NHS Hospitals - - please tell me your opinion

[mum2b1]

Hi,
Just found out am 6 weeks pregnant. My GP told me I have no choice for hospital which I am not sure is true. They are trying to make me go to St Peters/Ashford in Chertsey. I ahev heard it is pretty awful there. How can I get to go where I want - Kingston hospital?
I have asked them to refer me there and they went on and on about how I wont get in there - - they said they would send a referal letter but that it would be useless.
Any advice - I am freaking out I am gonna have an awful experience and something etrrible iwll happen if I go to a bad hospital.
Thanks

We used to rent in twickenham about 3 years ago then moved to sunbury to a bigger house.

Kept her in the same school.

I cant faoult the schools in that area...I wouldnt want her to go anywhere else.

Cx

Oh interesting. Do you rent now? We do. And, yes, obviously Sunbury is cheaper. But I would so much rather live in Twickers. Where are you thinking of moving to in Twickers (if you don't mind me asking)?

If only the property market would crash (fingers crossed), I'd be there.

I think one of DD's frineds mums works at Stanley. Maybe you know her. What a small world!

I live in Hampton Wick. It is SO lovely here. not far from any of you! I kept my GP in kingston as I've been there for 30 years. not told them officially but my health visitor knows, as she comes here to us. She lives near by.

I also lived 2 mins form KH when i booked any way, plus i work there...

have any of you thought of moving to lovely Hampton wick? great surgery here just down the road, i'm told by lots of my neighbours. Also, really near to kingston, river, shops, gt it all here! 27 mins from waterloo too

good luck with it all girls, hope you find a way to get what want care wise.

i hate to put a dampener on this but I live in twickenham and I have found the antenatal care in my previous pregnancies dreadful.

I have been unlucky enough to have 2 m/c and lost a baby at 21 weeks due to abnormalities. The last pregnancy took me 10 weeks to be told I could not go locally either go for an appointment in Staines or west london (both a minimum of 40 minutes away in a car) . This was due to fact that Kingston and then West Middlesex were both booked despite my request going in at 8 weeks (or should have done if GP hadnt mucked up the letter). Ended up going private (I cried when we booked in as my dad is a GP and it was completely against my principles).

I'm sorry to be so negative but I have found the GP service sub standard( I used to live in South east london and had no such problems).
THe gp himself was fine but the admin/booking in and dreadful waiting times are unbelievably bad (over an hour for a pre booked time slot every time).

The ante natal care was stress inducing (you shouldnt have to cry on receptionists so that they actually send a fax to the right part of the hospital to get your ERCP , book you for a free scan you end up paying for or they forget to send your letter in so you end up with no spot in teh local hospital).
The maternity services and bed shortagse are a known problem in the area (we ended up writing to our MP who has been on the case to expand Maternity facilitse which is overstretched in this area and have been for a number of years).

The only time I saw an NHS midwife was the day after I came home from hospital when my baby had died and that was only cos the out of area hospital phoned her to make her come...

Sorry for the long rant but I really have been disappointed by service in this area

Oh poppy. How dreadful.

Oh my God poppy that is awful.
I got goosebumps reading you post. I am so sorry you had to go through that.
No one should ever have to endure all that.

I am determined to get a good hospital and good service. Believe me my husband will rant and rave at everyone until results are gotten.

I am sending you a big hug and all the best for the future

xx

good luck mum2be -didnt work for us despite involving the MP and the PCT (hence ended up with the choices I had) but maybe will for you.

Couldnt have had better care this time round but shame it took all that to make me look elsewhere - I haven't even bothered to tell my GP I'm pregnant as no point until I know its all ok (12 week scan next week) and I actually need the maternity certificate.

So what hospital are you going to now?
How are you having a scan without notifying your GP?

I am at st thomas going private - you can book scans at certain places (fmc ) without going through your gp (and as I said after my first experience where was meant to be free scan but ended up paying whilst in shock at having found out i'd miscarried).

Finding this pregnancy hard enough stress wise without letting GP (or to be correct his admin staff - GP himself is ok when you've waited an hour after your alloted time to see him ) . Am going to have to think very hard for care for the baby about what I do if I'm lucky enough to have a successful pregnacy. Having been a major NHS supporter for 30 years (as I said my dad is a GP) feel very badly let down.

but good luck for your pg - where are you looking at? Have some friends who managed to get into west mid and they were pretty positive about the care they got there.

just reread that - am definitely suffering from some kind of end in the day too tired pregnancy brain with my spelling/grammar

and have become quite expert thanks to all this at knowing how to get what care when without going to the GP. Bloody shocking really that it takes that kind of thing to find out.

No offense to your Dad but I have never had very good experiences with the NHS. I am quite nervous about all this but we cant afford to go private. We will be hiring a doula so that will take much of teh stress outof it I hope.
At mo having trouble even finding a doula though as none have decided when they are taking their summer vacations so dont know yet if they will be around for me in august!
GP is not doing as I asked in writing a a referal to Kingston and we dont want to go to the allocated St Peters. Hubbie and I will be going down their next week to complain and demand referal letters to a few places. at weekend going to look around a few hospitals and make a list!
Fingers crossed!
I am just astounded at the stories I have read on here and at the servive I have at at my GP and the NHS in general!!

none taken mum2b re my dad - he is cynical himself but I always had a sort of childish/socialist belief in nhs.

