Private maternity wards NHS hospital

[Mammamia23]

Hi all. Had my first baby through the NHS during covid. Hospital staff were wonderful, however the experience left me with PTSD due to my partner not being allowed in, being 8cm and being told they’d need to find another hospital for me as ran out of beds and other things I won’t bore you with. I ended up having her as emergency C-Anyway, TTC for no2 and I’m starting to worry about birth being triggering again - especially being turned away when I’m about to push which I know is unlikely , but that’s not how the mind works.

my questions are: if I’ve already had a c-section, will I definitely be allowed elective again or will I have to fight this? As I have dilated to 10cm and pushed, I’ve heard that in some cases they strongly encourage v-bac. I believe if I was left to go into labour again I’ll panic, due to experience last time.

secondly: any recommendations on private maternity wards in NHS hospitals? I am in south east. The baby was rushed to another hospital after birth, hence me not wanting to be in the nhs setting, however due to short staff of doctors, running out of beds and being totally on my own last time, I worry that if I know I’ll be in that setting again (totally unlikely lightning will strike twice) I’ll panic.

thanks!

Sorry to hear about your traumatic experience

I had good experiences at queen charlotte's in hammersmith. The hospital itself is great and the private bit is lovely.

The hospital is also quite ammenable to "maternal preference" as i asked about booking a c section and induction at 40 weeks, the consultant was fine to do either (ended up VB naturally)

Hi OP

Sorry to hear about your experience - similar to yours I had my first baby during covid and had to go into the hospital alone, however he was allowed in when I was in established labour. I too had an emergency c section.

I'm now pregnant with baby no 2 so undergoing midwife care again

If you've had a section before you're likely to be midwife / consultant led.
You shouldn't have to argue having an elective. I was asked at my booking app what my preference was, and given birth option phone calls and appointments too.

Where in the south east are you?

I'm based in Kent and currently 24 weeks and so far the care has been great

Thanks for your reply @Buttons294749 I’ll take a look. Did you just go private post natally, eg postnatal room and feeding help? Or the entire pregnancy? If the whole pregnancy, were all appts private or did you do some through the NHS? Did you need to choose your obstetrician seperately? That’s the bit which confuses me!

I had both mine in the Westminster suite at St Thomas's. It was a while ago but a great experience and if you want a caesarean you get one.

Hi @2020firsttimemum thanks for your reply. I’m def getting ahead of myself as not even pregnant yet! But we’re trying like mad! I am tempted to see how my booking experience goes through nhs again, if it seems like I’m guaranteed one, that might be enough. But deep down I will always worry about them being full like they were last time, so if I know a private setting accept a finite number of women, I know I’m ok!

If you are worried about baby being taken to another hospital, make sure whichever one you pick has the highest level NICU on site (i know for a fact St Thomas' does but i didnt give birth there). Lots of private settings do not have the NICU facilities if your baby is prem or poorly. Which would result in you having to be transferred anyway.

I gave birth at St George's (NHS - dont think they have private) and DD had 2weeks in NICU. I met a few other mums who had given birth elsewhere but baby had to be transferred for whatever reason (prem or poorly) and the extra stress of being in a different hospital was just horrible for them.

Sorry to hear you had a traumatic first birth

I think it's good to prepare yourself for these things!

If I were you I would write a list of all the things that you think of over time, like a note or something in your phone. Then when you're pregnant I would attend the booking app and ask the questions.

I definitely think that the care has been better this time around, not as rushed like it was during covid. I completely get the fear!

Thankfully our NHS hospital is all private rooms now for postnatal (pembury - Tunbridge wells) so it may be worth looking to see if a hospital near you offers the same thing as it may give you some more peace of mind

Obviously due to the section you are more limited - I.e no birth centre and advised against home birth however if you really pushed for it and went through risks they may allow it

Hi Op, due to a complicated history I thought about trying to go private but I couldn't find anywhere (I'm also South East) without going into London. I believe Guy's and St Thomas' have a private wing.

I went on the NHS in the end and ended up having a semi emergency c-section (due to complications I was told it was best for baby to arrive sooner rather than later). Other than the stress that brought my care was very good.

You shouldn't have to fight to have the c-section, just be very firm when you say that is your wish.

