Kingston Hospital or St George's or Chelsea & Westminster. Which hospital would you choose?

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Hello,
We are moving from north London (St Mary's Paddington) to Southfields one month before due date and need to decide on which hospital to move to? The nearest hospitals are Kingston Hospital or St George's or Chelsea & Westminster. Any information or views on experiences would be greatfully received, as this is our first child.
Thanks
CC.

i am wondering where to have my baby ? St Georges, Chelsea & westminster or Kings - does anyone have a any recent experiences ie 2012 of any of these hospitals to share?

I've had two at St Georges (jan 2009 and feb this year) and been mostly happy with the care I got. Started out on Carmen suite (MLU) both times in nice room with ensuite, pool, beanbag etc. Was transferred downstairs with first one due to meconium in waters but had great waterbirth with second. They are busy and there were often long waits in Antenatal clinic though.

My friend got turned away from st georges 2 weekscago as they were too busy so had to go to st heliers. Apart from that she said st helier was great and v quiet!

I have no experience of Kingston but had my DS at C&W 3.5 years ago. I ended up having a C section and the theatre staff and doctors were fantastic however the after care was truly truly shocking. The 6 bed ward I was in was full throughout my stay which I guess is pretty typical for the NHS but the catalogue of errors began with my catheter being taken out after only 12 hours in the middle of the night (at which point there was no way i could pee and trying to go to the loo left me in agonising pain which resulted in them administering morphine).

Night 2 didn't go much better when my DS was choking on phlegm at 3am. I rushed to the midwife station (as best i could with drain and drip attached) at which point the midwife proceeded to slap him very hard on the back and pressed the emergency buzzer to call the doctors. The doctor arrived and used a suction tube to clear his airway and then told the midwife that what she had done was very wrong and irresponsible after which the midwife proceeded to start arguing with the doctor. All of this happened in front of me whilst i was standing there shaking and terrified that my DS had come close to stopping breathing.

On Day 3 they told me they would remove my drain (draining blood from inside me). They did this without pain relief and it was the most agonising experience I have ever experienced. It has since been explained to me that after 48 hours the internal tissue starts to "stick" to the tube, hence the shocking pain. I begged and begged for G&A but the midwife told me they didn't have G&A in the postnatal ward even though I could see the labour ward through the doors down the corridor.

My lasting memory is of trying to get to the dirty disgusting toilet dragging a drip and drain with blood pouring down my leg into a puddle on the floor and my baby screaming beside me and no-one to help me and i remember thinking at the time that this didn't feel like the first world and if hell existed this was it.

It was truly awful and frightening experience and one I would never want to repeat. All of that said, I am sure if it is a life/death situation there is probably no where better to be than at a big London teaching hospital and I have friends who have had natural deliveries at C&W and overall a good experience. The doctors were on the whole great and they had a sympathetic and kind breast feeding nurse on the ward. Re St Georges, i have had had a birth experience there but my DS has been admitted there twice when poorly (strange non fading rash and then avian bird flu) and the paediatric care is fantastic. I am now pregnant with my second child and am considering St Thomas's or St John & Lizzies.

Just bumping this thread as I am coming up to 6 weeks pregnant with my first, and need to tell my GP at the end of the week if I'd prefer St Georges or Kingston. Based on the threads I've read, I'm leaning towards Kingston, but just wondered if anyone has any more recent experiences / advice to share. Thanks!

I had DD at Kingston last year and they were fantastic. We were really well cared for and they were fantastic at helping me get started with breast feeding a fairly jaundiced and sleepy baby. I would recommend it 100% - my neighbour decided to have her DS there in the spring this year after she heard about my experience and was also delighted, he arrived 1 month early and the care they both had was amazing.

I know people who've had babies at C&W, Georges and Kingston - Kingston is easily the most highly rated. If we have another one I would definitely want to go back.

Hope it goes well for you wherever you choose

LD x

annick- I spent hours looking at review of C&W before DD was born and worrying about the thing I'd read. All the big London hospitals have pros and cons and good and bad stories and I think you tend to hear the bad stories more than the good. (And the bad things tend to be about the post natal bit).If you live nearer St Georges I'd stick with that. One of the most important things I think is to have a birth partner that will fight for your corner and get what you need during labour. No place for easygoing DHs/DPs/etc

oooh and welcome to Southfields - it's a great area, particularly if you've got a small person!

Hi there I had my DS at St Georges in Aug 2008 and had a great experience. The staff were all lovely and I was happily discharged from there 6 hrs later and heading home. The only sadness was that the Carmen Suite was closed so we couldn't use that. I'm intending to go back there in Feb when I have DC2 if the planned homebirth doesn't happen... I was born there and wouldn't consider any other hospital tbh - I'm like a salmon returning to a particular river to spawn...

FWIW I also had my ectopic treated there in March this year and they were great (once they'd realised my tube had burst!)

My neighbour just had her baby at C&W and was sent home 3 times which I thought was pretty poor - you should have heard the language that drifted through my walls at 3am!!!

hi everyone,

i'm 18 week pregnant. that's my first baby i'm really concerned now about going to st George hospital after reading the reviews, anyone can help whether it's better to change to C&W hospital?

I had my DD at Kingston last year and, though I have no experience of other Maternity Units, Kingston was fab.

Antenatally at bit annoying in that you often have to wait around for appointments and administratively they can be quite dreadful, but the care I recieved was exceptional.

I had a long, hard labour; baby in OP, forceps, retained placenta but consider it such a positive experience, largely due to the midwives professionalism and genuine care.

I didn't really want to go home! I had lots of help afterwards establishing bf, which was really important to me and did not come naturally...

One other slight irritation was that they were a bit lax in remembering my meds postnatally so I had to keep getting up in the middle of the night to go searching for my medication. But frankly, I was wake anyway!

