North West London hospital undecided between St Mary's Paddington or Royal Free Hospital

[yupyup]

I had my first at Royal free via emergency c section, and found the experience very good, despite it being an emergency. That was back in 2015 though. Recently however I have been to Royal Free for gynae and found it awful. Not the nurses as they were lovely, but rather the head consultant screamed at me for doubting her opinion while I was having a scan totally vulnerable. In the end, I went to uclh.

I 2014 I went to St Mary's when I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks, they left me screaming in pain and agony. They gave me paracetamol?? The nurse kept running away. After I screamed the place down for more than 1.5 hrs, they gave me something strong which immediately brought the pain down.

Fast forward, I am now 8 weeks pregnant, older mother. I am equidistant between St Mary's Paddington and Royal Free.
Undecided which one to choose, as Royal free been rated inadequate recently for maternity.

Anyone had any positive experiences at Royal Free recently? How would you compare Royal free with St Mary's?

Thanks

Personally if go to uclh. You can't be that far away considering you're equidistant from RFH and Mary's. It's a specialist maternity hospital ( Elizabeth Garrett Anderson) and has fantastic care for both older mum's, complex pregnancies and SCBU/NICU. Both my children were born there from complex pregnancies and they were great for both me and my children

They’re currently consulting on whether to close the maternity unit at either the Royal Free or the Whittington, will be announced next month but I have heard it’s more like to be the Royal Free.

And while it would take a year to come into effect I wouldn’t want to be under the care of a unit winding down, you would imagine staff morale would be low etc.

Thanks. I am worried uclh will be packed, as when I was there for a missed miscarriage, they were absolutely brilliant, but v v busy. Did you use uclh? How was ur experience?

Thank you, that's helpful to consider.

Yes, Ive been to UCLH twice. Yes they are busy, but it's a big London hospital and any maternity department can be really busy at any given time. I never ever felt overlooked, rushed or missed. I had many appointments with midwives and specialists and they all gave my as much time and help and medical care as I needed. It's rubbish staying in hospital afterwards, I was there for a fortnight, but it would be the same in any hospital's post Natal department. The level of care and specialist facilities and experts on tap mean it would always be my first choice.

At UCLH at the mo and it seems ok in terms of wait times etc. Was at St Marys previously, also had bad experience so switched to RFH halfway through which was better but much more disorganized.

I had DS at St Mary's. No issues at all. I haven't given birth at RFH but I see a consultant there regularly and I think it's a dump.

Thanks. Please could I ask in what way was bad experience at St Mary's?

That's encouraging to know about uclh

I had an emc at StMarys in March. Don’t go there. The midwives are nice the postnatal nurses are horrible. I had to beg for IV paracetamol and was told that I need to start to get used to the pain because I’m not going home with an IV. This was 9 hours after surgery. I didn’t have anyone with me in the postnatal ward so I needed help.

I said to them that I can’t pick up my baby I’m in so much pain and I will need to keep buzzing to pick her up and put her down. That’s when they gave me the IV paracetamol. BTW the midwives were the ones who told me to ask the nurses for this if I was in a lot of pain. But the midwives thy look after you in post surgery do not come down with you to the postnatal ward so you have to really advocate for yourself.

So much other stuff happened. I was told I was taking the piss by a nurse when I asked for help to get dressed at one point.

The ward meds were never on time and I was in so much pain. I felt like I was in a prison and was being a nuisance. When the drs and midwives did the ward rounds I felt like they were a breath of fresh air, but the nurses are bitter.

I was told that I would need to pass gas before I could leave and to tell them when I did. When I told a nurse she laughed at me and called out her colleague and said “ Your patients are something else, telling me they have passed gas”.

The cubicles are very small and people bump into them.

I was also discharged the next day and I couldn’t walk out of the hospital.

Previously with my 2nd, I went to the birthing centre and it was like a spa. But you are not guaranteed the birthing centre. I was so disappointed when I had to have a c-section as I had my 1st in the but ward and had the same shitting postnatal care that I got this time around.

Have you looked at QCCH?

I suggest Chelsea and Westminster, I have heard good things about them.

Sorry about what you have been though. It seems nurses at St Mary's don't understand pain.
Royal Free gave me v strong painkillers post surgery, laxatives to make sure I am fine to toilet. Also, they kept me there 4 days past surgery, as baby needed twice daily antibiotics for strep b. But that was in 2015. Sadly, makes me nervous to go there now after cqc rating.. hence looking at other options or recent experiences..

It's sadly a bit far for me.. I'm based near West Hampstead..

Will DM you