Best Maternity hospital in South East London

[dia23]

Hi Ladies,

I have found out that I'm pregnant! (Via IVF. It's still early days for me and this is my first time.

I have been researching online about the best maternity hospitals in South East London and now I am confused between the following that come up on the NHS on the basis of my location:

University Hospital Lewisham (1.5miles)
Queen Elizabeth hospital (2miles)
Kings college Hospital (4.7 miles)
The royal london hospital (5.2)
St Thomas' hospital (6.2 miles)

In terms of commute they are all within 20-40 mins drive for me, however in terms of ratings I have noticed that the one farthest is the best (St Thomas), so I'm utterly confused.

I need your guidance in deciding which one I should go ahead with.. or if anyone out there has some positive or negative stories about the choices above especially University college Lewisham, St Thomas' and Kings. Really appreciate your help in advance!

Thanks

My friend had pre-natal care and gave birth at queen Elizabeth's (actually nearly gave birth in their car park 😂). She liked it.

I gave birth at St Thomas and had a terrible experience quite frankly (although they did give me a private room for free afterwards).

I'd probably pick whichever is closest tbh. You'll have a number of appointments there. It's where you'll go for any concerns (ie lack of movement). And 6 miles across london in Labour - no thank you!!

Also consider whether they have a midwife led unit, rather than just a labour ward. Everyone might have those though these days, not sure.

Oh, and congratulations!! Sorry, I got bogged down with the nuts and bolts. You must be thrilled!

Congratulations! I am 28w and I am in Lewisham. Everything has been fine so far, appointment all in time and scan day organised on time.
Also the midwife ( which I see at my go) have all been nice and easy to reach.
Have 2 friends who have gave birth there, hospital and midwife led unit, and they both had a good experience! All pregnancies without complications, so can’t comment on how it is in case of emergency though…

Congratulations! I would go with the closest / one with the easiest journey / one your community midwifes are attached too - if there is a midwife who visits your GP, so much of your experience depends on so many more factors, and none of them are bad hospitals. I had two children at Kings (youngest is now 3) but both times very different experiences in all aspects.

I also have to make this decision. I live mid way between Lewisham and kings. My perception of kings might be swayed by their beautiful fertility building where I had IVF. I don't know what the maternity site is like. A friend said she was left in a pool of her blood post delivery for hours so now not sure.
But my experience of lewisham is the radiology department which was grim!
Any further advice anyone?
Can you visit a labour ward or birthing centre? And what happens at Lewisham if the five birthing rooms are busy when you need them? And if you have a complicated labour, then where do you end up?

I had my first DS at King’s in 2019, birth was amazing on the midwife led birth unit and midwife care antentally amazing too. The fetal medicine centre where the scans take place is state of the art and you get very thorough treatment.

Postnatal care was mixed - everyone was lovely but they were so busy that quite a few mistakes were made, both with my care and that of my baby. I got sepsis five days after birth and had to be readmitted. In retrospect the infection markers were there prior to discharge, but not picked up on.

Alll that said, I would give birth there again.

As I type this I’m on the antenatal ward at Lewisham waiting to be induced with DS2. Care here has been fine antenatally but they are very understaffed. I came in last night at 7pm and they haven’t started the induction process yet as there’s no space on labour ward. This seems quite common. I’m trying to make the best of it but not enjoying being away from my toddler and I now wonder how long this induction is going to take! I might be here for days.

To the PP if the birthing centre is full you will end up on labour ward, but I think it’s more likely to be full on labour ward so maybe not worth worrying about.

You can’t visit at the moment but there are some good videos online.

Congratulations! I've given birth at kings and probably having DC2 there. Tbh I wasn't impressed at all, yes the scanning unit was nice but my birth and postnatal care was awful. I then had several losses and am more high risk. I ended up dealing with the head midwife until 20 weeks after another awful experience I had with a member of staff at the scanning unit. I've only stayed at kings because of that. I asked to see a case loading midwife and was told no, I see a different person each time and am considering moving to Lewisham for the birth ( I live between the 2 but nearer Lewisham). To be honest I think they all just depend on who you get on the day and how well staffed they are. Sorry to be a bit negative, to be honest you forget it all anyway and it's worth it!

Lewisham has a good reputation. I had a dreadful experience at King's postnatally and would not recommend it.

I have had a different doctor for every single scan at kings fertility too. I think about 7 in total. So anticipating different midwives.
I would love to do it at home but I'm going to be 40 at the time and I'm slightly higher risk with high BMI so I don't think it's worth it, I'll probably end up being transferred anyway.
There are so many bad stories of London hospital's, it feels like I should just pick based on which is closest!

Grrr, I’m so angry at the number of PP who’ve had bad maternity care. It’s just not good enough that us women are expected to put up with this shit. Anyway, rant over

I’m very fortunate in that I had exceptional care at St Thomas’s, although I was with the homebirth team so I only went to the hospital for my 12 and 20 week scans. The team were amazing - I had a named midwife who I saw at every visit, and for a month after birth, and who was always contactable on her mobile. I was privileged to feel so supported and cared for throughout. However, whilst you can use the hospital OP, I don’t think the homebirth team would cover your area (that is. If you were even thinking of a home birth? I couldn’t recommend it enough!)

