Choosing hospital far from home

[SomeOfUs]

Hello,
I have a question about choosing a hospital for maternity care.
I am currently registered in Princess Royal Hospital. According to the CQC this hospital and maternity department requires improvement. I have already had couple of issues and I understand why it requires improvement. Therefore I am planning to choose another hospital in Westminster.
I leave around Bromley and normally travelling from Bromley to Guy’s and St Thomas hospital is around 45 min by public transport. By car - depending on the traffic around 1-1:30 hour. My workplace is in Westminster, so follow up appointments will be handy.

this will be my first baby . Do you think is it too crazy to choose hospital quite far from home? How long does it take to deliver a baby.. I think all these movies made me think that it’s something happens within an hour 😂😂

I live rurally and so my closest hospital is a 45 minute drive. Driving in whilst I was in labour felt the longest drive ever(DH was doing the actual driving) second only to going home with a precious newborn. Both of my labours were 8 hours from first contraction to baby being born.

Have a think about if your partner will be able to get to you. I don’t think I would want to take public transport in labour.

I had my first at PRUH and there are definitely room for improvements but my second was born at another hospital and also hit and miss. When you are in labour you will definitely be uncomfortable and may not feel like travelling all that way. Length of labour is rarely as shown on tv & film but it also can be. Unfortunately you just don’t know until you get to that point. If you are able and fit the criteria the birth unit is better than the hospital part.

no frick in way would i want to be that far apart based on my two speedy births

It isnt just about the birth - in my most recent pregnancy, i had to go for monitoring every 3 days from 36w until i gave birth at 39w. At that point, it is very likely that you will be heavy, tired and potentially you might find doing a lot of travelling very tiring. Of course, you may have a straightforward pregnancy which requires no extra visits but you wont know which way its going to go until later in pregnancy.

The other thing i would say is to look at the dates of the reports and the specific issues. Many hospitals recently inspected are receiving poor reports, particularly due to the staffing crisis in midwifery. Its possible that you could transfer to hospital that on paper has a better report but that report is from quite a while ago. When i chose my hospital, i rang and asked to talk to someone about their CQC report. The Deputy Head of Midwifery rang me and talked through all the things they were doing to address the issuss in the report, which reassured me enough to stick with them.

I get your dilemma - i had my fertility treatment at Guys but in the end opted for my local hospital (St Georges) for the maternity care even though it is also requires improvment. I was very glad i did in the end when the labour for my second baby was less than 4hrs total and 1hr active labour so by the time my contractions were 3 in 10mins, i likely wouldn't have made it to another hospital in time. My first was 14hrs from first contraction and around 4hrs active labour so would have been less of an issue.

Is there somewhere in between Westminster and Bromley that has a better rating which might work for you?

Have you considered a home birth? Depending on whether you have any complications it might be worth discussing with the midwifes

I live 5 mins from my hospital. 12 days ago I went into labour and baby rapidly went into distress. I spoke to the midwife and she advised we get in asap. That same midwife pulled the emergency alarm within five minutes of my arrival and I was in theatre before I barely knew what was going on. My baby would’ve died if Id taken any longer to get to hospital. I can’t imagine a drive of an hour 😖

I have a similar dilemma to you!

Unfortunately you just can't predict if you will have a fast labour or not. In all likelihood you won't need to rush in during labour, but it's always a possibility. I wouldn't have made it in time with that length of journey and that was a first birth (plus it would have been seriously unpleasant to have to do that journey whilst in active labour).

I used the pruh. I also had a few issues in maternity care but they were amazing during a long and difficult birth. I actively chose them for baby 2. No way would I want to be 1.5 hours away from home. I felt every tiny bump on the road post c section and even 15 mins was far too far.

God no, driving just 20mins in labour to the hospital was hell on earth.

They sometimes send you home too if your aren't dilated enough so keep that in mind too.

I'd remain at the one closest to home, imagine if you need to travel in rush hour, or, if you get there and are sent home for a While as you're not far enough along - you'll then be 2x 45 minute drives away ... not worth it IMO
For the hospital appointments just take time off, you're allowed to- can you WFH?

What about Lewisham instead? I wouldn’t want to be trying to get from Bromley to Guy’s in labour (either by car or public transport)!

