St George’s or Kingston Experiences

Mine was December if that's recent enough! We picked Kingston purely based on experience with both of their a&e departments. I had pre-eclampsia and had to stay unexpectedly for a week, have an early induction, then stay afterwards for 4 days so not a typical experience. I thought they were brilliant, especially the DAU. The ward before had two beds in each room and the one after had I think 5-8?. We were on a ward for two nights and then moved because of the amount of time we were going to be there. It was a bit noisy, as you'd expect, but really clean, super attentive midwives the whole time, BF support if that's relevant for you. The ward had a bed and a chair too, not big but enough space and the bathrooms were kept much cleaner than I expected. During labour they had a limited number of beds and staff so I know some people were waiting for a while but this was during the junior doctors strike and I think the birthing suite had way more space than the other part. Feel free to ask if you have anything else

I had both my babies at St George’s and can’t speak highly enough of the midwives there. The post natal ward is not great but I think that is probably the same in a lot of places unless you go private and get your own room. There are 4 to a ward in George’s. The issue for me has never been the other women on the ward, it’s their visitors/partners that are loud and inconsiderate!

St George’s maternity unit has been classified as inadequate. Check the CQC website. I personally therefore would avoid it but that doesn’t mean everyone’s experience would be reflective of this rating

I had my boy at Kingston, what an amazing experience. Was treated so well !

I had my babyboy January 20024, they were great, I was checked to see if I was dilated then moved to my own room I was allowed 2 people in there with me. After I gave birth I wasn’t allowed anyone to visit me or the baby apart from the people in the room already, then I was moved upstairs at about 7pm where only one person was allowed to be with me and the nurses didn’t really come in apart from telling me they were going to look after me and check me they checked my blood pressure at 6am the next day and then came in about 10am to check my baby and then discharged me at 1pm luckily I knew how to put my little on in the car seat and attach it to the car because they didn’t give me any information just said I was free to go. But to be honest my birth was amazing and I couldn’t fault it one bit.

Thanks everyone. So refreshing to hear RL stories and experiences. Katie was yours at Kingston or St George’s?

St George’s I wouldn’t touch with a barge poll. Two of my friends have recently ended up in ICU due to mismanagement and incompetence in the maternity ward and one of their babies had brain damage due to the staff taking too long to make a decision. Also check their CQC report it’s appalling. I initially started off at Kingston and did not like the midwife’s at all everything was rushed and there was really no sense of ‘care’. I reluctantly went to st Helier (even though it is a much further stretch for me to get to St George’s is the closest) but it was the best decision I ever made. Amazing kind and caring staff, listened to my wishes and concerns and the delivery was so smooth. I was discharged in 24 hours after a c-section as my recovery was great and up and walking again 4 days after my surgery. I’m not 11 weeks postpartum and am still thankful for my experience there x

I just had mine at George’s! The midwives were AMAZING We wanted birth centre and pool birth, but birth centre was closed when we arrived, but they put us in the pool room on the delivery suite and that had all we needed… We did have to go onto the ward after birth, which I didn’t like… but we left same day (had to push quite a lot to leave so soon) also meant we had to go back in to get babies hearing test done as nobody was available, but that was fine with us! But everything about the delivery was perfect xx

Had my lo at St George’s 12 days ago while the midwives were amazing the facility is horrible. Was there almost a week due to induction but gwilliam ward or however it’s spelt feels like what I would think prison is like. Ask to go on a tour but get them to show you where Ull go after baby is born also.

I had my twins at St George’s, I received great care when I was pregnant and my C Section was great. However the post natal ward as mentioned in other comments is not great. They are terrible at helping you to breastfeed and it just generally feels very understaffed especially overnight. We had our own room but felt forgotten about and really had to push for help from the midwives.