The unit is very popular and if you do decide to go there, you must try to book ASAP. My cousin left it too late and, despite living in Kingston, was turned away.

Congratulations and good luck!

I had my daughter at C&W in Nov - care during labour was v good - I had a midwife I wasn't very confident about and requested another senior midwife to come in too - which she did. I had three midwives when I started pushing and a student. (Which I thought was a good think - meconium in the water). Anyway the room was private and I stayed there for 5 hours post birth. I also requested an epidural and had it within an hour (after the emergency c-section was done on someone else).

Aftercare not great - they did come round and do checks etc but i needed a lot more BF support than I got simply due to staff shortage - I got the best help the two nights I was in as there was a fab midwife who spent a while with me.

We lived only 5 mins drive away though and it felt like a lifetime! I would say how near the hopsital was would also influence me... . When I eventually have another baby I will go back to C&W.

I just had DD in St georges on friday and what change when i had DS. The delivery staff were still fantastic, no change there but postnatally the ward seemed much more organised and the mid wives were much better and more sympathetic. i am sure there is still improvements to be made but definitely better than 2 years ago.

i really wanted a VBAC but ended up with another section but don't mind as the health of my new daughter was at risk as was my own. the knew how important it was for me to have a vbac and gave it as much opportunity to happen but it didn't. they discharged me this morning with no problems.

I had DS at Kingston last year and it was fab. I used the Malden Suite (birthing pools), had very supportive midwives who let me keep pushing for longer than they usually would have without calling a doctor as the baby wasn't in distress. I was desperate not to have intervention and they really supported me to do it. I even had a room to myself after DS was born. They let me go home when I wanted to as well (I hate hospitals) so I was home within 12 hours of giving birth. The midwives who visited me at home after the birth were from St Helier hospital and they were also lovely.

had an induction at Kingston 3 years ago and although it involved a lengthy labour I couldn't really fault the care I received. I didn't get my own room afterwards though and had to share a ward with two other women.

One midwife in particular was fantastic the next morning and picked up that DD had a problem and got her moved straight into the neonatal unit. She was then transferred to St Georges later that day and had surgery at 3 days old

Whilst the care in St Georges neo natal unit was on the whole very good I couldn't say the same about the midwife team on the maternity ward. I had my post natal care transferred to them but when I went for a check up (the afternoon after DD had her surgery), they were very brusque with me and said they were far too busy to see me but if I sat in the corridor and waited one of them might be able to look me over. needless to say after 5 mins of hearing newborns crying and proud dads arriving with car seats to collect mums and babies to take home, I could stand it no more and ran off out the ward in floods of tears.

So I would say go for Kingston, if nothing else it looks so much newer inside and as someone else said you don't have as far to walk from the car park to the maternity unit!

Had both mine at C&W- DD in 2007 and DS last year. No complaints at all. Both early so needed some special attention and was in for 5 days the first time and 9 days the second.
Ante-natal care was great and post natally it really wasn't too bad at all although think I probably got more attention as babies needed more help.
Have friends who have good and bad things to say about Kingston and C&W.
Don't know much about maternity at St Georges but the paediatric team there are great (DD has seen them a few times).
I would think that Southfields is maybe a bit far from C&W?

(and yes-individual rooms during birth!)

I had DD at C&W in 2005, it was the most awful experience of my life. I had an EMCS under GA, the staff were horrible and the post natal care was absolutely shocking. They may have improved in the last 5 years but I would steer well clear.

Sorry to ask what may be an obvious question, but, do both Chelsea & Westminster and Kingston offer individual rooms during birth?

Thanks very much in advance.

I live around that area and had my last baby at West Mid because it scores higher than Kingston(a 3 instead of a 4) on the government health charts they produced. But anecdotally, I hear really positive things about Kingston from people in the area. The morbidity / mortality stats are better at West Mid, but Kingston seems to be a nicer experience.

If you did want to go for West Mid, you can book a private room for about 60 quid, which is brilliant.

A couple of my friends went to C&W and did not speak very highly. Infected caesarians etc.

Hi I had my DS at Kingston at the begining of June this year. The delivery ward suite were fantastic, each and every health care prof was caring and helpful and very reassuring. i had to have an ECS due to severe fetal distress and the team were amazing. The postnatal ward I was on (Worcester) were fantastic - my own room, en-suite bathroom and caring, efficient midwifes. I hate hospitals, to the extent where by I have had hynotherapy to try and ease the anxiety - BUT my experience was so positive I was more than happy to stay! HTH

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I'm Southfields too and had DD at Kingston last year and having another there later this year. Kingston is the one of the three that everyone tries to get into and they were fab. Get the Dr to refer you now though because it's difficult to get in.

I had my first baby at St Georges and plan to have my second there too in October. In summary:

Antenatel care plus some additional scans for minor placenta issue - all good(consultant gave me some free 3D scan photo's at 30 weeks!)

Actual labour - midwives brilliant, couldn't fault them and I made use of the midwife led unit initially (en-suite, pool, beanbags etc) and then had an epidural downstairs

Postnatel care - rubbish. Midwives seemed to have morphed into witches from hell, constantly woken up by cleaners banging around at 6am etc etc. Anecdotal evidence from friends who have had babies all over London (Kingston and C+W included) all say the same - not sure what happens postnatelly but generally a bit crap.

Hope this helps.

No idea about any of the hospitals but C&W have the highest rate of caesarean births in the country, which you might like to take into account.

To clarify I had DD at C&W in 2008 and I was under the high risk team so had exemplary pre-natal care. The post-natal care following the ELCS was also very good.

As I said I do know people with bad experiences there too.

ETA - Actually, don't know why I said it's annoying to get to - you can go direct on the train from earlsfield.