Hospital away from local area! Experience and advice
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The only thing I would say is their postnatal ward was not the best as it was very understaffed. If you are only there for one day it’s fine but I was there for five. The rest of their care was amazing though.
Hi, congratulations. I chose to have mine at Darenth Valley. It was wonderful apart from I wasn’t assigned a midwife as I was out of area xx
Hi. I did this too, on the day I went into labour I was sent back home until I was in active labour. So the additional journeys was tough but doable! Thankfully my first trip was at 2am, and we came back home at 6am, and then my contractions ramped up at 10.30am, so we missed rush hour traffic! I gave birth in the home from home centre so was able to stay there until discharge, but I’ve heard the post natal ward there is extremely poor. I stayed for two nights, and on the third day because I couldn’t breastfeed they told me I’d need to be moved to the post natal ward. I had a friend who gave birth the same day as me, and she warned me to not be moved, it was over crowded, under staffed and dirty on the ward. Instead I asked to be discharged as me and baby we’re both fine, and had a private lactation consultant visit us the next day! Would you consider kings?
For people out of the catchment you will be under care of a particular team, and the antenatal care was fab!
Hey, we too went to st Thomas! I wasn’t able to find any cabs that could take us there but my partner drove closer into south east London and booked a cab from there. I was scheduled to have a C-section but went into natural labour 4 weeks early - we had booked a hotel for the procedure date but managed to get my partner a room at the premier inn across the road so he had a base, to wash and a few hours sleep. Not a bad word to say but they did keep me waiting 30 hours to take me into theatre, which is understandable as I wasn’t dilating. Second time at St Thomas and I would choose to go back again!
Hi, I did the same thing as I had just moved from Southwark to Bromley when I found out I was pregnant. I was induced early so getting there wasn’t an issue. I worked in London so going to all the appointments was absolutely fine. We caught the train back on the way home.