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Childbirth

Private maternity care in London

16 replies

Arghhelp · 06/04/2013 01:03

Hi

Does anyone know if the Wellington in St John's Wood is any good? Desperate to find a good private maternity hospital in London after John and Lizzy closed down and have no idea which ones are good. Do NOT want to touch the Portland. Probably will be advised to have a C-section soo.. pretty nervous about it.

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Bessie123 · 06/04/2013 01:18

Why don't you want the Portland? UCLH has private care now but it is crazy expensive.

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QTPie · 06/04/2013 08:34

Hi

The Wellington (St Johns Wood) doesn't provide maternity care (I had DS at John and Lizzies and have been "keeping an eye out" since it closed - currently TTC DC2 with IVF...). Wellington has OBGYNs, but they do not deliver there.

If you don't like the idea of Portland, then St Mary's has private maternity at the Lindo Wing. Further away are Kensington Wing at C&W (but if you are St Johns Wood, that is a bit if a hike).

QT

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fgr · 06/04/2013 14:37

The Portland and the Wellington are part of the same group HCA so are sister hospitals but don't do deliveries. I had a fantastic experience at the Portland twice but if you are adamant that you want to avoid it will have to be one of the NHS private wings.

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helenlouisey · 06/04/2013 19:43

Can highly recommend Stanley Clayton ward at The Queen Charlotte, fantastic staff, it's a private ward within an NHS hospital so you've got all the back up if needed. Ive had two csections there, one emergency and one planned and can not fault the care I had before, during and after my births.

Both Mr McCarthy and Mr Kumar are excellent.

Best of luck whatever you choose.

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Arghhelp · 06/04/2013 23:13

Thanks so much for the advice everyone. Do Mr McCarthy and Mr Kumar work anywhere else as well helenlouisey? Oh dear...had a friend who had a terrible experience at the Lindo wing. :( What am I going to do? I feel so desperate. I live in St Johns wood. Waghh...Am scared about the Portland because I have heard and read so many horror stories about the place..I want to stay close to St John's wood as my family are quite old and wont be able to come to see the baby and myself in the hospital if it is too far away. Oh why why why did John and Lizzies close down..has anyone heard good things about King Edward VII? sniff...am feeling so helpless..

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Arghhelp · 06/04/2013 23:16

fgr

was the care at the Portland really good? am scared that i will have to have an emergency c-section because i have a few complications and that they wont be able to cope etc..

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QTPie · 06/04/2013 23:24

King Edward VII don't do delivery either, sorry.

Queen Charlotte isn't too far away, is it? Not as close as Portland or St Mary's.

May I ask what your friend's experience was at St Mary's?

If you think that you will have an ELCS, then you need not worry about complications from an emergency CS (not that there should be anything that they won't cope with): C Sections are definitely The Portland's "Bread and Butter"...

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Arghhelp · 06/04/2013 23:34

Oh dear...thanks QTpie... :( feeling awful now that none of the ones i want seem to do deliveries...argh...looks like it will have to be the Portland. Basically at the Lindo they didnt allow her DH to stay with her and she had a huge amount of pain after her C-section and they didnt give her enough pain killers, the nurses didnt show her how to feed the baby and she was in pain for 6 weeks after...sigh...and I neeeed my hubby there with me...and am terrible with pain..sniff..feeling very sorry for myself now..sorry about the wallowing...

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Arghhelp · 06/04/2013 23:35

Can you recommend any one in particular at the Portland QTpie?

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QTPie · 06/04/2013 23:58

Hi

No, I wasn't at the Portland, I was at John & Lizzies. I did have (Mrs) Gubby Ayida - who, I believe, does deliver at The Portland. She is a fantastic surgeon, very down to earth and matter of fact. Not a "fluffy" type, I don't think, but I didn't really need to test that - so could be wrong.

I am sorry about your friend. Wonder why they didn't let her husband stay - could it have been before their renovations? Am sure that they are supposed to able to stay (now). DH stayed with me, at J&L, for the duration of the 5 night stay - it was great. I had an ELCS and the pain was managed throughout (I had no pain at all - just "discomfort" getting in and out of bed or shifting position). ELCS recovery really shouldn't be painful :(.

