Which hospital to choose?

[parvinderdeo]

Hi

I am 6 weeks pregnant and need to choose a hospital. We live in Palmers Green, North London. Chase Farm's maternity ward is closing in Nov 2009 so my options are:

1. North Middlesex (have read some awful reviews so its off the list)
2. Barnet (have had generally decent reviews about the birthing experience although the postnatal care was below average)
3. Whittington (similar story to Barnet but there is an option to pay for a private room)

Both Barnet and Whittington have had reviews from women who gave birth there between 2006 -2008. Would people be willing to share more recent birthing experiences, say in the last year at either of these hospitals?

Finally, given recent news of the royal baby, I'm just wondering whether I can choose St. Mary's or is there a restriction based on postcode?

Sorry for the long message but its my first time and I'd hugely appreciate any advice!

Thanks! :)

Hi I live in North London as well. I know a lot of friends who gave birth in Barnet. Personally I didn't choose it because of a story I heard that happened there (you can pm if you want the full story that I heard), but everyone who I know I went there was happy. I went to Royal Free in Hampstead the ante-natal care was great, lovely midwives and hardly any waiting time for check-ups, but the postnatal was not great for a first baby, I felt I was just left to figure things out by myself it would have been nice if they had been a bit more helpful. My friend just gave birth a few weeks ago in Edgware Birth Centre and said it was lovely, if you're low risk maybe you want to consider a birth centre.
As far as I know there's no postcode restrictions when you choose a hospital Royal Free wasn't in my catchment area but I was allowed to go there, it just depends on how far you want to travel when your in labour, but bear in mind for first you could quite likely need to be induced (which is not as bad as the horror stories you might hear!)....
Hope this is helpful it's such a lovely time just remember everything that happens in pg and labour is totally worth it!!!!My 14 week dd is gorgeous and I love her to bits good luck with everything

Im in north London. Consider how much traveling you will have to do. For example does the midwifes from The whittington run ante natel care near you.

My sister has had 2 babies at Barnet. Fantastic experience & she could have gone private but chose not to.

I've had 2 at Edgware Birth Center. Best experience. Ive also had 1 at the north mid....awful. Im currently booked into the whittington & so far Im impressed.

You have to think about your circumstances & what you want from the hcp's.

Good luck!

I lived in palmers green when I had dd and went with whittington.
She was born in the beginning of 2011.
I did exact same research as you but with UCH in the mix.
North Middlesex, was not an option, reviews are horrendous.
Barnet or chase farm were out the way for me, no easy way to get to on the days I don't have a car, also reviews were not so great and recently some horrible story of neglect also came out. I heard good stories about it too but mainly in the consultant lead unit. Edgeware birthing centere sounded great but 50 minutes transfer to the hospital is a big risk I was not willing to take especially with the first.
Last 2 hospitals for me were Whittington and UCH. Whittington was a bit closer and wonderful reviews on the birthing centere sold me. UCH sounded nice too but in the mids of London just in case of traffic I was not happy with that many uncertainties.
Now... Whittington anti natal care was hit an miss, always new midwife and not all of them good. At the end of pregnancy was told that there is no appointments please show up in labour. However free acupuncture was great and was transferred to birthing centere team everything was very different. They were lovely during the birth too and checked us in before we were in established labour because it was slow. Never the less it appears that the MW butchered my stitches and did not take me to the theater when she should of. In whittington once you go to the theater you can not come back to the birthing centere and have to go to the wards. That is the big problem because I am almost sure that if the circumstances were different they would of have consultant stitching me up. So for uncomplicated pregnancy I would still recommend whittington but anything else you might find your self disappointed. Also whittington does have a private room on the ward but they have no window and no toilet you still have to thread down the hall with everyone else. Did you look into UCH?