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Original poster

Choosing a hospital

7 replies

tacosplease · 02/09/2019 13:41

Are you allowed to choose any NHS hospital to give birth in, or does it have to be one in your particular area?

I'm five weeks pregnant and am just registering with the midwife service in my part of London. It's given me a choice of two hospitals in which to receive my care, with no option to pick anywhere else.

Thanks!

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JoJoSM2 · 02/09/2019 13:46

You can definitely go elsewhere if you want to. However, it can be very impractical if you're in agony from contractions and having to travel for an hour. Friends who did it also found that transferring care to local midwives/HVs takes time so could miss out on proper postnatal care for a bit.

firstimemamma · 02/09/2019 13:55

You can pick wherever I believe but bear in mind that sitting down postpartum may be very uncomfortable so you're not going to want a long journey.

Chanandlersbong · 02/09/2019 14:53

You can. I no longer live in my home city but it has one of the best maternity hospitals in the country, so now even though I live over an hour away I have chosen the hospital in my home city. It's for elective csection this time but was also fine with them during my last pregnancy which wasn't elective. The only stipulation they have is if I go into labour before my section date I go straight to my local maternity hospital and they'll make the decision if its safe enough to transfer me. Good luck.

HJWT · 02/09/2019 15:04

Id also suggest going local, my local hospital is shut due to asbestos and I could potentially be stuck in 2 hours worth of traffic if I go into labour on a Saturday 🥴 not to mention every app is a 1 hr 20 min round trip and thats not in traffic!

JoJoSM2 · 02/09/2019 15:41

Oh yes, I had a C-section and went home 36h later. Despite DH's careful driving at 15mph, it was agony.

Original poster
tacosplease · 02/09/2019 17:09

Thanks all. Should I just select my local one for now on the form and then tell the midwife I want to switch at a later date?

My preferred hospital is only a 25-minute drive away so not too bad! Although the one that’s closer to me is about five minutes.

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mistermagpie · 02/09/2019 17:12

I switched later on (was about 26 weeks or something) it took a while for the notes to catch up but there were no issues with switching.

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