King's College Hospital vs Lewisham

[Apples78]

I was wondering when you have to make a final decision on which hospital to give birth in? I'm about a 25 minute drive from King's College Hospital and a 10 minute drive from Lewisham.

My midwife is local to me (from the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust) but I'm really tempted to have the baby at King's. I was so impressed when I visited the Early Pregnancy Unit there - the staff seemed really lovely and the atmosphere felt calm and relaxed compared with other hospitals I've been to.

However, the Lewisham Birthing Centre does sound good from previous posts I've read on here!

There's a slight complication in that I've just found out my blood type is rhesus negative, and my midwife has asked me to go to Lewisham Hospital if I have any falls or bleeds, as they have the full rundown of my blood test results apparently.

In my situation which hospital would you go for? I'm really keen on King's but am worried it's a hassle to choose that option if my midwife is in Lewisham/Greenwich and they have all my blood test results. Is the paperwork an issue?

Any insights/experiences would be much appreciated.

I have two King's babies and I was very happy with it. But DH worked there at the time and DC1 went to their nursery as well so I'm a bit of a King's person and biased!

King's is hard to park at during normal business hours.

I think I'll be getting a taxi anyway, so parking's not an issue thankfully.

Has anyone else got any insights?

I’m afraid I don’t know about when the decision needs to be made or the paperwork q, and am pregnant with my first so no birth experiences to share, but the Lewisham birth centre does look pretty great. They do tours the first Wednesday of every month from 7pm if you wanted to visit to help with the decision.

Hello @Apples78 I know this post is a few years old but I’m in exactly the same predicament as you! Have registered with lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust but have heard great things about kings. Did you make the decision to change and if so, how did you do it? Was there a lot of paper work / retesting involved? Thanks 🤍

Hi @Katiebelle86 just wondering if you have any insights on this? In the same position! Thanks so much and hope all went well for you