St Thomas (london) private maternity care

[Nina90]

I was curious to know if anyone had private maternity care at St Thomas - do you still give birth on the ‘normal’, NHS labour ward and then go to a private room for postnatal care or is there a separate private labour ward? Does an obstetrician stay with you for the whole delivery?

Can see no replies on this but found via search as also interested to know the same!

found out that you go down to labour ward but one of the private midwives looks after you 1:1. And all the rooms are single rooms anyway. Then you go to the private maternity suite for postnatal care. For what it’s worth, I thought it was great.

Just seen your reply sorry! Did you speak to someone to find this out or hear from someone who did this? Am trying to find out more and how much it costs, particularly if you then need neonatal care - do you have to pay private costs or can you transfer to NHS care?

No it was from personal experience I found out! The fees are split into the consultant costs that vary depending on the stage of pregnancy from which you want them to start your care and the fees you pay to the maternity suite which includes routine blood tests, overnight stays (assuming you don’t stay longer than the packages include) etc.
In total for me it came to about £15000 for care from the third trimester onwards.
They did include in their list of fees the cost of ITU admissions if needed which is eye watering but they added ‘if not eligible for NHS care’. There is no private ITU or neonatal ICU so you/baby would be in the NHS facilities and I think only have to pay if not eligible for NHS care. Feel free to message if you have any other queries - can only describe my experience but happy to help.

Hi @Nina90 congrats on your baby, i hope your recovery is going great. Would you recommend having the full private experience at St Thomas then?Ive just found out I am 5 weeks pregnant and as its our first my husband think its probably best to have the baby in private care. I`ve read however some testimonials of people saying they opted on going into NHS but then when at labour asking for a private room (upon availability). What do you recommend please? Did you visit St Thomas first to find out about how the private care works? Thank youuu

I think it depends what your reasons are for considering private care. Personally, I had a rather low risk pregnancy and was quite happy to have NHS led antenatal care, but I live near a hospital that didn’t have particularly good reviews and my experience with some of the midwives made me worry that I wouldn’t be cared for in a very empathetic or caring way in labour. I was quite nervous about that and opted to have private care to establish rapport with one individual that I could get to know and trust and knew would be there to deliver my baby. For me that was 100% worth It. I was able to enjoy my pregnancy because I wasn’t anxious about birth and felt in safe hands. And indeed, while I had some complications during the birth, I felt safe, secure, respected and treated with kindness and expertise and all was fine.

Getting private care from the third trimester onwards allowed me enough time to get to know the provider I had chosen. I don’t think you can just ask for a private room for labour (you get a single room anyway as part of NHS care) but you can definitely request to go to private room for post natal care.

No, I didn’t visit the private unit, but I work in the NHS and was familiar with St Thomas’. It also has a good reputation for obstetrics.

this is a fantastic feedback, i sincerely appreciate you sharing it , thank you @Nina90 🤗

I know this is an old thread but I just had my baby privately at St Thomas and I was searching for info beforehand on here.
I transferred to private care at 28 weeks, I had a terrible experience with my first birth in an NHS hospital and was scared of experiencing the same for my second.
I was under the care of Professor Eugene Oteng-Ntim who is the Head of Obstetrics and such an amazing consultant. He was caring and thorough when discussing my birth options. We went with a C Section for various medical reasons. The section was an absolute breeze - didn't feel a thing except the spinal (which wasn't that bad). Daughter was healthy and they gave me skin to skin straight away, I was taken to a private recovery room for a few hours and then sent to our actual private room in the Westminster Suite. The care there was simply amazing. The midwives are phenomenal and so caring - they offer all the help you need a deliver it with dignity! The opposite to my NHS experience. The cost was £7k for hospital fees and £7.5k consultant fees and about £1100 for anaesthesia. So actually not crazy Portland prices. I felt safe and cared for and listened to and the private room and bathroom were essential for me, the NHS ward after birth with my first was like a war zone! Midwives are split between 3 people max on the private ward, vs 9 on NHS. Food was nice and views of HOP were phenomenal. You are only a few floors away from emergency NHS care if needed so didn't have to worry too much if something went wrong and no having to be transferred via ambulance to another hospital. If I were to have another child it would be 100% back at The Westminster Suite and with Professor Eugene.

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I’ve just registered to have my baby privately at St Thomas and with Prof Eugene as my consultant, so it’s really helpful to see everyone’s comments.

Thanks for sharing @WaryBlueSheep i know it’s an old thread but please may I ask if husband is allowed to stay overnight and was there a place for him to lie down or just a chair? Thank you!

@Ivf4203 yes, there is a comfortable pull out chair that turns into a bed and husband is allowed to stay. Also regarding visiting hours, at the desk they basically said as we are paying and a lot of customers are international they don't really stick to visitor hours and you can come and go as you please. My husband stayed the entire time and ate with me, you can order him lunch/dinner for a small charge and you both get it served to you in your room.

@WaryBlueSheep thank you sooooo much! Super helpful xx