And do know how lucky I am to be able to have a choice - its scandalous that this sort of thing goes on. We're pregnant not ill! I kicked up being allocated to st peters (after waiting 10 weeks to find out ) and get referred to chelsea and westminster (not exactly convenient either but better than st peters).

• listen if you want to cat me I might be able to help as have ended up with quite a good local list of alternative info on maternity . good luck xx

Thanks Poppy.
I am not on the CAT thingy but would love to know how you got out of going to St Peters.
where do you live - you didnt go to sunbury health centre on green st did you?

my email address in nynovember at hotmail com

Nope - I am in twickenham and go to the holly rd practice.

Basically I sat with the GP manager and cried/swore/threatened and til I made her promise to fax chelsea and westminster (basically they won't do it if they can help it but I'm led to understand you don't have to accept where you're allocated...)

you do know that if you actually are in labour they can't turn you away.... Not great for antenatal care but I learned such things when I was v.v.desperate.

will email you.

mum2b1, further to the early scans, I recommend FMC (Fetal medicine Centre) very highly, as does most of Mumsnet. You can get a nuchal scan for about £150 and an anomoly scan for £300 or so (I think??). I had a nuchal there with both pregnancies and the price is well worth the superior medical treatment you will get there. You can at least walk out of there at 12 weeks with peace of mind knowing that your baby is healthy, developing normally, etc. Chances are you aren't offered a nuchal in Sunbury anyway (unless you are say 39 or older).

If I were you, I would refuse all medical treatment, and then go get some blood tests, scans, etc. privately. That was you actually get the medical attention you need but all the while putting pressure on the PCT because it is their job to find you a place. And as far as they knnow you have not received any medical treatment.

It is sooo important that you refuse any medical treatment from St. Peters. Do not let them register you with the midwives even for an initial chat / bloods / urine test / anything.

Oh, and the urine tests they do routinely for pregnant women (checks for sugar, protein, etc.) are stick you can buy off the internet.

I wonder if there is somewhere that you can get a list of all the routine test offered to pregnant women? Iknow some of the blood tests test for specific things at aspecific times. I can't remember what for and when as I am certainly no doctore. But, I bet this information is available somewhere.

Found this: Patient Choice in Surrey Nov. 2006

I would write Dr Wanker (Wankette) a letter formally requesting that he/she advise you of your four choices for maternity services, as they are not listed in this brochure. Recap your conversation and remind them that St.Peters is not acceptable and you will therefore require three more hospitals from which to choose. And after receiveing your choices you will then advise which one you have selected.

Hiya,
Yeah, I have a private gynae at the Lister who I am going to see beginning of Jan. He is one of the top ob/gyn in the country to I have total faith and I will also see if there is any chance he can write a referal or 2 for me. fingers crossed that private can refer to NHS.
Hubbie and I are going to view some hospitals at weekend then on monday go tell them that we want referrals!

Thanks again

Just a couple of points.

There was another thread on what happens if you turn up in labour at another hospital. Apparently if they consider that you're not far enough along they will send you to your booked hospital in an ambulance.

Obviously this may depend on how busy they are too. In fact friends of my dh had managed to book at a different hospital for 2nd dc and when called up to say she was in labour was told to go the hospital she'd had 1st dc in (and hated) as that was the nearest and they were full up. Their only other suggestion was a hospital a really long distance away and they were worried they wouldn't get to in time. In the end they went to the hospital from 1st dc and had a much better experience but rather worrying.

I didn't book my hospital through the GP because I was already under their care for something else and had got my usual consultant to refer me to specialist antenatal part for a pre-conception appointment. That meant that once I got a positive test I called the consultant (pg one) and he made me an appointment for when I was only 6 wks. But when I had discussed with my consultant about looking at other hospitals and how it would work if I wanted to go somewhere else e.g. UCH he told me that the referral had to come from my GP as they are the ones with the budgets and only they can make cross-borough/PCT referrals. So I don't think you can avoid doing it through your GP.

But if you don't like your GP you should really change. After all you're hopefully going to be taking your dc to this practice and if you think they are inefficient, unsympathetic etc would you really want to give that level of care to your dc? (speaking as someone who's just made the jump)

end of 2nd para - I meant it's worrying that even if you do book in somewhere else you can still end up in the hospital you are seeking to avoid.

Just show up at a hospital that is really really far away from the one you don't want to go to. I'm sure there is a nice on in say Edinburgh.

big vote for me too from fmc - the scan/care quality there is different league .

Hi All

I am 6 weeks pregnant and like mum2b1 my local hospital is St Peters. I have read a lot of people views about how bad St Peters is but none of it actually says why it is bad i.e. is it the care? the midwifes? lack of staff etc etc. Being new at this I am like mum2b1 and finding it all a bit of a minefield.

Can anybody give me a bit more information on St Peters that might help?

Re choosing a hospital my GP has given me a book called "Choosing your Hospital". He advised that Kingston won't take me but that he could refer me to the Royal Surrey, Epsom, Frimley etc. Mum2b1 you could ask your GP for this book??

Finally if anybody has any experiences with the Royal Surrey would be great to hear about them. I have read good things and am potentially thinking about being referred there.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Thank you!!