Recent experiences of Kings College Hospital maternity unit

[mettelw]

Agree with the overall positive comments about King's, certainly my maternity hospital of choice and absolutely the best place to be if things go wrong. I have had 2 children there - first one (December 2008) where our experience on the labour ward was really great, the post-natal ward was incredibly busy and the midwives had to go upstairs to help on the labour ward so there wasn't much time for supporting the post-natal ward. With my second (August 2011), we had a less positive experience on the labour ward (came in for induction in the morning, held in triage until 22:00 where my labour started spontaneously, did not have a great raport with the midwife to put it mildly, the doctors on the other hand were great, but fortunately the birth took 2 1/2 hours, so wasn't there too long), the postnatal ward was fantastic. Had lots of help and support, felt incredibly well supported by the midwives and the other support staff there, a huge difference to my first birth. I think they have listened to the issues that have been raised about the post natal wards and also apply quite a strict 'catchment area' so that they don't become so busy.

[mrsalachlan]

I had our baby there in August. Waters broke day before due date and went in but sent home as no contractions. Back the next day for induction. Induced overnight and hung out with 4 different midwives in the process. I did ask for an epidural as soon as they induced me which I think was probably a v good idea as got it within the hour so the whole experience was stress free and painless (we had planned a water birth at home!). The midwife with me once I got to pushing was brilliant (to my shame I don't remember her name- hadn't slept much!). I could barely feel anything to push and came out with healthy baby and minor 2 stitches. If we have another I would def go back. V positive experience.

[Zedd]

I've been following this thread with interest and I'm pleased to see that the excellent reputation that Kings has seems to be deserved contrary to my own experience.

I gave birth at kings in october last year so a relatively recent experience. I had a complicated birth in the end and I agree that once things get "serious" the standard of care is excellent. Unfortunately, my experience for most of my labour was far less positive. It is a VERY long story but amongst other things we experienced rude, unhelpful staff; agency midwives who sent my partner to speak to doctors and demand their attention as the midwives felt they were not being listened to; a 2 hour wait for a doctor/ operating theatre while in the second stage of labour (incidentally I was told to "stop pushing" as the midwife was concerned about my heart-rate... is this even possible...?!?!); a doctor and midwife arguing in front of me about whether the baby was back-to-back (she was).

They just seemed too busy and/ or understaffed and I feel this impacted massively on the standard of care I received.

Once on the post-natal ward (and while this is not a nice place I'm not sure there is anything the NHS can do about the fact that 5 babies on one ward do not co-ordinate their feeding times!) I met 2 other women who had difficult experiences although at different ends of the spectrum. One woman had been induced and as it was her second she was very aware when things started to progress very quickly. SHe attempted to alert the midwives to this but was told that it was too soon for the labour to have progressed significantly so she should have a bath to help with the pain. She gave birth in the bath half an hour later, on her own.

The other mum was scheduled for a planned C-section due to a breech baby. She went into spontaneous labour but had to wait for an operating theatre/ doctors for 6 hours. The baby then had to be pushed back up in order to be delivered by C-section.

Finally, another friend (NCT) had to deliver a breech baby naturally as there were no operating theatres/ doctors available when she went into spontaneous labour.

All of the bad stories I have heard seem to revolve around Kings just being too busy/ understaffed. Perhaps it is a victim of its own success?

[fapl]

It will only get worse when Lewisham closes :(

[Bouncy]

fapl - was about to say exactly the same thing. Haven't given birth at Kings but at St Thomas'; similar experience to many on here - excellent midwife / doctor person-centred medical care when things went contrary to plans and finally got assigned a slot and admitted, but highly stressful and unpleasant pre-admittance and on post-natal ward. Again, due to them just being way past capacity. Given that South London maternity services are already clearly utterly overstretched, I'm very tempted to have another baby in good time before Lewisham closes!

