North Mid or Whipps Cross?

[Eebee82]

Hi everyone

I've just discovered I'm pregnant and called my GP who advised I need to self refer with a local hospital to get things started. My nearest are Whipps Cross and North Mid and I've not heard great things about either. Has anyone had any recent experience with either please? No idea where to start with all this! Thanks :-)

I, my sisters and neices and nephews were all born in North mid. Its got a nice new maternity wing with separate rooms. Was nice when my sister was there.

I couldn't comment on whipps cross though, I haven't been there for years but my half brother was born there and is a bit of a wanker 😂

Thanks DolphinaPD, that made me laugh! I did see that it had a new maternity bit, but a lot of the posts were old so I wasn't sure. I have also been there to see an elderly patient once, but never to Whipps for anything!

Had mine in Whipps cross in 2008 and 2010. Noticed a big improvement by 2010, the whole hospital is so much better now.

A friend had her baby at North Mid recently and was really happy with it. She gave birth in the midwife-led unit. I had my 3-year old at Homerton and would recommend it if that's an option for you. I have no experience of Whipps Cross maternity but I had a terrible experience at A&E there some years back, which is why I did not consider it for maternity.

Homerton if that’s an option - it’s a fantastic hospital and all I’ve heard is positive stories.

Ive not heard of any positive stories about Whipps apart from Stella Creasy

Oh and A and E at Whipps has been 80% poor experiences and the 20% of the good experiences have been the same doctors.

Can you go to homerton instead? All I know of whipps cross was the bad rep it had a while back with so many babies being born with broken limbs. Not great. And the hospital is grim

Look at the hospital's CQC inspection report. It's recent and it rated whipps cross as requires improvement

I also recommend Homerton.

I had both my ds's at whipps Cross and they were brilliant. I was really unwell with my second and I really felt like I was in safe hands. My boys were born 2009 and 2012

North Midd is a mixed bag. Whipps Cross no personal experience of but my step sis had her two there and it was ok.

Are they your only options?

My birth experience at Whipps was good, but the postnatal wards are old and not great (kind of falling apart, no private rooms, not many showers, and no air con, which in the middle of an August heatwave was rough). Also their NICU wasn't great - obviously you'd hope not to need it, but you never know and I was relieved to be transferred to Royal London in the end. I would actually recommend Royal London if that's not too far to go.

Also you don't have to go to your nearest, you can self-refer anywhere - of course you want somewhere convenient for appointments and not too far to travel when in labour, but there's no rule that you have to go to your nearest hospital to home

(That was in 2021, by the way)

Whipps is a war zone.

Are you close enough for Princess Alexandra? Grim hospital, but outstanding maternity care.

You will hear positive and negative experiences about all the hospitals- it is so dependant on the staff on duty, number of women giving birth etc. I had my first at Whipps and did not have a good experience, had my second at North Middlesex and it was fantastic in all areas- antenatal care, consultant appointments, the birth itself and postnatal care. Would you like your partner to stay? At North Middlesex you can pay for a private room and partners can stay with you.

Hi, I had my now 13 year old at North Midd and whilst the maternity unit (before refurb) was awful, the care I received before and during a c-section following a failed homebirth was excellent. The anti natal care wasn't great though and the security guard on the postnatal unit having to referee a fight amongst a patients visitors wasn't ideal!
Then in 2019 I started my prenatal care at North Midd with my son and the facilities are really good, so greatly improved it was unrecognisable. Excellent care from the staff again too. Moved out of area then so gave birth elsewhere.

I am loving seeing fellow Whipps folk @Dogmatix34 I wonder if we have birth at the same time!

I had a multiple birth at Whipps - well looked after, private room, good experience (elective due to breech position). My sil had one before and one after me - both awful. My other sil had one at Queen Alexandra one (traumatic and he had to be moved to the big hospital in Cambridge that I can't remember) and one in North mid (she sneezed and baby fell out practically, home in less than 24 hrs).

I would say that if Whipps hasn't been refurbished since I was there then I'd avoid - it was pretty run down in 2010.....

@lugeforlife Me too! Who knew there were so many of us... it's in the middle of a huge building project / refurb, I think the delivery floor and operating suite has been done but not the postnatal wards yet. Either way I had to take DS there for a blood test a month or so ago and you kind of skirt round rubble a lot on a long detour to get where you're going. It should be loads better when it's done (and it's part of a decent London health trust so hopefully it will improve)

I had my DS at north mid last year, the antenatal care was great, appointments generally on time etc. The birth experience could have been better but at no point did I feel that they didn’t have mine or my baby’s best interest at heart, we were still in lockdown too so everyone was doing their best, hopefully that side of things has improved now.

Thanks everyone, what a minefield! And that's without knowing what you can and can't eat :-) I thought I liked 'to-do' lists before but jeeeeez, this is gonna be insane!

I would say have a look at transport links, parking etc. Not the most important thing, but worth considering.

Parking at the whole of whipps is almost impossible.

More chance of a water birth / midwife led centre at north mid as they have more of those rooms