Antenatal care St Thomas vs St Georges

[AliceDontKnow2014]

Hi there, I need some advice. I'm living in Clapham and just found out I am pregnant, GP has asked me to choose between St Thomas & St Georges (and somewhere else, but those are the two I'm looking at). She said most of her patients choose St Thomas because "the midwife care is run out of Clapham". I feel like i dont know how anything works and have nobody to ask. So, aside from all the posts I read about which hospital is better (they both seem to be good), please can someone advise me on the antenatal midwife stuff?

If St Thomas has midwife care run out of clapham, what does that mean? Where in Clapham and is that just for the early checkups?
And where does St Georges do their midwife care?? from the hospital itself or do they also have clinics elsewhere that I will have to travel to?

And would it be midwife or hospital for an early scan? (I lost one earlier this year, and GP said she could refer me for an early scan).

Sorry if these seem like pretty basic questions, I'm all on my own here, newly registered with GP and didnt get much time to talk this through. No pg friends in the area and keeping it a secret til >12 weeks because of what happened last time. Feel like I don't know anything :(

Oh yeah I'm almost 8 weeks now (but have a long cycle (38days) so that might not be accurate).
Other info: both hospitals are easy for me to get to, I guess. I live on the northern line and both waterloo & tooting are on the line. Easiest to drive to would be St G's, but I like the sound of having "the midwife care run out of Clapham"?? Been to St G's a few times as a blood donor etc so feel like I know it a bit. Never been to St T's.

Please help!

[usualnamechanger]

Loved the antenatal care in St Thomas' but the postnatal... not so much. Go private for post natal if you can.

[sandberry]

There were (assume still are) two midwife teams from St Thomas' in Clapham, one is group care and is really great, you see the same team of midwives in pregnancy and one will come to your birth in the hospital and see you at home afterwards, the other is traditional care, you go to the clinic and see the midwife, it is sometimes the same one, sometimes not and then in labour you go to the hospital and have whichever midwife is there.

Clapham is St Thomas' area so it is likely you would have to travel to the hospital for antenatal checks if you chose St George's and if you want a home birth you would need to transfer to St Thomas'. You would be seen after the birth at home by St Thomas' midwives whichever hospital you choose because it is St Thomas' area.

Both are good hospitals but like all of London the postnatal care may let them down.

[minipie]

Hi, as sandberry says, there is a St Thomas's midwife team in Clapham so I guess that's what your GP meant.

I was with St Georges - my antenatal care was a mixture of hospital appointments (for scans), GP appointments, and community midwife appointments. I was with the Topaz Team of community midwives who were based in the Balham Health Centre on Bedford Hill in Balham - I guess that might be the closest midwife team to you if you went for St George's.

I agree that ante natal and birth care at both these big London hospitals have a good reputation (with the odd bad story), post natal care has a mixed rep at both.

Have a look at nappyvalleynet - there are a few threads on there about St T vs St G - I think there are some minor differences in the facilities eg it may be easier to get a private room (if you pay for it) in one hospital vs the other. I think they're pretty similar overall though.

[AliceDontKnow2014]

Thanks all! much appreciated...have gone with St T's in the end. GP is registering me, so will see how I get on!

[Notmymnname]

Just wondering how you have got on? I need to choose between G & T next week