Lewisham, Kings, St Thomas? How to make the decision...

[jollybaby]

Sillywoman - were those trends similar in previous years too? I'm not sure how much you can interpret from one year's figures. What surprised me though from the stats - was that St Thomas' is a busier maternity unit than kings - 2000 more births per year.

[sillywoman]

Stats will only give a very limited picture I agree, but I do think they can be helpful in situations like this where you're wanting to know what the trends are in various hospitals. I didn't search for the stats for previous years - they may be available on that website? But, over the last 7 years (as long as I've been teaching), I think they've been similar (though IIRC Lewisham assisted delivery trend has improved significantly). Sadly I chuck out my 'local stats' poster each year so I don't have easy access to past years, but from memory Tommies has consistently been more interventional than the other two over that time so if that's what the OP is hoping to avoid Tommies might not be the best hospital to chose for her?

[Otta]

Problem with stats is that there is absolutely no depth to them. Different hospitals have specialists in different things, so there may be reasons that one hospital has more interventions than another.

[sillywoman]

Hmm, you're right about the lack of depth Otta. It's hard to extrapolate accurate information just from statistics. But, I would say that Kings & Tommies are both specialist teaching hospitals with area's of specialism that will influence their outcomes and so their statistics. Their results could be expected to be broadly similar, but they're not. Personally I believe that's down to the ethos within each consultant unit, which is created in large by the attitude toward labour & birht of the consultant Obstetricians.

Personally - seeing as many Mums & their partners going through all three hospitals systems as I do each year, and hearing the stories of their experiences - it would be Kings every time for me, with all it's faults and imperfections. Or maybe the birth centre at Lewisham. Tommies would very definitely be third on my personal list.

[Strawbs]

Hi just to update.. We had our baby at tommies this week and I honestly cannOt fault themm.. We were classed as high risk due to gestational diabetes plus exrcise induced anaphylaxis (still would have been high risk with just the GD) and the service and help we received was out of this world!! From "check in" to discharge we were so taken care of and the nightmare stories I'd heard about post natal wards in general dint ring true for me, nice people and pretty relaxed with mountains of midwives on standby to help out..

We were discharged on Thursday night circa 9pm and had a midwife at our door at 11 on Friday to check in on us..

X

[chantelle]

I am due to give birth for the second time at St Thomas soon - it seems they all have pluses and minuses and I wanted to just go with what I knew. I needed intervention and the doctors were amazing. Can't say the same for most of the midwives but never mind, I think I was unlucky with the night shift. The day ones seemed much better. That was three years ago though anyway.

Home from home at St Thomas' looks fantastic and many people have had a great experience. I was admitted to the main natal ward though and talk of me heading over there never came to fruition before I became more of an emergency situation anyway.

Do you know what midwife unit you would see? I was assigned to the Walworth unit based around Old Kent Road and the Aylesbury Estate. It is bleak going there to say the least.

To complicate things, I've since moved from Southwark to Lewisham but haven't told any of my carers yet. So i have no idea who will handle after-care.

[Ellie78]

Thanks again everyone!

I'm not sure I can make much sense out of the statistics, myself. And I think unless I have a true aversion (after visits) I might just stick with where I am already. As I said, I have no idea what my body will need on the day, having never gone through this before, and whereas in theory I'm anti intervention I don't know whether that's going to be realistic. We shall see.

Strawbs - congratulations!! How are you doing?

Chantelle - I think my midwife's unit is in Deptord (near New Cross station), first appointment there in a couple of weeks - or ,at least, that's where the community centre is where I'm booked in for my first appointmnet with the midwife (same thing?)

[Lakey]

I gave birth at Kings in June and they were amazing. Wanted a home birth or birthing centre (I hate hospitals) but was streb b positive so needed antibiotics. Other than that I had a completely natural water birth with no intervention - at Kings. They spend 15 minutes sat with my husband going through the birth plan, left me to it as requested (I was hypnobirthing) and I gave birth in water.

So dont think (like I did!) that a hosital like Kings means wires/drips/machines etc. You are able to have exactly the birth you want wherever you are.

There was not one member of staff I didn't rate in our stay (I had a 7 hour labour though so was in and out in 24 hours).

The birth centre at Lewisham is lovely jubbly though! No experience of Tommys so can't comment.

Just don't make the mistake did and think that the location will completely change your birth, you can have the birth you want where you want it. Please PM if you want to discuss more.