Oh, and huge congratulations OP!! Clearly a very much longed for pregnancy, and I wish you the absolute best

I was at Lewisham (albeit 10 years ago!) and it was utterly grim. I’d been on a tour of the birthing centre downstairs, with the pools etc, and that was lovely.
Unfortunately, I had bleeding from the outset and wasn’t allowed in the birthing centre.
The upstairs ward was hideous - understaffed, no rooms available (I stood bleeding in a corridor for over an hour before getting a room, at which point, exDH had gone to ask someone for help. When he was gone, a nurse took me into a room, hooked me up to the monitor, and with no apology, told me there was no heartbeat.
So I was alone with this horrible woman, trying to deal with the fact that my baby had died, when 5 min or so later, she fiddled about a bit, then said ‘oh it was just the machine, there is a heartbeat after all’
My blood pressure went through the roof after that, and unsurprisingly the whole thing ended up with an emergency c-section.
They were totally understaffed, and I couldn’t wait to leave the place.

Like I say, this was 10 years ago, so things might have changed.

As others have said, try to choose the nearest one. Labouring in a car or taxi isn’t fun.

Congratulations! I have only given birth at Lewisham but their midwife led birth unit is lovely - a bit like a Travel Lodge with a birthing pool :) I also liked that it is attached to the hospital, so if needed they can whip you upstairs to the ward.

I used Kings twice and the second was much nicer due to the new pre-natal centre

Very nice and much better than the old version in the hospital

The labour room was big, fine, just us and midwife all night

But the ward before and after is typically noisy and not that great. I got waylaid there for three nights as labour ward was full - joked to parents I was in purgatory.

After dd arrived I paid for a room as was fed up by then

Kings all the way. We were originally at Lewisham. DS had heart problems missed at three 20 week scans. They wouldn’t even answer the phone to make follow up appointments. When the problems were found we moved to kings and the care couldn’t have been better. Honestly, I would give Lewisham a very wide berth.

I had a great experience at Lewisham MLU a few years ago (low risk); am now high risk and again with Lewisham. Consultant care has been great, scans run on time (ish), my only negative was a vv long wait at the Day Assessment Unit when I had a scare. I don’t think the postnatal ward is anything to write home about but that’s the case everywhere sadly.

I’d go with your nearest/nearly nearest, it makes a big difference when you’re going back and forth.

I had both of mine at King's. They are great in the lead-up and on the day (I had a few complications needing extra monitoring) and undoubtedly real experts. Post-natal care was a bit crap tbh, especially with number 2. They were massively understaffed and just can't give the speed of attention you need. My catheter was in way too long which meant I was not able to mobilise quickly enough. But, my husband was able to stay with me throughout - I know lots of people don't like that, but it meant I had the extra pair of hands I needed.
I'd still recommend King's, their NICU staff were amazing.

Mine was nearly 10 years ago. But kings missed my placental abruption and sent me home. DH found me in a pool of blood so we went back in and they still didn't diagnose me.

Anaesthetist saved me and my ds. But post natal care abysmal. Was left without painkillers for 12 hours after the emergency c section and ended up ripping out the needles in my hands because they'd forgotten me.

Half my nct group went there and half to Lewisham (we were in the middle) people at lewisham had nicer things to say.

It's got a bad reputation but I had all 3 of my children at Queen Elizabeth and they were lovely. 2 emergency c sections, the one in the middle was a VBAC. I don't remember being asked which hospital I wanted though, I was just given the nearest. Good luck with your pregnancy!

Had both of mine at kings and I can't rate them highly enough. When we were choosing my gp told me that's where she chose to have hers -She said if there are any complications, that's where you want to be. I had serious complications with number 1 and they saved both our lives.
I've heard good and bad about all of the hospitals you mention. Some of it is expectation management I think. unless you pay a fortune I think postnatal wards are just a bit crap everywhere.
Good luck whatever you decide.

Hi, do you know the policy at QEH on elective CS? I can’t seem to find anything. Thanks

I thought Lewisham were awful. I had a miscarriage last year and that was where I was registered. I had to chase appointments right from the get go, was impossible to get hold of anyone including when I discovered I was having a missed miscarriage via private scan. I felt like none of the staff at the hospital actually properly looked me in the eye or treated me like a full human being, just a patient to be processed through the system.

The worst part was when I finally got through to them on the phone about the missed miscarriage (this was shortly before Christmas) the nurse told me I shouldn’t go to my family over Christmas, that I could miscarry any time and it was going to be a very unpleasant and uncomfortable experience so I wouldn’t have a good Christmas.

I’m now pregnant again and with the Royal Surrey (I’ve moved out of London) and feel like everyone I’ve interacted with from the receptionist to my consultant has been light years better than anyone I dealt with at Lewisham.

My friend also had a terrible experience at Lewisham with her first child and went to Queen Elizabeth for her second and said it was much better.

All anecdotal obviously!

(Obviously in the end Boris cancelled Christmas anyway, but we didn’t know that at the time!)