Why we chose private maternity care at The Kensington Wing
When I found out I was pregnant with Baby Girl, I spent hours online. My main concern wasn’t finding the best buggy. It was finding the very best private maternity care in London to fit our needs.
We decided to go for The Kensington Wing, with our number one reason being our choice of consultant. We had been recommended the brilliant and lovely consultant obstetrician Professor Mark Johnson at The Kensington Wing, and I registered with him within days of finding out I was pregnant.
But apart from all the top consultants at the maternity unit, we also chose The Kensington Wing because of the other facilities available at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital. I liked knowing that we were in a large hospital in the event of an emergency.
It also made sense for us to choose The Kensington Wing, as Chelsea and Westminster is the closest hospital to where we live. It was great being in an area we knew well when we were sent out for hour-long walks around the hospital after contractions started a week before my scheduled caesarean, and we came to love the Starbucks right outside the hospital in the days after the birth of Baby Girl.
I loved the fact that Daddy T could stay with me in hospital after the birth, and we had a room with a view of Fulham Road, which we had been advised to ask for when checking in.
The good-sized, clean room had an en-suite bathroom with toiletries from L’Occitane, and the food was much better than what I had expected from a hospital. The friendly midwifes and staff were also very helpful, and the in-house lactation consultant spent more than an hour with me to help with breastfeeding.
If I were to get pregnant again, I would be back in a second!
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Hi Tine – I actually found your blog because I also delivered at the Kensington Wing last year and was interested in other people’s experiences there and came across one of your earlier posts. I had heard mixed reviews about the Kensington Wing and other friends of mine had delivered at either the Portland or the Lindo Wing. It was actually my NHS GP (!) who also delivered at the Kensington Wing with Mark Johnson who advised that she had a good experience there. She also recommended either Mark Johnson or Nick Wales to me. I went with Nick Wales in the end and he was amazing with a great bedside manner. In terms of my experience other than the delivery at the Kensington Wing, I never got to see the lactation consultant (not sure if this was because I was there over the weekend and only for one night), but that would have been helpful. The first time experience is so overwhelming, you sort of need to know what to ask for. Also, when I was pregnant I had a very bad fall and went to the A&E at C&W. I called the Kensington Wing, as I understood there was an OB on call at all times. The Kensington Wing staff advised that I just go to the A&E as I was under 20 weeks pregnant. Subsequently when I spoke to my OB, he said that information was incorrect and the Kensington Wing staff should have called the on-call doctor to see me. I thought I would get much better service going private, but at times you still need to be quite aggressive about knowing the level of service that you are due to receive.
Hi Ellen, Thank you so much for all this, and great to hear you were so happy with your consultant too. In terms of emergencies, I experienced sudden severe pain in the abdomen when I was pregnant, and I was then seen at The Kensington Wing. This was after 20 weeks, but I was extremely happy with the service and Professor Johnson was there to see me himself too. I felt very safe knowing I had all the mobile numbers, emails etc! Tine x
Great post on the Kensington Wing! I’m having my baby there in about 2 weeks and any tips would be appreciated! You mentioned asking for rooms over Fulham road. Do they provide nappies and such? My first baby was born in NYC and they provided everything but I’ve been hearing that its a bit different in the UK in terms of supplies.
Hi Sheila, Glad to hear you liked the post! We packed our own nappies, as they had been on a list of what to pack, but we received nappies there too. In terms of the lactation consultant, who Ellen mentioned she hadn’t seen, I would advise to ask for her if you’re interested in breastfeeding assistance. I had met her at my 36-week appointment at The Kensington Wing, and wanted to get some help after the birth. She was brilliant. Good luck with your baby! Hope you like the UK system too! Tine x
Hi Sheila – As someone who is also used to the US hospital system, the Kensington Wing provides you with the list of items to bring, which includes nappies, but they do provide Pampers for you. They do not provide onesies or the baby hats that US hospitals usually provide to the newborns, so you do need to bring your own. Definitely ask for the lactation consultant as I didn’t get to see her! If you’re going for the epidural they are a little bit more conservative here with the cut-off time as to when they can provide it to you in the UK, than in the US (e.g. a friend of mine had the epidural administered to her when she was 9cm dilated in NYC), but I understand these are NHS guidelines, so this would probably depend on your consultant. For example, I believe you need to be 3cm dilated in order to have an epidural on the NHS, but I was barely 1cm dilated, but my water had broke and my consultant allowed me to have an epidural. Worth checking with your consultant and good luck!