St George’s / C&W / St Thomas

[RL8675]

Hi all,

Hoping for some advice as still haven’t self referred to a hospital yet as can’t decide where to go. Pregnant with hopefully baby number 2. Our first was born a few years ago and was meant to be delivered at St George’s but when I went into labour they closed the labour wards and refused to see me despite being at the hospital (I’d been on hold to them for 4hrs at this point, so decided just to go in) so we had to find an alternate hospital on the outskirts of london. Friends who bad babies around the same time at St George’s had OK experiences although aftercare sounded pretty horrific so im not sure I want to go there for baby number 2, especially as it’s now got a red CQC score for their maternity services.

That leaves C&W and St Thomas’ both of which are slight further away and could be a nightmare to get to with traffic in rush hour. Both rated as good on CQC. Does anyone have any recent experiences with these 3 hospitals to help with my decision please? Ultimately I just want a safe delivery, just nervous to go with St G’s given previous experience, although their antenatal care and post natal care were both fine.

Thanks in advance

Is Kingston an option for you?

My SIL had a baby at St Thomas's a few weeks ago. She said her care was excellent during and after labour but had to sit around in hospital for about 36 hours while they kept changing their minds about whether to induce. She was carefully monitored but felt it was all a bit disorganised. But, as I said, the birth was great and she was discharged a few hours later.

Thanks both for your response.

@PigeonPigPie Kingston is slightly further away, but not totally out of the question. Is the care there worth the extra travel?

@mynameiscalypso - thank you. Suspect the chaos element is part of the NHS experience, certainly seems to be the common experience amongst friends. Good to hear a good review for St Thomas’ though

I had two fantastic births at C&W, plus it's a lovely place to wander over to for midwife appointments

Hi OP, I am currently 28 weeks and registered at Kingston and so far the care I have received has been excellent across the board. Cannot speak for the delivery yet, but based on experience so far I would definitely recommend.

C&w has long queues to the car park in the day time so you have to arrive very early to appointments

I've had 3 babies at St George's and wouldn't go anywhere else. They are amazing.

I had a very similar thread to this at the end of last summer. I had my baby at St Georges in June 21 and was one of the last patients admitted that weekend before they closed the mat ward. It was chaos that weekend - there were literally no rooms (they had to move someone out of the room i gave birth in literally because i was about to start pushing on the antenatal ward) and the aftercare definitely suffered from them being so busy.

Im now 32w with number 2 and when i booked with Georges, i raised all these concerns including the CQC report. Everyone took it really seriously - i had two phone calls with a senior midwife and the deputy director for midwifery, who talked me through how they are addressing the CQC report. One of the downsides is that for women in certain postcodes, they have consolidated us all for antenatal appts at Georges itself (i used to have my antenatal appts at the Nelson Centre, which was much nicer). So that feels a bit less personal. On the other hand, my eldest spent 2 weeks in the NICU at Georges and she had phenomenal care. But im to the south and my alternative options were Kingston or St Helier, neither of which have a level 3 NICU, so just not viable options for me personally, although i know Kingston comes really highly recommended.

Several of my NCT group have also had their second babies this year and say the Georges experience is much better than 2021. But obviously so much depends on the day so doesnt guarantee anything going forwards.

How fast was your labour with your eldest? You will be aware of how awful all the traffic is at the moment so I'd be thinking about traffic times for getting to each hospital during labour, not just for appointments.

Thanks all. Still haven’t registered anywhere as still totally on the fence and have just stuck my head in the sand on this one.

St George’s is def the closest and can get there in 5-8 mins without traffic, prob no more than 20 in bad traffic. Whereas C&W and St T’s are about 15 mins without traffic, but up to 30+ if traffic is bad. The thing with St G is I couldn’t fault their ante and post natal care and I never actually gave birth there, just really did not rate how they handled me given I was a anxious first time mother whose waters had just broken and they literally refused me entry to the hospital and told me to find somewhere else. And then reading the CQC report itself is pretty damning.

@CrispAppleStrudels - labour was quick, but I was induced because my waters had gone so 4hrs from pessary to birth. Guess I don’t know how quick it would have been if they hadn’t induced 🤷🏼‍♀️ my main concern is just being turned away again as I ultimately ended up at a hospital without the same access to a level 3 NICU, I just don’t know how unlucky I was or whether closing the maternity is still common practice