Choosing a hospital

[bluemoon2468]

So I'm only 4 weeks pregnant (1st pregnancy) and I called my GP today to make contact, and the receptionist said that my GP doesn't need to see me, I just need to self-refer to a hospital maternity unit and they'll take it from there? I asked if that means I need to decide which hospital to give birth at right now, and he said yes, I need to decide before I can be seen by anyone. Suddenly feel a bit panicked - didn't think I'd have to think about the birth so soon. He couldn't give me any other information about my options, or tell me how to find more information other than 'phone local hospitals'. I feel completely lost and a bit scared. Is this how it works everywhere (I'm in London)? What do I do from here? How do I make this decision?

Also, when I asked what information I'm supposed to use to make the decision he said, 'don't worry, they're all the same really'... ummm okay.

I just went for the hospital in my borough at the time (St Thomas's). I can really recommend the Home From Home centre if you're near, low intervention.

I would just look at some reviews of the hospitals near you on google. I think most people just pick their nearest one though or one fairly near because if you need to be rushed in or need to go for appointments etc you don’t want to be travelling far, especially when you’re not feeling 100% due to being pregnant!

I'm not sure how it works in London but where I am usually choose the closest hospital or the one that fits your needs best. Maybe read up on midwife lead care vs w care. Labour wards tend to be more medical / hospital feel. You can usually still have water births as long as your not Hugh risk or have complications but a midwife lead one is usually birthing suits, water birth and less "medical"

You may find later on the choice is taken out of your hands because you need to be under a consultant or on the labour ward but no need to worry about that yet.

Also if you say roughly what area of London your in that could help people give you advice / experience of the local hospitals

I'm in West London.

And there are around 5-6 hospital maternity units that are all relatively near where I live - there are 3 that are equally close to me. I think I would like a minimal intervention birth, but I don't know anything about it. I'm really surprised there's no help to make this decision!

Hi there, I was in exactly in the same position when i first found out i was pregnant (I'm 33 weeks now and first pregnancy) so I totally understand what you are going through (we are in London also). We had no clue what to do and don't have family here either we can ask.

Yes you need to self-refer to the hospital and you can usually refer yourself to any hospital you would like to go to.

What we did was:
*Narrow down to what hospital you would like to go to:
We chose based on:

• a hospital not too far away and convenient location (as you will have appointments to attend and easily accessible when you need to give birth)
• have good reviews online e.g. on Mumsnet (or if you have family/friends - ask them which ones they would recommend)
• facilities available

Also,have a look at the CQC website to review the inspections conducted at the hospitals and you can read the hospital reports.

*A lot of the hospital have open evenings - phone up the hospitals and ask if they have any. We attended one at St Thomas and it was very informative.

*Once you decide which hospital - self-refer by usually filling in an Online Form.

*After a week or so, you are meant to get contacted - we had to chase up as we had no contact from them and made the booking appointment (1st appointment with midwife) .

*After you attend the booking appointment, you are in the "system" and the midwife will advise what you other appointments etc required so it gets easier from there.

Hope this helps a bit?

Sorry not sure why some of the above bits are in bold!

Think about how you will get to antenatal / scan appointments. What is parking like (terrible at west London hospitals), how easy is it public transport?

Definitely go for the easiest one transport wise - if you're in West London, I think St Mary's and C&W are the same trust so it's relatively easy to swap from one to the other.

You can change your hospital at any point up until about 30 weeks IIRC so just pick the closest for your appointments

Similar situation here, but only 3 hospitals to choose from. I picked the closest, which had a midwife led birth centre within it. When I met my midwife for my booking appointment she explained that if I wanted to look round any of the other hospitals they would just hand over my care to them. I had a look round the hospital I eventually gave birth in, and one other and decided I was happy with where I’d chosen.

St Marys's & Queen Charlotte's are same trust
Chelsea & Westminster & West Middlesex are the same trust

Thanks so much for all of this support ladies - don't know what I would do without you! If any of you happen to be local, I would love to hear any stories/opinions of West Mid/Chelsea and Westminster, Queen Charlotte's/St Mary's, Northwick Park or Hillingdon!

Sorry yes, I got my hospitals mixed up!

OP I had an excellent experience at St Mary's. I had an ELCS and my own room and I found that most of the staff were amazing. They also generally ran on time for appointments and scans and I liked that imperial has an app so you can quickly get all your tests results. I had a couple of antenatal appts and the birth centre which was very nice.

Hey! I'm not currently living in London but used to work in a hospital there.
It really depends on where you live and how easy it is to get to different hospitals without your borough. Imagine you go into labour at 5pm on a Friday afternoon.. or 8am on a Monday morning.. think logically how you are going to get to the hospital you choose without panic!
Xxx

I have a few hospitals in my area and chose Kingston mainly as it's closer to home, and I was told it had a good maternity unit. Is there a local mother/baby group where you can get feedback from actual people?

I had a pretty terrible experience at Kingston in 2014, and then a far better experience at West Middlesex in 2019, despite an extraordinarily complex pregnancy and a very long antenatal stay. Kingston generally gets good reviews though, so my experience may have been unusual. Parking at Kingston is truly atrocious. Parking in West Middlesex is usually okay.