I gave birth (c-section) in Mar 09, and I stay at the 2nd class ward (but one bed in my room..lucky) in QE.....cos the there ar 4 1st class rooms only, so always full!
I found both the services of doctors and nurses are very good as well.
I stayed in QE G11 ward (second class but single room) for more than 1 mth from feb to mar 2009).
From my oberservation, it is very difficult to upgrade to 1st class, cos there ar only 4 1st class rooms in QE (that means 4 persons only). But there ar 6 2nd class rooms (that means 11 persons cos 1 of it is single room).
Besides, they ususally give the 1st class room to people that have to stay in hosiptal for longer time (e.g people have to bed rest from 3x weeks).
the nurses in public ward are quite "inch", when i admit into QE, i told the nurse that i would like to upgrade to either 1st or 2nd class ward....she shout to me loudly "u want to upgrade to 1st class, what grade of yr husband is??" the attitude is really bad, i almost wanna complain that nurse