Private vs NHS birth at St Thomas

[Leola27]

Hi all! This may not be a new topic on here but I was wondering if anyone has any recent experiences or opinions on Westminster Maternity Wing at St Thomas vs NHS birth...I am 24 weeks pregnant and I am considering paying for private birth at Westminster wing. I do not have a particularly complicated pregnancy so far, but I am not very young (35 years old). Main reason I am considering going private is that I am really scared of labour and any complications, would like to have a dedicated consultant and scared of NHS staff shortages and in general the state of NHS services at the moment. Thank you ❤🙏

I gave birth at St Thomas's during covid and was really impressed by their staff. I had a water birth (would highly recommend!) and was in the home-from-home birthing centre. We were in a private room as the Westminster wing was closed at the time so that was where they were putting private patients. I can truly say that apart from the aftercare perhaps - i.e. being in a private room instead of being transferred to the general post-labour ward, it probably won't make that much of a difference whether you go private or stick with NHS. It's really about your own comfort levels. If it's a straightforward pregnancy, maybe save your money in case you want to hire a private sleep consultant/night nanny once baby is born!

Do you know if you chose private, could you choose your own independent midwife to accompany you for the labour?
I've just checked the dates and you probably have your baby already, I hope you are both doing well :)
xx

My cousin had to call 999 to while she was there after she was repeatedly ignored. Sad outcome.

Thank you, yes I did, privately. I can give you more info and my feedback overall if you have any more questions. You should contact Westminster wing and ask them if you can bring in your own midwife. Probably yes, if you can bring doula I dont see any reason why you cannot bring a midwife. Private midwives were hit and miss there, exactly like in NHS. I had impression that it was same midwives working on private basis. The only difference is that you'd get more individual attention privately. Say, you press a button and fairly quickly two midwives appear. However, some of them were neither helpful nor knowledgeable sadly. Others were OK.

My experience of NHS delivery at St Thomas was not good with DC1, particularly the post-natal ward. The SCBU team and paediatrics teams were amazing, however, so it is comforting to have them so close by.

There was an option to transfer to the private wing post-birth if there was space, which I did for DC2. The post-natal care in the private wing was fantastic and supported with my recovery and properly establishing breastfeeding. This was 5 years ago so appreciate things may have changed.

@LauraPausini hi laura I know this is an old thread but wondering how you went about transferring to private wing post NHS birth at St Thomas? I appreciate this depends on availability but do I let midwife know in advance that I want that option if it’s available? I’ll give birth at St Thomas via NHS but really keen to transfer to a private room post birth if possible.

It was a few years ago now but I told the midwives in advance (I was having an ELCS) and asked again when I arrived at the hospital for the birth. From what I remember, following the c-section I went to recovery and then the midwives checked on the availability of a room in the private ward and I was transferred up.

All the best!