What hospital to choose?

[Natasa32]

Dear mums, I am 25 weeks pregnant and I need to transfer my antenatal care from east London to North London. I am really confused, I have read all the reviews and statistics about the closest hospitals to my new house and I still can't decide which hospital I should choose. It's my first pregnancy and I feel very worried about giving birth. The closest one is Whittington, then Royal Free, then Homerton and the last one is Uclh (UCH). If you have used their maternity services or you know someone who did and you have any suggestions please let me know. It would be really helpful. Thank you!

[AbbeyRoadCrossing]

Are you likely to be using the birth centre or the ward to give birth? I didn't like the ward at the Whitt but hear good things about the birth centre, unfortunately I didn't meet the criteria for that.
Both UCL and the Whitt allow partners to stay on the postnatal ward which you might or might not like.

[Natasa32]

it's really soon to know if I am gonna use the birth center or the ward at this point, but I will keep in mind your feedback. Most of the reviews I have read say the same thing, very nice birth center but poor services in ward. Thank you

[TinyMonkey]

I think you'll find the same in most London hospitals tbh. I know people who have given birth at all three (I was at the Whittington), and the wards are all much of a muchness.

The Whittington maternity wing was having a bit of a spruce up whilst I was there last year and the birth centre is meant to be very nice. My antenatal care was also very good.

[Natasa32]

Whittington is the closest one compared to the rest and It has a bit better reviews that the Royal Free. The only reason I am considering UCH even though it is a bit far (50min by taxi) is because It is a university hospital. So, they might have more experienced doctors and midwives, due to increased incidents per year but on the other hand they must be very busy at the same time. Lots to think. Thank you for your feedback :)

[TinyMonkey]

Good luck!

[BabyBNumberThree]

would the hospitals take you on a mini tour of the maternity suites? I'm in teesside and my local hospital offered this for mums/parents to be before I had my first. it was very helpful.

[AbbeyRoadCrossing]

The Whitt don't as it disturbs patients, but there's an online tour video thing on the website. The ward is about 30 beds with curtains and very busy (as with babies and partners it's a lot of people) but as PP have said most London wards are busy so not much choice there.
I had to laugh at my midwife this pregnancy describing the 'very busy' ward with 3 rooms of 4 beds. I'm out of London now though

[Natasa32]

I think Uclh doesn't allow tours in the hospital for the same reason. Their virtual tours online are as you expect quite convincing, however reality must be a bit different. I am not getting any feedback for Royal free so I guess I am gonna choose between Whittington and Uclh, it seems like both of them are ok. Thank you all:)

[Kemet]

Hi, Im pregnant with twins, 30 weeks and I was with Homerton Hospital for 1st 12 weeks of pregnancy, but then decided to change to the Whittington Hospital due to the high levels of deaths of mothers/babies at Homerton - first four deaths happened in July and October 2013, and January and April 2014 - the latest death occurred on January 17.

Im so glad that I did change to the Whittington as my care has been excellent so far and I have heard too many horror stories from friends who have given birth at Homerton recently.

As for the other hospitals you have mentioned, I dont have any experience 1st or 2nd hand of their track record.

All the best with your choice

[Natasa32]

Oh thank you Kemet, that was really helpful. Homerton has really bad reviews indeed, even though some friends of mine had a good experience there a couple of years ago. I can understand why you preferred Whittington instead.

Wish you all the best with your pregnancy!!

[manateeandcake]

I'm currently booked in at the Homerton (now 18 weeks), having had my daughter there 2.5 years ago. I was happy with the care I received then. I actually transferred from UCH late in my pregnancy and preferred the feel of the Homerton. Obviously Kemet's post is very worrying, but it's worth noting that Homerton handles an exceptionally large number of high risk and complex cases. At least one of the women died after a refusing a blood transfusion on religious grounds.