"Great support at the right time"

Our 2nd son was born recently at the PRUH and I wanted to post on here about how we were looked after.

Firstly, if you’re not from the area - parking is a nightmare unless you arrive after 1900 or before 0600 - JS is ok but restricted to 2 hours.

Appointments are not always on time in the build up as the hospital is so busy - as now part of Kings it’s drawing people in from all over Kent and Croydon.

Food on site is ok, M&S and JS close by for the mums and a great curry house in the shops over the road helps Dad to get through the long nights too

As my wife was older, and due to complications with our 1st son’s delivery we had to meet the consultant on the due date. We were advised that we couldn’t be admitted that day as the ward was full but to call on the Sunday.

Sunday 8am told to call at lunchtime to see if any space available, but fortunately got a call at 1130 from the ward saying come down to the hospital

Unfortunately we had to wait outside the ward for a bed to become available, and when it did we went on to a prelabour ward with 3 other mums.

The nurses were very helpful explaining that as we were being induced we had to wait for a specific type of bed to be available. As it was now late afternoon the likelihood of this happening was up in the air - we thought about going back home but didn’t want to lose our place in the queue - so the wife stayed in. Unfortunately it was an uncomfortable night - not a lot of sleep for her as sharing with other people in various stages of labour.

The next day - in luck - in to a delivery room and things start moving.

All of the above was part of the downside to our stay.

The upside was that as soon as we got in to the delivery room our experience improved so much. The care my wife received was excellent, there was always a midwife or 2 around to ask - the changeovers were well covered and everything that happened was explained - options were given and risks (big or small) were all given to us.

The 2 midwives that helped us in our 1st part were excellent, the midwife that took over from them for the next few hours was so nice and encouraging and the midwife took us through the night until delivery was so helpful encouraging supportive that she could not have been nicer or more professional.

The staff in theatre and recovery were also excellent. At every point options were given and all things explained in a very inclusive way so we felt able to make decisions as appropriately as we needed to.

I could not have asked for more from the staff at that point - they were amazing

Only slight downside was trying to get discharged after the birth - my wife stayed in for 2 nights due to the assisted labour on a ward - again the nurses and staff were really helpful - but the procedure was dragged out.

All in all, our experience at the crunch times was resoundingly positive and a credit to the nhs, the doctors midwives and staff.