whittington hospital question for anyone recently given birth there

[umboo]

doing a search on whittington hospital reviews on here, i read one that said on the postnatal ward there is only one toilet for the whole ward- is this true?? also what is their cleanliness like?

oh, and if you give birth in the birth centre, do you need to use the postnatal ward at all?

I gave birth at whittington last february to my DD. I was at the birthing centere. I also had antenatal care with them. I must say birthing centere was amazing, I have couple of complains but very minor compare to the overall experience. Midwifes were great compare to the regular antenatal midwifes on the 5th floor. I had water birth and it was wonderful. They let us in before 2cm but with regular contraction in the middle of the night, because they were empty with no other births going on. With that said, antenatal care was hit and miss, scans both were horrific with rude ignorant technitians and when I I saw wards on the tour I was determent to bit induction and have a natural birth whatever it takes. So it actually helped me to have a natural birth before I was not sure... Each Saturday they have a tour, you should attend it to see if you would like it for your birth. Birthing centere is superb and I would choose it again any time. Also I had retained products after the birth and had to return, they were outstanding in resolving the situation...

thank you that's really helpful. i hope to go the birthing centre if i remain low risk, there are rooms available etc. the website says they don't do tours anymore. if i test positive for group b strep then they may insist i go on regular labour ward (though i will insist otherwise!) and possibly may need to go to postnatal ward for monitoring - i'm presuming you can only stay in teh birthing centre postnatally if you're just there for a few hours? so i need to find out about the postnatal ward just in case i end up there, and without a tour i'm just relying on the good old mumsnetters to give me some info! i guess i could phone about the loo situation (1 loo for 10+ postnatal women does NOT sound like a good idea!) but also hoping for some views on cleanliness generally.

bumping to see if i can get some more views? :)

The loo situation is true, it is 1 for many. It's horrible. Also the room has curtain decides with with like 20 ladies in their and their families, may be more, but I hear that is common for nhs. They do have private rooms for extra charge but no toilets there either. Depending on time of the year birthing centere is pretty available. In February it was slow. You can stay 12 hours in the birthing centere if no complications after birth in the centere. Try searching mums net for whittington, there were few reviews in the past. Good luck!

I think the loo situation was not on my mind when in labour! There wasn't a queue when I needed it. A tour might help you get your head around the facilities. Be prepared for the fact most people do give birth in the labour ward and the end product is what you are in there for. Birth is just a small part of the whole package.

bellynelly i did a search, that was where i read in horror about the loo situation!

smearedinfood now i'm even more confused, i heard the one loo for all was in postnatal ward, but your post sounds like its in teh labour ward too- have i understood your post correctly?! i am concerned about the loos, defintiely postnatally, because last time I was such a physical wreck I could not have done a quick trip to the loo, and would not want to keep other postnatal women waiting. nor do i want to wait for others. but more important than all that, how can it be kept clean with so much usage? am very confused about what to do now.....

how can they do this and then design a birthing centre all with ensuite?!

I gave birth at the Whittington 15 months ago. I started off in the Birthing Centre, which is gorgeous with amazing facilities, but ended up on the labour ward. There was no toilet attached to my room, and because I didn't fancy having to struggle down the corridor to use the general loo I opted to have a catheter inserted. Hmmm. I don't know if other rooms do have bathrooms, or at least loos attached. Oh and my room stank of urine. Not mine, I hasten to add!
I spent one night on the post natal ward and it was awful. I think there were 2 loos, but 1 was broken and there was 1 shower. Blood and urine puddles everywhere - this is inevitable, but fairly horrifying. When I did the tour of the unit they sold me this whole line about how for a small fee (£100 I think it was) you could request an 'amenity room' which is a private room with an en suite bathroom. Don't believe a word of it! All were in use and a friend of mine who was on the ward at the same time as me and who had had a EMCS and her baby was rather unwell with an infection had to wait 4 days before being allowed to have an amenity room.

I had one night on the antenatal ward as well, and this was similarly awful, although I was a hell of a lot more mobile and managed to go down to use the public loos in the main bit of the hospital. Apparently it is not unusual for the labour ward to be overflowing and for women in the earlier stages of labour to be put into the antenatal ward. When I was there there was one poor woman trying to get through her contractions in the public bit of the ward. Not great for her.

If there is a next time, and it's a big if, I have to have an ELCS and I will be going privately to the urogynae who is sorting the aftermath form all my birth injuries.
To be fair to the Whittington, I'm not sure other places are that much better. The Royal Free tends to get bad reviews, although I think their ward set up postnatally is better. Could you look at UCH? This has a great Birthing Centre. The labour ward/postnatal ward might be better. If VB was possible for me next tiem and if I was thinking of NHS, UCH is where I would be looking.

Thanks, ladies! I was in a bit of a doubt after reading the rave reviews about the Whittington in MN (I booked there but hated the midwife in my booking appointment) and wasn't sure about going to UCH (where all my friends had given birth).

After reading all this (and about the loo situation), I think it's decided. I'll transfer to UCH. There's no point having a fluffy naice birth centre (IF it is as good as some people say) if the rest is crap. I've have a bad enough experience at the Royal Free for my first birth and definitely don't want another bad experience this time.

Thanks again for the info.

just wanted to update this-i ended up phoning the postnatal ward and PALS who told me there IS more than 1 loo for the whole ward. I wonder whether ppl thought there was just 1 because of there being 1 loo on their section of the ward. So there are loos on other parts of the ward, technically for the patiensts nearer to that loo iyswim but if the loo nearer me was dirty i wd have no qualms about going to use another one (and also insisting that the other loo gets cleaned!)

i did book in with whittington in the end and so far my experience has been great. Im even lucky enough to be having NHS acupuncture there for bad pelvic pain, plus bc of dc1 being born at 40+16 they have booked me in acupuncture induction from my due date.

Just wanted to clarify so you get a full picture in making your choice.