at Tommies, we had a lovely quiet room, dp was allowed to stay over the first night, I so appreciated my privacy while giving birth and in the hours beforehand. And that nighttime Thames view of Big Ben was amazing.

Girls,

Thanks a lot for sharing these personal experiences. Your notes give me reassurance regarding Tommies and I think I am going to try and go there.

Thanks a million.
Dori