Private versus NHS for birth Post Reply

[Garfield007]

Hi all,

I am 9 weeks pregnant and just had my first midwife visit at the St Thomas Hospital at Waterloo. I am a bit concerned about the level of support I will be getting as I get the feeling the unit is staffed by a lot of temp/agency staff. The appointment was booked without my knowledge and all I received was a text a week before to remind me of the appointment. I couldn't reschedule the appointment as no one answered the phone and only got back to a voicemail I left on the day I was due in for the appointment.

At the appointment, I was asked to fill in a whole loads of info, wait for the midwife to enter the info onto the computer with one finger typing, had some blood test and urine sample, blood pressure taken and that was it. When asked if I will meet all the midwives at the unit and will have someone I know when giving birth, I was told no, unlikely, as a lot of them are leaving. That set the alarm bell off.

I am now considering coughing up for private birth. I would like to ask for advise on recent birth at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital Kensington wing, St Mary's Lindo Wing and St Thomas' Westminster Suite. Could you please share with me your experience?

I currently live near Canary Wharf but will move to near Barnes just before or after birth in January, depending on the process on the renovation at our new house. I am wondering if being 35-45 mins drive away (average journey time, shorter during off peak) is reasonable if I am going into labour?

Thank you in advance for any information/experience you could share.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Have you considered a private midwife as a halfway house? We used the fantastic Neighbourhood midwives.

[sw11_]

There is a big difference between NHS and private financially. The NHS a has its drawbacks but it is amazing what you get for free. Plus plenty of people will tell you that their experiences weren't perfect when they went private. However if money is no object then you will certainly get that one on one care going private.

Also different hospitals will have different staffing situations. I just went for my 16 week midwife appointment at Chelsea and Westminster NHS and the midwife doing the appointment was the same one that delivered my first baby 5 years ago! So there was plenty of consistency there!

If you are moving to Barnes you might also want to prioritise distance from home when deciding your hospital. I think it would be pointless to go to the Portland for example (how long would it take you to get there from Barnes in rush hour traffic?). Do you know what the private and NHS options closest to Barnes are?

[kiwimummy]

Another vote for a private midwife. We had one post c section, and she was amazing, life saving. Post natal care for me was non existent for some reason, so she really helped.

I'd recommend perhaps hiring one to follow you throughout the pregnancy. You will still need to do all the NHS appointments. The midwife can advise you on what basis she could be there for the birth.

Sometimes having a strong advocate in an NHS setting can be helpful. I wish mine had been there when a St Thomas midwife made me cry by shouting at me in the recovery suite when my son was less than an hour old.

As you can tell, my NHS experience was not fantastic.... I hated St Thomases.

[Garfield007]

Thanks ladies for your reply. This is my first pregnancy and I am 37, so I desperately want this pregnancy and the child birth experience to be smooth. How does a private midwife work? Does it mean I can have my baby in the comfort of my own home? I am keen to have a water birth as two of my closed friends have good experience, but they are at the Royal Free in Hampstead, too far for me to travel there.

I know one do get a lot from NHS for free, and given how much tax I have paid throughout my working life and how little I actually use NHS service, I was originally keen to have my baby at NHS. Now I am concerned about the level of service I will be getting if there is constant change of staff. My friend's wife gave birth naturally to twins at St Thomas 4 years ago and they had a very bad experience, as she was left unattended for a long period and almost bled to death.

Also how many nights do most mums have to stay in the hospital after birth? I heard that you have to share the ward with like 4 other mums with constant noise and baby crying throughout the night. I am not sure if my sanity can take that after the exhaustion from giving birth.

My husband is keen to save money as we have a big bill for our renovation so I really need a good reason to justify going private.

[kiwimummy]

This is only my personal opinion, but I think a home birth is slightly risky for a first birth. I know lots of people will disagree, but I think it's best to have a successful delivery before attempting a home birth.

Bear in mind if you are high risk or need a section, you will likely end up in the NHS anyway under consultant led care. That's usually pretty good actually, once you are IDed as high risk, you do generally get a good level of care.

Generally the NHS is safe. My experience at St T was more unpleasant than anything. I didn't much like the surgeons on my section "racing" the section in the next door theatre and joking about changing my records so it showed I'd lost less blood than the mother next door. Nor did I like being shouted that I had "ruined my baby forever" because my milk had not come in and in desperation I'd given him formula. And it didn't end there.... Such fond memories.

I would interview some private midwives and see what they could offer to you. If you go fully private, it will cost a LOT. You can get private rooms at St T for £700 night from memory, but it depends if there is one available when you deliver. If you opt for private care at St T I think you are supposed to be nearly guaranteed one.

[Purple_sage]

Hi there, I thought I'll also share my experience as I had a combination of NHS birth at St Thomas' before transferring to the Westminster Suite (previously Landsdell) less than 3 years ago and I would do that again if we ever have our second. It's not very advertised by the hospital but for me it was the best of both worlds especially when you factor in the eye-watering price of private consultant led maternity care. It requires your partner to collect the form from the suite when you check-in for delivery and is subjected to availability of the rooms. I stayed there for 2 nights but it allowed me to recover from a rather difficult birth where my epidural patch had a leak and my mum could stay overnight with me.

