Private hospitals in London

[Ellsbells3032]

Anyone have any experience with private hospitals in London. I seem to have mine narrowed down to three:

1. St Thomas - close to mine and my husbands work so easy for appointments but about a 50 minute drive from home. But excellent neonatal care etc
2. Portland Street - little more expensive than the other two but their package includes physio which would be good for me as hypermobile but worried as the neonatal facilities are private if babu needs extra care for like three months could bankrupt us. It's only about a 25 min drive from us and most of the local doctors here deliver there plus only about 20 mins from both our work offices
3. Queen Charlotte - about a half hour drive from home but an hour from either of our offices at least. But has excellent neonatal care.

Anyone had any experiences or advice. Plus any consultant names would be really useful. Thanks

What's wrong with the NHS?

We have gone through a lot to have a child. I want to reduce risks as much as possible. I've been in NHS post natal wards and quite frankly wasn't very impressed by them. I have saved enough money for this and feel it's the best option for me and I don't really feel that I have to justify what I spend money I have earnt and saved on.

OP- You need to explain what you want the consultant and hospital to do? Are you needing fertility treatment? Are you pregnant and want to know where to give birth? High risk? Do you have other health issues you need seem to at the hospital?

If your baby needs three months of neonatal care then no private hospital in the UK can provide that level of specialist care and you will almost certainly need to be under the NHS.
I had a baby at 26 weeks at Queen Charlotte’s on the NHS. They saved my life and my baby’s. There is a private section on the postnatal ward that you can pay for. It’s not glamorous but to be honest at that point I didn’t care very much. (I had a private room on the NHS because they deemed it far too cruel to put me on a ward with other mums).

Sorry for delivery and prenatal care thank you

Christ if I could go private I would in a shot. Love the NHS but come on we all know the post natal wards can be grim. Mumsnet's documented it many times and polled people's experiences.

No idea or experiences OP but wishing you the best of luck.

I had all 3 of mine in the Portland. You will choose your own obstetrician and they are independent contractors but will have staff midwives helping the obstetrician with the delivery and doing the aftercare.

To be honest my experiences of the midwives wasn’t great. I didn’t get 1:1 midwife support for my vbac until close to 9cm because the labour ward was busier than they expected, and I had a PPH which was missed because a HCA just changed the bed and mopped the floor without telling my dedicated midwife or putting it in my notes so no one could understand why my iron levels were so low and I almost ended up needing a blood transfusion 2 days afterwards. Oh and I had the same obstetrician all the way through who was struck off 2 years after my last child was born...

Sounds like the Portland meets your needs best and they would transfer to the nhs if your baby needed nicu
I always think the nearest option is the best

Are you pregnant? I wouldn’t be concerned about proximity to your office in the current climate.

Plus I’d say the physio could be really helpful I had awful issues with hyper mobility and spd and the nhs wait was weeks !

Following this as not keen on going to a busy NHS hospital where the virus is rife myself! And you do not need to explain yourself to anyone OP you're merely asking for advice.

No experience of private care (too poor) but St Thomas's NHS is brilliant according to friends who have used it. I've also heard good things about Queen Charlotte.

Yes I would also say you don’t need to explain yourself at all OP it’s your choice x

Lindo Wing at St. Mary’s Paddington.

I was lucky enough to have my second child there. Amazing.

Pregnant with third now and Christ, how I wish I could afford to go private again.

You don’t have to go to a dedicated private maternity hospital - Most are private wings in an NHS hospital, as Lindo Wing. If you can afford it, go for it. The difference between private care and nhs care is night and day in my experience of one (and a half so far) in the nhs and one private.

I spent nearly a year in hospital after my first. Emergency c section. Looking there. Would of cost around £160,000. Including the 3 months in neo natal for my child.

@Katrinawaves

Gosh. The Portland don't sound good at all! Glad I didn't chose that!

Doesn't. Not dont.

@Hoggleludo but If anything goes wrong for you or the baby you are entitled to nhs care and are transferred.

When are you actually due?

@Ellsbells3032 we considered this but have opted for NHS in the end. I have many friends who have had babies privately, and have heard St Thomas is very good, and Lindo at St Mary’s - don’t know anything about Queen Charlotte. Everyone I know ruled out the Portland as it has no hospital attached - you would be transferred to NICU in an emergency but would literally have to wait for an ambulance, and those few minutes could be crucial.

I hate that when anyone on these forums asks about private care they‘re met with ‘So you think you’re too good for the NHS?’ type comments. Sacred cow or not, the NHS falls below its international (publicly funded) counterparts in almost every criteria: www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/files/2018-06/the-nhs-at-70-how-good-is-the-nhs.pdf

I’ve recently made the decision to go private.

I ruled Portland out because 1) I wanted to eliminate risk as much as possible so I wanted a hospital that can deal with all potential problems on site 2) many obstetricians only do c sections there and I’m hoping for a vaginal birth.

I was leaning towards the Kensington Wing, I had my viability scan there, but I was ultimately put off by the travel time. While I’m working from home at the moment, hopefully I’m not for the entire duration of my pregnancy. Travelling 40mins in the opposite direction to my office, once a fortnight in the later stages of pregnancy, is not practical. I also didn’t click with the obstetrician I saw - I know there are others but I was already put off by the travel.

It wasn’t a deal breaker for me but St Mary’s/Lindo is said to have higher numbers of agency staff. Given the midwife is integral to the birthing experience, this made me put this trust lower down on my list.

I landed on St Thomas. If I’m honest, initially I was being superficial and it was my last choice. The facilities are not as nice as others. But, I found the obstetrician I wanted and he delivered there, so the decision was made. He has very convincing reasons for choosing to deliver there. It is THE hospital for complications. For example, St Mary’s, C&W etc can deal with premature births at 27 weeks. St Tommy’s can do 23 weeks (don’t quote me on the weeks but it’s illustrative).

I love love love my obstetrician so at this point I wouldn’t change it for anything!

I also found this video super helpful when deciding. Some golden nuggets of info in the Q&A at the end.

Wow long post - sorry!

I had one of mine at the Portland and it was in a different league to giving birth in the NHS. Continuity of cafe matters, after care matters.

I had both mine in the Kensington Wing at the Chelsea and Westminster. It's expensive it's the consultant fees really) but it was worth it for us. Don't worry about paying for the baby's care should it need any. The baby is automatically an NHS patient upon birth.
Feel free to PM me if you want any detail. And of course ignore the idiotic snippy comments. It's totally up to you to spend your money how you like.