Moving to Kent whilst pregnant, advice please!

[jemk83]

Hi,

I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant and live in Romford Essex. However, all going well with house purchase my husband and I are expecting to move to Kent in January.

Basically I'm trying to find out about what hospital I will need and how to refer to maternity services there, and online info isn't helping!

Where we're moving to is a bit north of Maidstone and east of Sevenoaks. If anyone has any advice for maternity in the area or experience of transferring maternity services, help would be appreciated!

I'm 10 ish miles west of sevenoaks and we used Pembury hospital near Tunbridge Wells for maternity services. I think there is also a MLU at Maidstone as I was offered this as a birth place option.... but it was far too much of a journey to even want to consider!!

Thanks @spydie. That's really helpful. Did you self refer to maternity services or did you need to do it through a GP?

I moved at 36 weeks (1st pregnancy went until 37+1 so I knew it was cutting it fine!)

I contacted my local gp when we knew where we were living, they then advised how to proceed. Some maternity services are tied to GPs, some aren’t. I had to go in and sign up as a temporary resident the day I moved.

Realistically, there’s no rush for you, I could still be booked into the local birth centre when I had my appt at 36weeks.

Good luck OP!

You can self refer or do it through a GP. It shouldn't make a difference either way, I think the GP practice just makes you fill out the same form as if you'd self referred (I never spoke to anyone other than the receptionist) but at least it gets sent to the right place. I assume it varies between trusts but round here midwifery is separate to the GP, so although my appointments are at the GP practice it's all on a separate system and the midwife doesn't actually work there although she is associated with it.

Hospitals there is one at Tunbridge Wells and one at Dartford, or the birth centre at Maidstone or Crowborough. I doubt somewhere in London would be more convenient. But unless you want to (or have a specific reason to) you'd normally have antenatal appointments more locally and you're not expected to pick a hospital until 34 weeks (and you don't actually have to decide until the day).

If you don't want to go through the GP I'd look up the nearest GP anyway to check which trust you fall under. I think it's likely to be Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone in which case you can call the Midwifery Liaison Office on 01892 638 158 who should be able to tell you what to do.

When I thought I might be moving (I'm not now), I asked a lot of questions about all this and the advice the midwife gave me was to go to the local GP and ask who you need to contact because they should know. Also, and probably not relevant, but which GP you're registered with (assuming you're in their catchment area) determines which trust you fall under, not you're actual address.

Thanks everyone, that is really helpful. From what info I have found it seems like Maidstone / Tunbridge Wells is nearest but no online referral that I can see. Thank you for the @InvisibleOrchard for the phone number, I'll give them a buzz once we have our move in date all sorted!