My experiences with the midwives on breastfeeding were rather mixed as I had a scary midwife saying I was choking my newborn because my nipples were too big; 2 other gentler midwives through my remaining 2 days stay showed me how to latch on properly. The only consolation I saw was as they worked in shifts of 12 hours, it's unlikely you'll encounter the same scary midwife through your stay

Hope this helps too

[LP73]

I had our son at The Kensington Wing in C&W this year under Keith Dunca - I can not fault anything there.

They also do midwife led births if you do want to go down the private midwife care option. i think it's over 40 when they tend to put you with a consultant as risks become greater on a number of levels.

The private room was a godsend, the one to one midwife care was fantastic especially with help breast feeding etc which I know they just don't have time to do in the NHS side of things.

Yes, it's expensive but I would do it all again tomorrow for the experience that I had compared too our friends who went NHS.

We looked at Lindo and St Thomas private - journey was a pain. Portland was a no no due to no emergency care if something went wrong.

[Garfield007]

Ladies, thanks for the response.

SW15, are you planning to have NHS at C+W or will switch to the private wing for birth?

I am at the moment really not sure if my house will be ready to move in by the time baby arrives, so will want to pick somewhere in between where I am and my new house. C+W are the mid-way apart from St Thomas. Do you have to be referred by your GP? I am not sure if my GP at SE can refer me to C+W as she has already referred me to St Thomas.

Purple_Sage, was your transfer to the Westminster Suite essentially just a private room but the birth experience still NHS standard? Was the mixed experience with the midwives at the Westminster Suite or prior to your transfer?
Do you think you were given sufficient attention post natal at Westminster Suite?

I just spoke to a friend who gave birth at Lindo Wing last September, consultant led, and the total cost throughout pregnancy was around £22k!!! Don't think I can afford that with a big renovation bill at the same time. Now thinking of various options.

Also one more question, if you give birth at NHS, is it possible for your mum or your husband to stay overnight with you at the ward? Or is this the luxury limited to those in the private room?

Thank you ladies.

[LP73]

Garfield - if you want to go down the private route you do not require a Dr to refer you if you are self paying.

I've just checked at the prices which were sent to me and if you decided to go down private midwife care in the Kensington wing a VB would be approx, 7k including one night stay in a private room.

Hopefully this helps? Happy to send through more info I have on costs of consultant led care etc if you need it.

There must have been issues with birth at Lindo as generally it's about 15k there.

[Purple_sage]

Hi Garfield, essentially yes. I was in hospital for over 27 hours before my child was born via forceps. I had the most caring male midwife who monitored my progress through his entire 12 hours shift as my child's heartbeat kept dropping a couple of times before I was transferred to consultant led care and wheeled into surgery room. He even found a rollout bed for my husband while we were waiting for the birth. All this was under NHS and to this date, I'm grateful for the care I had under NHS.

The scary midwife was my 2nd/3rd midwife after delivery while I was waiting to be checked into the Westminster suite, though her colleagues were a bit stunned when my mum recalled the story to them later

I think there's sufficient attention at the private suites post delivery as after a while I got a bit embarrassed how often they were checking in with me. Sometimes it seemed to take forever for the consultant to look at my epidural leak but I couldn't fault the attention by the nurses/ midwives

I don't think families can stay overnight under NHS if my memory serves me

[HypnoGab]

Have you considered hiring a doula? They are non medical birth partners who can be a great support and source of advice for you and your partner. Some are even trained in hypnosis so can also experience a hypnobirth! All the best with your decision. I had all of my eldest daughter in an NHS hospital, the second at home and the third out of the country privately, but all a long time ago so don't have current advice except for definitely recommending a doula

[MamaSass]

Hi

Congrats on your pregnancy! all nhs hospitals allow you to have one or two birth companions while you are in a labour room after about 2-4 hrs you after the birth you are moved to postnatal where if it's daytime your husband can stay but at night they would be asked to leave except at Chelsea and Westminster where your husband can stay 24hrs.

I second the recommendation for a doula.


Sass

[Sharonmidwifegamon]

I think it depends on what you are looking for in a birth experience. I am a midwife working in the private sector. Neighbourhood midwives enables not only the women and their partners the continuity they so desire, it also enables us the midwives the continuity we desire. Personally I have never worked in the NHS as I have always craved being able to offer continuity of Carer as well as Care. Now it depends on what is important to you when you think about the day your baby comes to meet you. Is having that constant support with you an important thing to you or are you someone who doesn't mind seeing several different people and not really getting to know them very well. I'm actually NOT being pedantic I'm just saying that there are women out there who say "I don't care who's with me when I have my baby I just want it out!" Neighbourhood midwives offers you peace of mind that you will be nurtured and cared for by a passionate and dedicated midwife who will be with you every step of the way no matter which route your journey may go. It's true that nhs midwives are stretched to the limit half the time and that they have to give the best care they can in very strained and tough environment. It's not that they don't care or that they are not passionate, dedicated midwives. It's just that they are fighting a very big system that doesn't afford them the luxury of seeing women in their own homes, having cups of tea and catching up with their lives, being with that woman throughout the whole pregnancy, labour &birth and then seeing it all through with their post natal care for 6weeks.
If you would like to chat through this further please feel free to contact me on the Neighbourhood midwives website. My name is Sharon. Good luck xx

[daisydaisy]

I think it would be sad to form an opinion of the NHS because one person you know had a bad experience. It is very likely that if you go private, your doctor will be attending to NHS patients also. Private will get you a prettier room etc but not necessarily better healthcare.
Whatever you choose, I hope all goes well for you and baby.