News

Mark Clarke with Shadow Health Minister, Anne Milton MP, and the head of midwifery at St George’s Hospital Maternity Unit

 

Increasing numbers of local mothers-to-be are rejecting the idea of having their baby at St George’s Hospital. New figures show that most Wandsworth mothers would rather go almost anywhere than have their baby in their local hospital. 63% of local mothers choose to leave Wandsworth and go to either Chelsea & Westminster, Kingston or St Thomas’s & Guy’s Hospitals to have their baby - despite all the travelling inconvenience. In fact, the most popular hospital for Wandsworth mother- to-be is Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.  So not only do mothers-to-be choose to leave Wandsworth to have their baby but they are willing to deal with the high parking charges and congestion charges that go with that choice.

 

Some mothers-to-be turn their backs on St George’s when they have read the last Healthcare Commission report into St George’s Hospital maternity care which said that it was the eighth worst in Britain.

 

Other mothers-to-be turn their backs on St George’s after they have gone to have a look around it before giving birth and then decide it’s not for them. After an initial visit around 8% of mothers-to-be are expected to change their mind about a hospital; but last year 23% of mothers-to-be, having had a first visit to St George’s, then refused to have their baby there. 

 

Many mothers have written to Mark with improvement ideas, all of which have been passed on and some implemented. If you are having a baby now or had one in the last year do let Mark know how it has gone so we can see if the measures that St George’s Hospital have put in place have turned things around.