Could anyone recommend a private obstetrician or a private birth centre in London or Birmingham

[needahand]

Ladies, I need your expertise/experience of any private birth centre in either north London, herts or Birmingham. I have just been to visit my local hospital and was horrified by the facilities. I already knew it had a very poor rating, but I just cannot see myself giving birth there. I will try to visit the other hospitals in my area, but I want to keep my options opened and would appreciate any recommendations for private obstetricians/birth centres.

You know what, though, they just offer what every woman should get on the NHS. Attentive 1-on-1 care during labour.

Yes, you get a nice private room and a duvet, but it's the attention you get throughout your labour which makes the difference and means their levels of intervention are much lower.

Issues are spotted early and dealt with. I was left unattended for hours in my first (NHS) labour. By the time things are spotted, the proverbial has already hit the fan. I'm sure that's why emergency CS rates appear (anecdotally) to be rocketing.

Completely agree with you Brummie I think it is very unfair that nor everybody can benefit from attentive 1-on-1 care. It should be the standard not the exception.
And when I think that independent midwifes might disappear, it makes me sick as in many cases it is the only other option available to women who dread the NHS

I agree, the best should be available to all but that goes for education too etc and apparently we Brits don't want to pay as much tax as they do in France and Germany and Sweden which largely funds better health care.
1 on 1 care in labour is very expensive to fund I'm told because of the complexity of staffing over any one woman's labour - hard to judge.
My sister was a fabulous mw but couldn't cope with the week end shifts as she has a young family.
The gov TALK about better funding for obstetric and MW care but the Health trusts can ignore it with business arguments. Witness that fabulous mw led unit that was threatened with closure despite it being hugely successful.
The other age old problem is I don't think the medical obstetric community has ever gone convincingly to bat for women's needs in labour. I think they're a self interested group whose main priority has not an 'unintervened with' birth.
This difficulty is compounded with our expectations of a healthy baby from every pregnancy. We have forgotten about infant mortality and then sue the medical providers when things go wrong. This pushes up costs enormously.
Forgive the rant!

Rant away. I completely agree with you to be honest.

I am the senior midwife manager at St Mary?s Hospital?s Lindo Wing. For expectant mums, I wanted to clarify what?s happening in our upcoming refurbishment which begins this October and will last a year.
A huge improvement programme has been scheduled, costing £9million, to improve our services.
During the closure we will continue to take bookings for births. However, during some of this time bookings will be limited.
Between October 1 and November 19, women having a baby with us will give birth in the delivery unit but will be cared for postnatally on a different floor in the Lindo Wing, cared for by our fantastic team of consultants, midwives and support staff.
On November 19, the Lindo Wing will close completely for 10 months and all our expectant mums will be looked after by our staff to the same excellent standard of care in a different area of the hospital.
In October 2011 the Lindo Wing will reopen at full capacity, reconfigured and refurbished. There will be a dedicated delivery and post natal unit including a nursery. Every room will be en suite with climate control and Wi-Fi. Larger rooms will be available on request, we also plan to offer antenatal classes and tailor made packages of care before and after your delivery.
If you?d like to know more, please call our service manager Tracey Howson on 020 3312 6765

I live in North London and am having my baby at the Portland. I have a wonderful consultant who has done all my antenatal care and will be there for the birth. Its a slightly longer journey to the Portland than my local NHS hospital but I think worth it.

www.theportlandhospital.com/

Dr kumar salesh sundarim (sp) at Queen charlottes in London was fantastic. Not a man of many words but great at what he does and the private wing at qch is wooooonderful. The aftercare there and the delivery was first class

Mr Carl chow. He works at the Portland and Kingston Hospital.

Does it have to be private? The Serenity Birth Centre at City Hospital has been recommended to me as it is supposed to be much more holistic/natural than my local consultant-led hospital. Worth a look?

This is an OLD OLD thread! John and Lizzie's don't even do deliveries anymore, sadly!