Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

[Tigerlion]

I am having my baby in three months at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Has anyone got anything to report on this hospital from previous experience.
Fairly worried about all the negative publicity it has had as a result of Leslie Ash.

I had Ds1 in Chelsea and Westminster and I didn't have any problems apart from labour pains. I thought it was the nicest hospital I had given birth in and I have given birth in 3 different hospital.
Good Luck

I had dd1 at C&W but that was 7 years ago so my experience may well be irrelevant. Hospital is lovely but the midwife who saw me when I first arrive was a right cow - tried to make me lie on my back in the middle of a massive contraction so she could strap a monitor on. Also, although (as requested) they put me in one of the rooms with a pool, I was not given any opportunity to use it. My overall experience led me to choose a home birth this time around which was fab.

I had my antenatal care there with dd1 and the midwives were RUBBISH, nice people but left me unsupervised with a student who gave me incorrect info (eg told me I should have a smear - I was 10 wks pg - wtf!, told me aspirin was safe in pg not paracetamol) also they cancelled appts a lot without notice.

Nice art though

Have no personal experience as I avoided it for ds because I heard a few bad stories about maternity care - mostly to do with rubbish post-natal care. What are your alternatives? I went with Tommy's, which has fab facilities in the midwife-led birth centre, and all the specialists you might need on tap in the hospital maternity centre but, I discovered, appalling midwife shortages - is known for being 'lucky' as they haven't had any major scandals despite lack of staff. The hospital that seems to get rave reviews in W London is Queen Charlotte's - is that an option for you?

Every hospital gets negative publicity from time to time. I had ds and dd at C&W and was really impressed by the level of care I received whilst in the delivery rooms. The post-natal ward wasn't quite so nice but I didn't stay long so that didn't really affect me. I have booked in there again for no 3 but sadly might not be in the area by the time he/she arrives.
Re Charlottes - like every hospital, I know people who rave about it and others who don't. If it makes any difference, I was offered Kingston, Georges, St Helier and C&W. My dh who is a hospital doctor said that although Georges neo-natal care is fab, he would be happiest with me going to C&W. We could have also gone to Charlottes but the very thought of trying to get up Fulham Palace Road and through Shepherds Bush quickly when in labour made me realise its best to go somewhere close by! Best of luck but again, I have nothing but praise for the standard of care I received at C&W and the midwives were great!

I had dd there 3 yrs ago, would have no2 there as well if we were still in the catchment area. Post natal care I wasn't thrilled with, but that was really only 1 grumpy midwife on the night shift, the rest were good. My postnatal home visits were provided by St Georges and they were good as well, didn't stop visiting until we got to the bottom of my feeding hassles, which was reassuring for a first time mum with no family here.

Friends who had babies there were pleased with the during-delivery care but much less so by the post-natal care. At least one got stuck in an out-of-the-way ward and not checked on, plus their general experience was that there was little support/help for getting breastfeeding established.

nick fisk has fabulous reputation in world of obs/gynae but having met him i found him a bit curt

I had dd at Queen Charlotte's - ante natal care was pretty poor in terms of huge waiting times (up to an hour) and I never saw the same midwife twice. Had ds at C&W and the ante natal care was miles better - saw only two midwives altogether and was never kept waiting more than 5 minutes. Midwife care during delivery was v good at both but I ended up with an episiotomy and a huge tear with dd and only a v small episiotomy cut with ds. Wards at C&W are pretty grim so my only advice would be to try and get home as quickly as possible. However I had to stay in for a week as I had severe pre-eclampsia with ds and whilst I was still considered ill I got fantastic post natal care. It was only once I was moved to a general ward that it wasn't so good. I did get lots of b/f support whereas I got almost none at Queen Charlotte's.

I had dd under the care of Nicholas Fisk - only met him the once but I thought he was fine - he supported my VBAC which was all I could ask for.

ks, that's shocking. it's a shame that interpersonal skills weren't just as high up on the agenda of medical training (I think this is changing). is it too late to put in a complaint?

that's interesting. the time i met him i went along with a close friend re: her blood test results. he was pretty dismissive of any diagnostic testing and my friend felt he'd played down the risks (can't remember her exact figs) and she went on to have an amnio and lost the baby she was expecting. v sad. she did go on to have a lovely little girl though. i suppose what he was trying to say to her was don't worry..but that worried her even more!

i had amnios with both pgs, but didn't tell my friend until after the event because i knew she'd try to talk me out of them

Blimey - looks like I caught Fisk on a good day- The midwives did tell me that he wouldn't let me try VBAC or use the birth centre but he was fine when I saw him.
I talk to Consultants a lot at work and he didn't seem any more rude than the others (most of them are blunt to say the least)

my consultant at the whittington was v professional, quite cool, but had real empathy and such a kind manner..would recommend her to anyone (she did my 2nd c/s and as predicted got a "better" scar )

Tigerbear, I had ds at the C&W in 2001. Was under the care of the Parsons Green midwives. They had to send in a "crack squad" of a consultant obstetrician and 2 others to get ds out as he got a bit stuck (!) but they sorted it out quickly (episiotomy) and I was impressed. The aftercare wasn't so great TBH - but that can happen anywhere. We will shortly be ttc again, but no longer live in the area - our local hospital now is Whipps Cross and the thought of giving birth there is giving me nightmares - but would happily go back to the C&W again given the chance! The Leslie Ash thing is dreadful and changes need to be made everywhere but try not to think about it too much. When I was pg with ds there were stories in the papers about a woman giving birth down the toilet at the C&W! Nice! Good luck!

I'm having my first baby at the C&W and so far it's been good. Am having a tour of the maternity unit in a couple of weeks as have only seen the scanning and obstetricians dept. so far.

Haven't met Nicholas Fisk but my obstetrician there is Keith Duncan, who is (how can I say this politely) somewhat lacking in bedside manner! Apparently he is v.g. but can be quite sweeping in his judgements and seems to forget that you are an individual and not one of the herd.

Having said that, where I live everyone gives birth in the C&W and it generally gets quite a good press by word of mouth.

Aftercare appalling. Everything else fine IMO.

I had Prof Steer he was fab. And a v nice chap called Martin something or other.