Which Hospital

[NigelM]

Hi All

We have our first GP appointment in the coming week, (first pregnancy, very earlky stage, ridiculously excited and scared!).

Im not quite sure what decisions we need to make at the time and how easy it would be to change our booking should we be unhappy with the hospital, I live in Wimbledon so Im guessing the choices would be St Georges, Kingston or St Helier maybe? I dont even know if we need to think about this at this early stage but does anyone have any opinions or experiences on this?

Many thanks!
Nigel

Hello and congratulations!

I also live in Merton (Raynes Park) and chose to go to St Helier (as I knew people that had worked there not that long ago). I absolutely would recommend it 100% for both the antenatal and post natal care.

My understanding is a while ago (years) they had v bad reports for the care on their post natal wards, but this has since been addressed. However, because of its 'reputation' not so many people choose it as St George's or Kingston and so I found that there was a lot of time and care given especially post natal. Every time I rang the bell I was never made to feel I was wasting someone's time however small my query or concern and I felt like the staff were willing to spend as much (or as little) time supporting me as I wanted.

I had trouble breast feeding and really wanted to sort this and had person after person support me, one of them stayed for about 3 hours which was amazing. I also opted to stay an extra night to get the breast feeding sorted which they were very supportive of.

Others in our NCT groups had babies at both George's and Kingston and both were happy with their care in both hospitals. Friends who have been to kingston do say the post natal wards are busy and they sometimes felt they were being 'rushed' but for the most part no complaints.

I hope that helps a little bit, but should we be lucky enough to have a second child I will most definitely be opting for St Helier. My DD was born in December 2009 if that helps.

My DC are 19 and 16, so my experience is a little out of date! Both were born at St Helier, pre and during their re-fit. I have nothing but praise for the hospital and their staff.

With DS1 I was admitted at 36 weeks because my waters had broken; I didn't go into labour and I was kept in until he arrived 10 days later. The care I received was second to none - and the staff were unfailingly kind, helpful and empathetic.

With DS2, again my waters broke at 36 weeks, but he came straight away; he was in the neo-natal unit for a couple of days, but then back on the ward with me.

Everyone, without fail, was fantastic.