Whittington or UCL maternity ward?

[Picklecheese]

Dear all,

My Partner and I are expecting our first baby and have been asked by our doctor to decide upon the maternity ward we will be using. Does anyone have any releatively recent experience of either the Whittington or UCL maternity wards?

We would both be extremely grateful for any insights especially as we're not finding any up to date review information on general Google searches, while we'd also prefer not to take thier surveys at face value.

Thanks in advance!

UCL very new but no direct experience, though family members born there and no complaints.

I went to the Whittington which has a has lovely MLU -not that I got to use it. The labour ward was fine though and the staff were brilliant. Without exception. Which is closer?!

Can only talk about 2006, UCL (old building, but no doubt same staff) was horrendous. Doctors, nurses, midwives were all at loggerheads with each other, major communication issues (and hence mistakes, dangerous mistakes). Lot of nurses/midwives who could not care less about baby/mother. Dirty wards, dirty beds, dirty showers. No help with breastfeeding at all. Hell on earth. But this was 2006.

Currently booked at UCH and have found them fantastic.Clean and all staff are polite and caring.

Had a scare last week and spent time on both the labour ward and the maternal care ward. Labour ward was fantastic - all staff introduced themselves each time the came into the room and were very respectful. Pat O'brian and Mr Peebles are both fantastic. I have not had my baby yet though so can only talk about what I have experienced so far. Waiting times for the Tuesday clinic are long, but if you know this in advance you can make it work. I feel well cared for so far.

The maternal care ward was ok - noisy, which was to be expected as all other women also had babies where as I was just in pain and exhausted. On the more negative side they are very strict on the visiting hours and the had filled in my notes saying 'ate and drank well' - in fact I did not have a thing to eat for the 36 hours I was in. Staff all very nice though, and helpful.

Agree that Pat O'Brien is nice, but he does not seem to work weekends/nights (possibly unless you go private because he also has private patients). So the best consultants you might not see when you give birth (I had registrars, possibly well meaning, but not very experienced).

I started off at UCH then transferred to Whittington as closer to home. UCH antenatal care seemed a good standard, friends gave birth there and had good experiences though I believe they have high C section rate? MAJOR inconvenience that it's in the middle of town with no parking, and queues at antenatal appts often huge.

Whittington birth centre looks lovely though just found out they only have 2 midwives even though there are 5 rooms (!?) so occasionally you can't get in. They are apparently plans to up this to 3 though. Friends have had mixed experiences at the hospital but that was before new unit opened.

Due in less than 3 weeks so happy to post an update afterwards!

I see dikkertjedap, I did not realise that about P O'Brian so good point. I'm having an elective C so the plan is for him to do the section. I believe UCH very good if you are high risk and complicated (as I am) so I'm perhaps not so well placed to comment if your needs are more straightforward.

Clearly the good thing about an ELC you plan everything in advance, so you make sure it is on a weekday and have the best team (in my experience the best and most experienced consultants only work 9 to 5 Mon-Fri). If I was to have another child I would like that (not having another child though). Or you have to go private to ensure that an experienced consultant is on call, otherwise it could be hit and miss (only after birth I found out that many very good NHS consultants have more than one job and take private patients, so it is something you can always ask if you feel strongly that you want a certain consultant, whatever time you give birth). Good luck.

Hi,
I came across your response on a planned C section with Dr Pat O Brien in UCLH.
I am due in Sep'16 and have booked an appointment with him for a private C section in UCLH. Please could you provide some more information about your experience and your recovery post op?Any specific request or check that I should ask for from the consultant? I would really appreciate any guidance from you as my family doesn't live in Uk so don't have much info on how the private system works in London.

Many thanks,
Sonali