Any Bromley / Lewisham recent maternity experiences?

[Eleanore]

Hi

I wondered if anyone had any recent experience of midwives and labour with either Bromley or Lewisham, especially their home birth teams? I was spoilt with the lovely Lanes midwives for my first two but have moved and am no longer in the King's catchment area for this pregnancy.

If anyone has any experiences of either Bromley or Lewisham, good or bad, that they wouldn't mind sharing I'd be very grateful!

[sylviamaria]

I had my second at home through Lewisham and was extremely happy with the care. I also visited the birth centre (in case the homebirth was not possible for some reason) and it looked so nice, I contemplated having the baby there instead of home! Generally very happy with Lewisham for all the care we have received there (A&E, children's A&E etc).

Best of luck!

[Saffron]

Forumite sillywoman might be doing midwifery rotations through Lewisham. You could ask her if she has insight on services in the area.

I don't have any experience with the mat services there, but we are often in Lewisham Hospital for other reasons.... DH and DD are rather accident prone (at least 3 A&E visits between them in the last 4 years), and I'm a regular in the haematology clinic due to clotting disorder. My experience is that Lewisham overall is an excellent hospital.

xx

[Eleanore]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with Lewisham!

I'm currently registered with Bromley but with no car and the PRUH so far away I was planning on switching to Lewisham in case something goes wrong, but anyone I've mentioned switching to is surprised I'd switch into Lewisham (without saying why) and it worried me. These experiences are very reassuring!

[sillywoman]

Hi Eleanore,

For a short while some years back Lewisham maternity services were troubled and had a not so good reputation so perhaps people you're speaking to may be recalling that time? However Lewisham's done a lot of work over the last four years and is now a great place to have a baby. In fact just this year the maternity unit there won a major national award for excellence. The Birth Centre is unrivalled in London in my opinion (and I suspect nationally, but I only speak from personal knowledge of GSTT, PRUH, KCL, UCLH and Portland)and is recognised within the midwifery profession as providing excellent care; The labour ward and postnatal ward have recently undergone redecoration and have a nice feel to them. The staff are lovely, supportive, and kind but also highly professional.

I had my four babies under Kings, but if I was having babies now, and couldn't have a home birth (my personal preference) then I would use Lewisham's Birth Centre without a moments hesitation. If I could have a home birth, or needed a more medical approach then I would still opt for care with Lewisham. It's a real little gem of a hospital. They are quietly working to a high standard, and providing great care for the local population. Can you tell I'm a fan? ;)

They don't do case loading midwifery a la The Lanes - more's the pity - but a few of the Lanes midwives now work there after the big shake up in KCL community care so the personalised care ethos is beginning to be more evident antenatally. You can always ask to come and see the unit if you're unsure. A good person to contact to arrange this would be Jacquie Moulla (Ex Albany midwife) who is now a consultant midwife for normality at Lewisham. Just call the main switchboard and ask to speak to her or for her contact details.

[cecyfly07]

Hi!

I used to live in Bellingham up until august 2015 and when i first got pregnant they assigned me to Lewisham hospital. Now, I hate hospitals in general and the antenatal experience wasn't great as there were constantly long queues but.. we went to see the birthing areas and fell in love with the birthing centre i wanted so much to give birth there. So the contractions started and 15 hours into labour my husband took me to the birthing centre but unfortunately my fear of hospitals and the getting there closed me so they sent me back home as i was only 1cm. I had to give birth at home suddenly as the baby was coming and i couldn't move ( they said it never happened before to them that someone decided to suddenly have an home birth) but everything went smoothly ( at least for me, my husband said he was panicking as thinking he was gonna deliver the baby alone haha) - the midwife came 10 minutes before i gave birth and so did a lovely paramedic. Everything was amazing, the midwife very good and her knowledge amazing plus she really did make me feel comfortable, they cleaned up after as well . They also came the following days and though being at home made me feel i had to put myself into action cleaning and cooking, they helped out with baby checking she was latching well and made a difference telling me i was doing great etc.

If i get pregnant again i will definitely have another home birth with the Lewisham team ( even though area wise I'm much closer to Kings)- sorry baby was born june 2015.