[CaliKim]

Just had the second three weeks ago. Our first was born at King's two years ago and I was delighted with the standard of prenatal care - the scans, scheduling a section, etc. I had a very unusual labour (water 3+ weeks early and 36 hours before contractions started) and they were very supportive about that. But must agree with others that once labour started we were not given much attention! Though in fairness it was Sunday afternoon and several people gave birth in pre natal ward because the labour ward was rammed. And as I was scheduled for a section / progressing extremely fast for a first timer I think they justifiably assumed I was whining! However, by the time we got upstairs it was too late for the section - thankfully the suspected problem wasn't there (we knew it wasn't 100% so no complaints there) so in the end it was fine. We were in 9 days for various reasons and aftercare was fabulous. Even after discharge you can call the lactation expert and she was just amazing.

But for 2nd I just had a home birth with Brierley midwives and it was miles better. I never thought I'd ever want one, always thought it was utterly mental to avoid the epidural, but the last was so quick I was worried it was inevitable and thought it would be better planned! You get a small team of midwives for all your prenatal / postnatal appointments and labour. If you have to go to hospital for any reason they will stay with you the whole time. And they were all lovely. Very supportive, attentive and knowledgeable. I personally wouldn't fancy it first time as there are a lot of unknowns, but if the previous ones were straightforward I can't recommend it enough! They have the gas and drugs if you bleed out and all sorts. For me, our daughter was born at half past midnight and by half two we were all tucked up in our own beds with the mess sorted for us! And lots of people do it for their first, though as I say I would be anxious about it. So apologies as this is a bit useless for the original poster but hopefully useful for someone.

Good luck to all the pregnant posters - everything I've heard about both Guys and Kings has been overwhelmingly positive. We're quite lucky to be in such a high quality area so don't worry too much!

[Loigal]

All in all I had good care particular in the labour room and post natal ward. The staff there were excellent and very attentive. However I would be very wary if put in the overflow cupboard (yeknomyeknom it sounds like we had a similar experience around the same time) or the pre natal ward. It was very busy that night / day and there was not enough space on the labour ward so as I wasn't progressed enough I was held in those places with slim oversight. The woman next to me on that ward behind a curtain gave birth and I was told I was next without pain relief as the labour ward was full! Thankfully I had the spirit and English language skills to fight and did get moved. I certainly don't want to alarm anyone, the experience as a whole was very good, but I felt I had to fight for it. I would go back, partly because the alternatives sound worse! I've put off writing to the midwives/PALS, i think there are some lessons that should be learned from my case, this thread has spurred me to do so.

[mollie]

Just reading through these posts it may be helpful to mention that hospitals have groups called Maternity Services Liaison Committee (MSLC's)who are there to consider women's recent experiences of giving birth at their hospital. The MSLC is made up of different user reps and hospital teams including head of Midwifery etc. As an NCT Practitioner I know there are NCT antenatal teachers and breastfeeding counsellors on these groups as well, in some hospitals they chair the regular MSLC meetings. If you want your experience noted and would like things raised at the MSLC please contact the hospital you gave birth in asking for information about the MSLC.

In the NCT Postnatal courses that I run locally in SE22, SE5 and SE1 I frequently hear feedback about pregnancy, birth and early parenting issues. The NCT Postnatal courses offer an environment to explore how you feel about your birth experience (along with many other issues to do with early parenting) and I encourage new mums to think about their birth story and consider writing it out at some point. It is also good to ask any birth partners present at the birth to write out their version and then look at both accounts. It is also possible to ask for copies of your maternity records, many people are unaware of this, these make fascinating reading. Putting these different versions of the same experience together helps build a picture of what went on during the birth.

Sometimes people want to discuss their birth with a midwife or with other hospital staff, this is also possible.

There are also organisations that can help with difficult births e.g. The Birth Trauma Association (BTA), and for those who experience flashbacks it may be helpful to know that you can ask for help and support.