I had a very long labour and went back and forth to hospital. Also had to go back in after the birth and one of the only good things about the experience was how close to home it was…

Honestly I'd be leaning towards the nearer one. Yes you theoritically have loads of time to drive an hour, but some labours CAN happen that fast. And if something goes wrong you can get into serious trouble very quickly.

You're thinking too much of the journey there but don't forget about the journey home to consider! I had a textbook labour and delivery but was still very sore and delicate. Wearing seatbelt and sitting down was agony and it was not an enjoyable 30 min drive home! No way would I have coped with much longer than that.

My waters have gone from 31 weeks and after a stay I now have to go back and forth for monitoring apps several times a week til I'm 36 weeks if we get there. I would pick the closer one as you just don't know when you'll need to be back and forth x

I don't think you're being silly. I've not had experience of the maternity department of the PRUH, but have found some parts of the hospital to be excellent, and others not so good. But I don't think you can get better than Guys and St Thomas and I wouldn't hesitate to choose one of them if that's your preference, but understand that if there should be an emergency you may have to change your plans at very short notice. Just make sure that you don't end up at Lewisham which, based on recent experience, is probably the most dreadful hospital I've ever been to.

Just to add that parking is really easy at St Thomas, although it's in the congestion zone, but it's much harder at Guys.

Hi there - I gave birth last year at St Thomas's and I really recommend it (my nearest was Lewisham and people I'd spoken to had mixed reviews). I had the same midwife antenatally (although sadly she didn't do any labour ward shifts) and they do your appointment location based on your home address, mine were all in new cross so closer to home. They have women book in from all over south east London. It might be different if you're based in Bromley though and they might organise appointments in central London instead given you work near there.

My labour was relatively long (my DD was back to back) and I was sent home twice so bear that travel in mind - we spent a lot of time in Ubers! Then we drove in on the third attendance, as I was determined that I wouldn't be sent home again (I was in a lot of pain and Clary sage and tens machines can only do so much 40 hours in...). Maybe I would have felt differently if my labour was very short but if that did happen I would have just gone to the nearest hospital.

I can't fault the care I received in hospital during my labour, I was really well looked after when I had a second degree tear. I've had no issues with it a year on. Postnatal ward is another story but most people don't have great experiences there whatever hospital you're in (given all the crying babies!). I've also heard a lot of people recommend Kings if you would prefer a possibly shorter journey. Good luck with your pregnancy and birth! :)

In my first labour, what should have been just under an hour journey took over twice as long due to traffic problems. Luckily we went in early labour... as when things did ramp up O went from "not yet dilated, try to have a sleep" to 10 minutes later DH shouting for help as DD1 made a very quick appearance with no medical staff around.

The second time... my suggested opens on the midwives were home birth or calling an ambulance at first signs (or rather,contact maternity who would have called the ambulance)... 45 minutes fro the hospital at that point.

Labour can be very unpredictable.

No i would not choose 90 mins away, nearer the better, bother of mine were born in under 6 hours so wouldn't risk it!

Hmm I had a 15 minute journey in the car in labour and it was awful being stuck in one position.

Thank you so much all for the feedbacks.
I've decided to listen your advice and I'll stay with PRUH.
My current experience with them is terrible so far.
I'm in my second trimester and they still couldn't able to find out my blood type (I gave 2 samples , the first one - they lost it, gave another one .. 2 weeks past- no result ) ..

For scan , I had to go to Denmark Hill, and that experience was terrible too. They just used me like lab animal to do their research..

So unhappy- but no choice

These posts are slightly terrifying me! I live a 4 hour drive from our nearest hospital (not in the UK) and most people just have to do the drive once they go into labour or some spend the last couple of weeks of pregnancy in a hotel closer to the hospital. This will likely be the option I go for as I won't be allowed to go past my due date. They do helicopter you if it's an emergency but this can obviously be weather dependent.
Whenever I bring up my concerns over here everyone just shrugs and says that is just the way it is.

I had dc3 at UCLH around 1.5/2 hours away, door to door. I made that choice for a combination of reasons but particularly because our local hospital is terrible. I had previously had dc1 and 2 at UCLH (at the time we were local and moved before dc3) and found them pretty good, so just decided to stick with them.

I didn’t mind travelling in for appointments, which I could often align with work related trips too.

But, perhaps crucially, I had planned to have a section - would that be an option for you? In the event my waters went prematurely but I got there fine.