Having given birth at Lewisham I made a conscious decision not go back there for anything if I could help it as my experience there, subsequent experience of A+E, and experiences with my young child at Lewisham Childrens A+E where something critical was misdiagnosed, were pretty awful. My second birth experience last year was at Kings and I have to say that the entire experience was excellent. If anything Kings were guilty of overfussing however things can go wrong in pregnancy so its good that problems can be picked up early. I could not believe that all the care I received including care for gestational diabetes was so good and delivered on the NHS- I am certain that few other countries and hospitals offer such a good service. Needless to say that Kings probably has its critics and all birth units are severely understaffed and midwives in short supply so nowhere is perfect however at the very least the physical fabric of Kings is so much better, cleaner and more comfortable than Lewisham and the hospital in general has a greater feeling of professionalism and where the better staff want to work, so as a patient I felt much more reassured.

Lewisham on the other hand just suffers from poor design, poor maintenance and decor and although these things are superficial they don't inspire confidence in either staff nor services. Having experienced both maternity and paediatric services recently its Kings for me and my family every time. I also understand that Lewisham has been recently slated in the press for the number of patient deaths and botched operations.