St Thomas or Chelsea Westminster Maternity Post Reply

[Vanilla]

Hi,
I gave birth at St Thomas' but am thinking to choose C&W if I have the second baby. While I was generally happy with St Thomas' (and yes, the view is amazing), the visiting time for partners there was 9am-8pm.

I recently heard that the visiting time for partners at C&W was 24 hours (better double-check with the hospital though to make sure) and I regret not knowing it before as I found it really difficult to stay alone at night looking after a newborn when I was in pain myself.

Something to think about unless you are going to opt for a private care/room.

[kishi]

Congrat on your pregnancy - what exciting times!

I don't have much up to date advice to add to this - I had my first baby in St Thomas' in 2010 (amazing care during the birth, but the post natal ward was not fun. Partly because it would never be fun to have to share a room with lots of other mums and newborns, but I'm afraid I also didn't find the post-natal ward stuff anything like as supportive as the midwives in the birth centre). I also used the St George's home birth team for my second baby in 2012 and could not possibly praise them more highly, for any part of the process.

I was just going to add, especially for those who've had bad experiences, that if you wish too you should always, always feed back to the hospital (obviously positive praise for staff who've done well is good too). I now wish I had put down in writing (when I felt strong enough) all the things that went well and badly for the birth of my first baby, and sent it in. I've recently started working at one of the hospitals being discussed here and they genuinely do pour over patient feedback - it's taken very seriously indeed. Not to say the system for improvement is then necessarily totally straightforward, but in the future, if I think anything has gone needlessly wrong, I will definitely make a constructive complaint.

Anyway, as you say, in general it's great to read so many good reports especially of birthing units themselves. Best of luck!

[SamJo]

Congratulations! So exciting. I went to St Thomas. Amazing hospital and i cannot be more grateful.

I won't speak for the check ups etc, but they were phenomenal when things went downhill or needed caution and care.

The pregnancy, week before birth and first week of my baby's life were pretty touch and go but the hospital was sensational. Unknown and Emergency situations kept popping up (none at all to do with the hospital, all beyond their control) and they not only got all of us through it safely, but I walked out ready to have a baby all over again with only positive experiences. they were so responsive and cautious and tried as much as possible to let me have the birth i wanted, while being safe and dealing unbelievably quickly with lifesaving procedures.

I can't speak for post natal as we went to the private suites for the nights we stayed in hospital and my son was in NICU. If you or your insurance can manage this, then it is highly recommended. They spent hours and hours (perhaps a day all up) with one on one attention ensuring my baby was feeding properly and provided a parents suite before we left so my husband could stay (once we had left the private suites).

That said, I have heard good things about C&W. good luck! Either way I'm sure you'll be in wonderful hands.