Which South London hospital?

[BalhamM2B]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering whether anybody had any advice on which hospitals in South London (I live in Balham) have the best maternity units.

Main options are St. George's, Tooting & St.Thomas's at Waterloo.

Unfortunately I lost a pregnancy (ectopic) recently but had been quite taken aback when on my first GP's visit I was asked to state where I wished to give birth. When on the spot we opted for St.Thomas's, as had heard bad things about St.George's, however St.George's were pretty good when I had the ectopic...

I'm probably being way too premature asking and tempting the pregnancy gods by thinking about this before I am even TTC again, but nothing like a bit of forward planning (ha ha, as if anything about motherhood is predicatable...).

Thanks!

I've had one ds at St Thomas' and had very good experience. Induced for PROM (early waters breaking) and ended up with E-CS but it was all good. I had planned the waterbirth/no pain relief blah blah. But life didn't turn out like that.

Used the Lansdale suite afterwards to have a private room. Expensive but COMPLETELY worth it. Made the first few days just so much more bearable as dh stayed with us for three nights (usually they let the dh stay one night at the Lansdale but no one else needed the bed so we were OK).

Plus if you are on the home-form-home section it looks really good. You need to decide soon, St T's gets very booked up.

good luck!

I'm close to the birth of my third baby. The first was born at Chelsea & Westminster and the second at St George's.

I think we are very lucky in London to have such a concentration of excellent facilities and I'm sure that from a medical point of view the differences between the two hospitals that are available to you will be marginal.

I had a good experience at St George's and preferred the attitude of the midwives (more hands off than at C&W where I felt they placed too much reliance on machines and were too keen to intervene). St George's doesn't look very modern but it does have a newish natural birth suite which is nice. In my opinion, attitude is far more important than shiny facilities, so have a good look around but make sure you speak to as many midwives as possible so you can get a feel for the way they operate and whether that suits you.

I will be back at St George's again in a few weeks time and I have no reservations at all about going there for the birth of my third child.

I hope this helps.

I had my first DS at St George's. I hated every second (very long labour on a very busy night), but DS was born safely which is the ultimate positive outcome. All I wanted was pain relief, but they were very reluctant to give it and it took a lot of shouting to get an epidural.

I am booked to have DC2 at St Thomas's...I will let you know if it is any better. At least there are good views from the rooms (!!), although on a practical level, it is in the congestion charge. Like Zombie, I have chosen St Thomas's so that I can have the option on the day of recovering in the Landell Suite (private). Their is no private option at St. George's.

Hi BalhamMTB,

I had DD at St George's in Dec-09 and am full of praise. The only slight negative at George's is that if everything is going well with both your pregnancy and birth you don't get a lot of fanfare and you can feel a bit neglected. But if anything goes wrong, you are instantly surrounded by experts. For me, the knowledge that I was able to access the very best care if needed was more important than being loved, iyswim (although being fussed over would have been nice too ).

I heard the other day that Thomas's is not accepting patients outside of Lambeth, not sure if that's true?

Also, do you really want to battle traffic from Balham to Waterloo if you go into labour at rush hour?

HTH and all the best whatever you decide.

I had read that re. St Thomas's but they accepted me for the pregnancy which turned out to be Ectopic- in fact they still sent me my 12 week scan appointment and surplus info which was a bit upsetting given we had contacted them to explain that I had lost the pregnancy...

Many thanks for all of the advice & stories. As I mentioned it's all academic for me at the moment but hoping for some good news soon.

I had my dd at St. Thomas's and they were fab there - I was induced as was very overdue and had a very long labour so had midwives come and go but they were all brilliant, as were the drs. It felt like they took extra special care of me and the baby and dd was finally delivered with the help of ventouse.

Unfortunately I had to stay in for a few days as both me and dd had high fever and needed antibitics - that bit was not so great as was in another ward with 2 ladies whose babies seemed to cry all the time. But this wasn't anything to do with St. Thomas's - just bad luck.

I was in Lambeth at the time. I now live in Southwark and was accepted at St. Thomas's for my last pregnancy which unfortunately ended in miscarriage. Guy's is nearer to me but I had such a good experience (in a manner of speaking!) that I want to go back to St. Thomas's if when I get pregnant again.

I had my DD at Kings last year - my GP said I was under the Lewisham catchment area and wanted me to go there but I insisted on Kings because a) the maternity unit there has a very good reputation and b) I work there and it was easier. The care was superb - DD had to go to intensive care afterwards but her care was faultless too. Good luck

I'm in Wandsworth and have been booked in at St Thomas'.

I'm in merton and have had 1 baby at St Georges (was v glad I took my own midwives in with me) 1 baby at home and 1 baby at Kingston (which was divine but was a planned c-section)

St GEorge's is great if there is any medical drama for either Mum or baby, many babies are transferred there as they have huge expertise. However, they appear to overbook and have heard many horror stories of laboring in tiny grubby waiting rooms, corridors or toilets!

I don't know about St Thomas'