St Helier, Carshalton vs. Mayday, Croydon

[lionface]

Hi there,
Hope someone can help me decide between Mayday & St Helier for my first baby's birth:

I was a birthing partner at the birth of my sister-in-law's daughter in Sept 08 at Mayday, she was left alone for much of the labour, she wanted an epidural but by the time the midwife came to check on her she was too far gone. Then after the birth, she needed stitches, and was left for over 4 hours before someone came to stitch her up, in this time she obviously needed the bathroom and the midwife said just go on the bed (did they not have bed pans?). So she was left for over 4 hours lying in blood and urine.

I'm not sure whether to go to Mayday (was this just one of those extra busy days, and it is normally great care). or my other option which is St Helier in Carshalton.

Does anyone have a view on which is better? Or is it a case of pure luck?

Thanks

Hello. Can't comment on Mayday, but had ds2 at St H 11 weeks ago by em cs and my postnatal care was fine as it was for my other dcs. I do think there is a bit of luck on how busy and how well staffed they are when you go in. Antenally the queues at the hospital can be awful to see the doctor but if you can have your care through the gp then you'd avoid that. I think they are due to open their brand new midwife led unit at St H pretty soon given the amount of building work they had going on. Hth

The birth centre at Mayday is generally excellent, but if I had to choose between the labour ward at St Helier or Mayday, I'd choose St Helier because on the whole the staff are a nice bunch!

Sorry - meant 'the labour ward at St Helier or the labour ward at Mayday'.

I would choose Mayday birth centre above St Helier labour ward any day, but then if St Helier is opening a birth centre soon......

I've heard bad stories about Mayday - and have had good experiences so far with St. Helier - I'm due to be induced there on Thursday.

We did the St Helier hospital tour, and quite a lot of the new facilities are ready now (although hilariously, some birthing pools aren't in use, as they don't have steps to get into the actual pool yet... sigh!), but apparently it wont be 100% ready until some time in September (they originally said late August).

It's definitely looking better for having had a coat of paint, anyway!

A big yes for St Helier here, but I have no knowledge of Mayday.

I had DD2 at home but was seeing the St Helier midwives. The hospital building is not a thing of beauty - looks like a prison - but the midwives and other staff I saw there were wonderful. I never had to wait very long and I was treated well (e.g. any concerns or questions addressed properly). In fact, I swapped from Kingston to St H midway through pregnancy and was much, much happier - and Kingston is seen as "the" hospital to go to round here.
The midwife who delivered DD2 is due to lead the midwife led unit and she was absolutely fantastic, I'd go anywhere to have a baby delivered by her.