Good luck with TTC xx

Thanks for all your supportive messages, was expecting to get a bit of hate! The nhs were fantastic, but I just know that I will constantly be worried the birth will go wrong again unless it’s completely planned. @YorkshireTeaCup yes, I definitely want to go private within a NHS hospital for that very reason. Our baby had to be rushed elsewhere due to quite a rare condition and it was awful. So everything on one site! @havingabubble great to hear you had good care. I’ve seen Kingston and royal Surrey have some form of private maternity care but I haven’t looked at it in detail. My period is due in a few days - I definitely feel like it’s on its way, but I felt like this last time, and boom - a positive test. Fingers crossed. X

I'm
Confused about one thing? Why would you be upset your baby had to go to another hospital? My baby (she died) had to go to a level 3 nicu 50 miles away and it was awful but she needed that level of care and I didn't..

Can you find a private hospital with a level 3 nicu? They wouldn't have moved her for fun. Maybe she needed care they couldn't give? Would you have preferred worse treatment for your baby but just at the hospital you were at?

OP - i had my "regular" consultant led care on the NHS bit (i have high risk pregnancies so had quite a lot of extra unput). I did pay for a few private extra scans but then when they found an issue it reverted to NHS so i was seeing the same Dr but i didnt pay. I also had thr harmony test etc privately.

I was then going to do the birth bit privately (my insurance covers 10k maternity so although a lot of colleagues did the whole thing privately i knew that because i needed to see various consultants that it would make more sense to mix) but I ended up not bothering as the care was going so well so i only used the private post natal ward and stayed 2 nights. I got loads of BF help and completely credit my easy Bf journey to this. They also take your baby so you can sleep which was Amazing.

Re chosing a consultant, you can chose your NHS one by basically saying what day you want your appts on so i chose Mr Lee and he always did thursdays, i did see Mrs Kat something one time and i thought she was brilliant. Mr lee was very open to CS/induction

I have colleagues who also chose qcch as they were high risk and they also mixed private and NHS care so they didnt go above the threshold and were also happy with this. The birth rooms are the same whatever you pick, it's just the midwives that are different. My friend used her insurance for the birth bit but it didnt seem much different than mine (straight forward births)

Im not sure if you get a spinal pain block thingy quicker as the anesthatist was very worried about giving me one due to my various issues so it was a little delayed whilst he went back and forth with the consultant.

I had both at mine at Lindo wing at St Mary’s in Paddington. First was an emergency c section, second was a lovely calm elective. Both were good, but second was particularly great (it had a facelift before Catherine gave birth there)! Any questions, feel free to ask.

Sorry to hear your experience.
Check out Chelsea Westminster hospital. They have the Kensington Wing which is private whilst the NHS part of the hospital has a level 3 NICU, one of the best in the country according to a paediatrician friend.

I only had some additional tests through the kensington wing and had my birth in the NHS area but I know you can choose different levels of pregnancy/birth and/or after birth care privately or through the NHS part.

Unfortunately there's always a possibility that too many women are giving birth at the same time if you go into spontaneous labour, with a scheduled c section usually it can be delayed until there's space. Level 3 nicu will reduce the likelihood of a transfer due to ill health but of course nicus can be full - this isn't just a nhs problem, any hospital system can have a bottle neck.

I would suggest speaking someone to debrief your previous birth, so you can understand what happened and why. They will always be considering the well-being of you and your unborn child. Remember nhs hospitals have better facilities

@toor oh for fucks sake, I knew it wouldn’t take long for you to turn up. Of course the baby being sent away was the right thing - I’ll presume you weren’t giving birth completely alone. I presume motorways weren’t closed so your baby wasn’t airlifted to hospital on her own and I presume covid didn’t stop you being with her. Go away

Thank you very much for taking the time to write this. It’s very useful!

Yes - absolutely. Scheduled c-sections will be postponed if they need to be, you’re right: Our last hospital had level 3 NICU. 1 in 7 births end up in SCU or NICU and we actually learned that the main reason maternity units have to close isn’t because of lack of space on the wards, but lack of space in NICU unit!

Youre right - these things are extremely rare and I think I need to come round to learning lightning doesn’t strike twice!