QT

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QTPie · 07/04/2013 00:04

I understand your worry, but you should have some good options...

I live in Bath and the local care freaked me out so much that we came to London for care at John and Lizzies. Fortunately the in-laws have a house in St Johns Wood, so we could make it work (we even walked to the hospital on the morning of my ELCS...).

I would look at both Portland and St Mary's if I conceived DC2 (still couldn't bring myself to get treatment in Bath...). Would probably go for The Portland if I had a straightforward pregnancy, but we will see (need to conceive first!).

QT

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fgr · 07/04/2013 10:48

Argh of course the Portland can cope with emergencies! I had lots of complications with both my pregnancies and credit the Portland with saving mine and my first DS life! There are a lot of urban myths about the Portland and there were 2 maternal deaths about 15 years ago and there have been none since, compare that with any NHS hospital and you will see that figure is insignificant. I was told by a consultant that one of the consultants involved lost a mum in the same tragic circumstances in an NHS wing the following week after it happened at the Portland and that was not all over the press!
I would really recommend a consultant called Guy Thorpe Beeston for you, he delivers at the Portland plus Lindo and C&W. Very nice, very experienced and fwiw highly recommended the Portland as the best for me.
The care is amazing, no problems with pain relief, all on tap. Fabulous midwives and even looked after my DS who wanted to be there when his brother was born and made him really involved showing him how to cuddle, feed and let him help with his first bath. Could do with a little holiday at the Portland now!

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ghislaine · 07/04/2013 15:08

Argh, I think in your situation, I would take a tour of the Portland and/or speak to a consultant who practises there about your individual situation. That will either reassure you that the Portland is equipped for your needs, and you can add it to your list of possible hospitals, or it won't, and you can discount it. But my advice would be to make a decision based on facts, not on second-hand "horror stories".

You can get quite a lot of information about their facilities from the Portland website (e.g. maternal deaths in 2012 = 0, transfers out = 0, and they have a NICU and SCBU for babies from 30 weeks, and a HDU for mothers.). But I would go and find out for yourself, it really is the only way to get reassurance.

FWIW, I had an ELCS at the Portland last year and had a great experience. The midwives were very attentive, I had pain relief on tap, my husband stayed with me for five days (and was made quite a fuss of because it seems they don't get that many involved fathers there), the nursery staff showed my husband how to bathe our son and change his nappy (we were clueless first-timers), there are great lactation consultants and post-natal physios there to help if you want, and during my CS I had a large potential blood loss resulting from my funny uterus and it was dealt wit so calmly and matter of factly by the surgeon (Mr Pat O'Brien) I had no idea that anything was amiss.

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Arghhelp · 07/04/2013 20:00

Thanks everyone. you are right ghislaine. I will book the tours and decide I think. Quite a few mums at my son's nursery seem to have used the Lindo wing and not had as bad an experience. So will go and see and will check out the Portland as well I think. From the sound of it, all of you who have had experience at the Portland have had a good time so knowing that helps. QTpie, I live walking distance from John and Lizzie's too which is why am so gutted that I can't go there. Had a fab experience there when I had to have an ectopic surgery. Soooooo kind and fabulous rooms and no pain etc...sniff.. Had my son overseas and was beyond well looked after which is why am so ignorant about the hospitals here...this will be my first time here. Thanks so much for the tips on the consultants. Do you know if I have to get a reference or will I be able to just call up book an appointment?

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Turniphead1 · 07/04/2013 20:10

Arghhelp. You can self-refer to any of the private maternity units. Check out Kevin Harrington at the Portland. He's exJ&L and lovely.

I had two DCs at j&l's and had a fab experience both times. But I have subsequently heard that some of the midwife led care there was not up it scratch from a safety perspective & there were a couple of near misses that caused the insurance for the unit to be unsustainable. Not sure if this is true though.

Good luck with your birth. If I was having a DC4 (as if!!!!) I'd go with the Portland I'd say.

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Arghhelp · 08/04/2013 13:57

Oh ok...thanks so much.. Turniphead1

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