Has anyone experiences of switching hospitals last minute/ or of London hospitals?

[Mimiwish]

I'm registered with Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea, and the last couple of times I've been there, I've been getting cold feet. I've not been impressed with their Covid measures, I've been reading reviews, and I went in for the baby to be monitored after a period of not feeling her moving so much, and got lost in the hospital three times before I could get anyone to show me out in the middle of the night - it was like being stuck in a horror movie, and I actually ended up locked in the adjacent (dark) Hammersmith hospital before finding a lift that allowed me back into the maternity hospital. There was no social distancing in triage at all, and i'm worried about how it bodes for my coming birth.

I'm not worried about switching hospitals because I am confident it's our right to choose if we are not happy - - but it's so hard to know what is the right choice. I know all hospitals are overstretched at the moment.

I would love some advice/ experience of QC&C (especially during Covid times) plus your experiences of London hospitals in general? Originally our long list included St Mary's, UCLH, Whittington, Chelsea & Westminster and Guys and Thomas's. I would love any advice or to hear your experiences. How did you pick your hospital, and would you be swayed by one having better measures in place during the pandemic/ Tier 4?

I'm 36 weeks...

Would be grateful for any opinions. xx

I moved house 70 miles at 36+2. I wasn’t sure throughout the moving process whether the baby would come before or after completion and was worried about it, but one of the midwives basically said it didn’t matter and if I ended up in labour and walked into a strange hospital with my notes they wouldn’t turn me away. As it was I rang the hospital nearest to my new house on the day of the move and she booked me in and I had a midwife appointment there 2 days later.

That said before I moved I had an excellent experience of the Queen Charlotte - was sent there from the West Mid when they weren’t happy with my eldest child’s movements.

@Hobbes8 - wow, thanks for your insights! That's so interesting to know that you moved right before giving birth (and it was fine) PLUS you have a good experience of QC! Thank you!

You’re welcome! Hope it goes well. I should add that I didn’t give birth at QC - was sent back to the West Mid after they’d checked my movements and recommended I was induced. He’s 9 now and bellowing into his Xbox headset as I type!

I had my first in QC and will be having second there in a couple of months. Had a very positive experience despite first being preemie and spending time in the NICU. I think if I had been given the same level of care DSIS and some friends had at other London hospitals I am not sure DS would have made it. So I may be biased but I am forever grateful for the care I got, Midwives were amazing.

I've had a very good experience this time round as well so far although it's been a bit weird with covid!

@TarquinLikesPlaygroup - oh, thanks so much for sharing! That does make me feel a bit better. I'm so glad to hear you had a good experience, and that your DS was okay. I'm also really heartened to hear the midwifes were amazing, as some of the Google reviews seem to say otherwise, but I know it's the case that often people share reviews when they've had a bad experience, and not so much when it's been good!

Really appreciate you sharing - and good luck with the new addition to your family!

A friend of mine moved from QC's to Whittington because she moved house so I think it's possible.

I am due to give birth at QC's and I am happy with my experience so far but I could just be there on the good days. Generally they have a really good rep and rating.

A friend who had an awful birth at Watford is travelling to QC's for her second child.

I think most of the London hospitals you have listed are decent. I went with QC's as there wasn't much it in but it was the easiest to get to Vs Royal Free and St Marys. I was born in QC's so I also found that cute!

Last thing whilst I remember. QC and St Mary's are sister hospitals so might be easier to move?

I gave birth at St Mary’s a few years ago.

Antenatal care was great. Labour and delivery was a bit haphazard- I basically was supposed to be in the birth unit but had high BP on admittance so ended up upstairs. Nobody believed I was as far along as i knew I was, and they were busy, and I was very calm (hypnobirthing)... guess they figured “first time mum. She’ll be ages”. But when they finally checked (after leaving me in the waiting area for an hour) I was indeed 10cm and ready to push so gave birth an hour later with a lovely new midwife who was a bit surprised to see me but looked after me magnificently. If I’d had a girl I would have named her for that midwife.

Care after was awful. I begged to be sent home the same day but because I’d had a ragged placenta and a bit more blood loss than they liked, they wanted to keep me in- had no help at all from anyone, for anything, including breastfeeding. A midwife came to find me to apologise before I was discharged. (I hadn’t complained... she just felt I’d been let down)

So I would say- St Mary’s have great, amazing, compassionate individual staff but overall it’s a bit of a shambles because they’re stretched and have q a lot of cases that need a lot of support. If you’re an “easy one” you may find you’re overlooked.

That’s 4 years ago though. Might be super different now.

I’ve just switched to Queen Charlotte’s from my local hospital. I hadn’t realised quite how good the care at QC is until I’d had something to compare it to having been admitted to my local hospital last week and it being so much more chaotic. The admin of switching seems to have been handled fine.
I’m having an extremely complicated twin pregnancy but just feel so much safer at QC. Hopefully things are more straightforward for you.
Agree that crossing the ‘border’ from QC to Hammersmith out of hours can be a bit of a puzzle but hopefully not too much of a problem. It is tight in triage but I don’t think anywhere was built with this situation in mind and has the luxury of enough space! All the best whatever you decide.

I’ve just switched hospitals as I moved out of London. I switched at 37 weeks so was very late in the day too, but it was fine. I would say if you’re switching I wouldn’t recommend st Thomas’. That was who I was with while living in London and hated it. They treated me so horribly and put the awful treatment to “Covid”. And I think I mustn’t have been alone in receiving poor treatment....I’ve never seen so many random crying women in one place! They made me cry and my pregnancy has been unproblematic. One poor woman (who from the looks of things seemed like she’d just received bad news) came out of the sonography room in tears and the sonographer just said coldly to her “just turn right here to get to the reception and let them know”...then walked off. Like she was giving directions to a bus stop or something! Anyway, hope it all pans out ok. I just personally wouldn’t recommend this hospital!

Thank you so much everyone for your views. It makes me feel a lot better about sticking, actually - I really appreciate you taking the time to share experiences.
And, good luck, @Weenie12 and @serialplanner with your upcoming deliveries!

xx

@Mimiwish great news and good luck! X

I have 2 friends (who don’t know each other!) who both raves about Chelsea and Westminister in last 6 months. I had DC privately and NHS care at C&W sounds like the private care I had at St T’s.

I switched hospitals during labour, I was booked at Kings and they refused to believe I was in labour so turned up at Chelsea and Westminster and gave birth there after about 2 hours, it was 18 years ago