For more information: www.nct.org.uk also details of postnatal courses etc

[MrsAk]

First baby in 2011 I was in labour for nearly 3 days and thought that the care at kings was amazing (I started a thread on here at the time saying how pleased I was). I went though at least 6 midwives and every single one of them was brilliant and I truly felt they cared about me and my baby. I had my second baby at kings in October and the thing I was worried about was not getting a room on the labour ward as they were so busy. Got my lovely big room but unfortunately we later discovered that 4 midwives had phoned in sick that day so we had an agency midwife who was just horrible. It felt like she didn't want to be there, didn't read my notes, didn't answer our questions, gave us conflicting advice about when to/not to push, got cross with me for not using the gas and air properly, told my husband to press the emergency button without ever explaining why and generally made us feel like we were a burden amongst many other things. I wish we had spoken up sooner and made sure she was nowhere near us when our baby was delivered. I still feel angry about it especially as the last time all the midwives were amazing. We told the main midwife on duty and she said she needed to know this so they could act accordingly. All the doctors and the midwives on the post natal ward were lovely, it just seems were were very unlucky with this woman. My advice is if you are not happy or feel uncomfortable with any health care professional you need to speak up.

[eva_ben]

Glad to see there are many positive stories about Kings. Our experience of pre and postnatal care was excellent. However, care during labour itself was pretty bloody crap. Luckily, it was a relatively short labour and there were no complications. Maybe Kings operates best if you do have a difficult birth. I asked to see my notes afterwards and the problem seems to be that they were too busy and didn't have enough staff. Although I was induced, and so was at Kings for the whole thing, we weren't allocated a labour room until just one hour before the birth. Due to shift changes, I believe, we had five different midwives dealing with us. When I was examined for the first time, at 7cm dilated, I couldn't believe that the midwife was actually being sarcastic towards me - totally uncalled for. It felt like we pretty much got the minimum possible care during labour. Thankfully, my body did everything it needed to do and there were no complications. But I felt I might as well have given birth in a barn, I'd have been more relaxed (and would have had more space!) and I would have avoided some sarcasm and aggro.

[Mutrik]

I was turned away from King's as labour started prematurely and they had no more spaces in their special care unit. Had to go in ambulance to Chertsey (by Heathrow) and later to east Surrey Hospital in Redhill (by Gatwick), to follow where there were empty incubators (long story). Was told in King's I should be happy as someone else had been sent all the way to Scotland (!) once. Needless to say, quite traumatic but luckily all was fine in the end. It's not good though that hospitals have such high demand they have to turn you away.

[devsdev]

Just to let anyone having a baby soon - there's a bug in the water at Kings and they aren't allowing water births at the moment. I've been in the antenatal ward and they're managing the bug in various ways (special bottled water for cleaning babies, brushing teeth etc, filters on taps and showers) and births taking place as normal, so not a cause for concern that I can tell. But just a heads up rather than realising you can't have a water birth when you get there.

[sillywoman]

That's real helpful devsdev, did they give you any indication how long they expected water births to be off the agenda?

[devsdev]

Sillywoman, they didn't seem know when it would be resolved. I was in for 2 weeks and the problem persisted. In fact I think they were initially allowing water births and then stopped. I think they were planning on cleaning out the tanks or treating the water soon.

[LalKJ]

Sillywoman, I am due 1 June, and was hoping for a water labour (found it very effective for the first two!), but my midwife (from the Lanes) doesn't think Kings' water will be sorted by then!

[simonethebeaver]

Am I right in saying, Sillywoman, that women booked at Kings have the option of using the birth centre at Lewisham if they are low risk? Or has that changed?

[devsdev]

I am unfortunately back on the antenatal ward, now till whenever baby comes (hopefully not too soon). I can report that they're allowing water births again and the water situation seems to be improved if not resolved. Good luck ladies.

[sb]

.

[Nunheadfamily]

Good to hear updating reports, We are planning to have our baby delivered at kings, am hoping for the midwife led unit but depends on how things progress and whether rooms available on the day.

[MAK]

I had my kids in King's Hospital. Had a great experience. The midwifes were so professional and supportive.

Best of luck with your pregnancy. Hopefully you'll have a positive experience at Kings too.

[Jenken]

Wondering if anyone can give more up to date experiences of giving birth at Kings?

I'm having my first baby and have started community midwifery care locally then will have separate Kings midwives at the hospital for the birth.

I am worried about consistency of care, understanding and support. But have found most of the previous posts reassuring about the level of care you receive at Kings.

Ideally I'd like to use one of their birthing rooms but of course will come down to whether they are free at the time and if the birth is straightforward.

Any recent experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks