Feedback on University College Hospital for antenatal care and birth?

[Minkies13]

Hi Ladies,

I hope you don't mind me posting in here. I've only recently found out I'm pregnant and would love some feedback on the antenatal care at UCH from those who have currently or previously used their services.

I've only moved to London from Australia 5 months ago so I don't know the NHS system/hospitals well in London. I'm finding it near impossible to find recent reviews on the different hospital's maternity wards around my area (Islington).

I was hoping to talk to a Dr at my medical practice about this and to get a referral, however it seems getting an appointment this close to Christmas is not going to happen.

So... are any of you ladies using this maternity ward and have feedback? Are you happy with the care? Have you given birth there? Should I just self-refer there rather than waiting for my Dr to see me? Any other hospital recommendations?

Sorry for the questions, I feel slightly lost in this new system.

Thanks

I had both of mine at UCLH and was really impressed - I had issues with my second and the high dependency unit was amazing and the first which was issue free was also excellent . It’s a teaching hosp which I personally liked. Sometimes waited a long time for ante natal apps but truthfully I think you would anywhere. Hope helpful .

Thank you so much for replying so quickly! Very helpful.

I'm from Australia too. Like me you might find the differences in care here pretty surprising! I was with UCH and understand it has one is the best reputations for public care. But in the end we decided to pay the money and go private - no matter how good the antenatal care is by UK standards I'm afraid it isn't a patch on the Australian care. That said, all my research and discussions were to the effect that of you're going public you probably can't do better than UCH.

I expect I am going to be flamed for my comment ...!

Both my children were born at UCH and I'm due to have a third there next year. As a teaching hospital in central London the expertise and facilities are excellent but the flip side of that is that it is very busy and gets a lot of complex cases. So if you are a straightforward case you may feel overlooked/like a cog in a wheel.
My first birth was mismanaged by midwives in the birth centre and DD ended up very ill in NICU. The neonatal care we had was faultless and for that reason I had my second child there by planned c section. Second delivery went relatively smoothly but I had a haemorrhage during the section (presumably noones fault). I was kept in the recovery ward for 12 hours - at 2 am they moved me to the maternity ward, waking up me and the baby to do so. They needed the bed. I was sent home 24 hours after my section despite feeling awful/asking to stay. Again, they needed the bed. In the end I was happy to go as the maternity ward was packed with visitors there long past visiting hours making noise and eating smelly food.
So yes the care is generally good but there are downsides too.
What are your other options?

Thanks so much for replying @swan8 and @uhohmummy.

@swan8 the system here is very different. I agree, Australia's medical system is far superior. We would have gone private if we did this back home, however we I have tried to find out prices of private here and it seems beyond expensive. I've read somewhere between £15,000- £20,000. Was this the case?

@uhohmummy was there the option of getting a private room to recover in?

Not sure about other hospitals. I can see that Homerton is close. Someone mentioned to me that St Thomas' is also good. Any suggestions?

@Minkies13 - the cost is insane. Once you go private you can't get anything done publicly. No hybrid option. For consultant led, not including scans and any additional tests you might need or additional nights, it would be around £12k. £14k if you get a c-section. But then scans are £150 each extra, and if you need to stay extra nights than the budgeted 1 night for vaginal birth, 2 nights for c-section, you are looking at around £900 extra per night. So it can add up to £20k - you need to budget for anywhere from £12k - £20k.

We are fortunate in that we can afford it - not rich by any means but justify it on the basis a lot of our friends with a similar level of income would happily spend that on a car / clothing etc. Whereas we tend to wear whatever is on sale on the high street and drive an old (and not flash) car!

But loads of my friends have had excellent experiences with the NHS, and UCH in particular. And I have to say, before we went private and in the first 12 weeks when I had a few issues with unexplained bleeding, UCH's urgent care in the early pregnancy unit was excellent.

I'm not sure about a private room - it wasn't offered and I didn't think to ask.
I would reiterate that as a teaching hospital, if you have complications and/or are an emergency case the care at UCH is second to none. However if you are straightforward you may feel like you're just a number. That's not necessarily a bad thing - just worth considering.
On balance I have decided I want to be where the best care is should the worst case scenario arise, which is why I'm going back.
The Homerton is our other option. Lots of friends have had good experiences there but I have chosen UCH given my experience with DD1.

Thanks ladies,
After reading your comments and searching the net, I have decided that I will self-refer to UCH. You're right @uhohmummy, it's probably best to consider the worst case scenario. I really appreciate both of your input.

Cheers

Yup, my 2nd baby at uclh and it was all smooth low risk birth, they were utterly fab. By luck of the draw we got private room (it just happened to be available and as they were looking to discharge us same day, they just let us stay in the same room rather than move to postnatal ward). First baby was at st Thomas; much more complicated and I thought uclh more on the ball with the care and monitoring than st t. That may be my bias though, as the 2nd baby just came out without problems but 1st one the situation wasn't easy.
Depending how many weeks PG you are, would suggest self refer to get the ball rolling asap on the care?

Hey! I switched care from Tommy’s (AWFUL) to UCH and I’ve had such amazing care there.

I live right beside Homerton but I wanted to go somewhere with the best NiCu in case baby had issues

It’s my first and I’m so happy I made the decision to switch.

Tommy’s was horrible - horrible staff.

UCH is well run and calm and professional

UCLH does have some private rooms on the maternity ward, but they cost a fortune - something like £700 for 24 hours, but that includes a personal midwife.

If you live locally they offer midwives in the community which means you don't need to go to the hospital every time. This can be nice.

The biggest problem is that since they allowed people to choose their hospital the delivery rooms are often full which makes for a less pleasant experience. That's what a midwife who had worked there for ages said.

I'm about to have a baby at UCLH - as others have said, it has a reputation as an extremely good hospital and the very best place to be if you have complications. The individual midwives I've seen have all been fantastic and it's a very responsive hospital if you ever have any worries about reduced movement etc - there are helplines you can call, or you can walk straight in. My only criticism so far would be that the admin / appointment-making process can feel a bit chaotic (the small cog in a huge system issue described by posters above). I haven't seen the same midwife twice, but I think this is pretty common across the NHS.

I think private rooms overnight are approx £850 and not guaranteed or bookable in advance - you express an interest in it when you turn up in labour and they do what they can depending on demand at that time...

I expect I am going to be flamed for my comment

You deserve to be.

Go back to Australia to give birth then.

You don't have to be here.

Wow @NewYearNewNiki - if this is the new you I shudder to think what the old you was like! Oh well, your comment gave me a laugh anyway!

"Private" medical care in the UK is a very different beast to in Australia. For one thing, the availability and coverage of insurance is so different, so there isn't a reason for comprehensive private health care to exist. The biggy is that emergency backup is generally lacking so private can be good for straightforward elective procedures in the low-risk. Having heard horror stories (some years ago) about picking up the pieces after private hospital obstetrics disasters there is no way I would have gone private here when my children were born. Certainly if I had been in Australia I would have been expecting to go private in their system. (grew up there)

Definitely ask about private room options though, they may be available for a supplement - subject to not being needed for patients for medical reasons.

I have friends who have worked in a famous private maternity hospital.
They hated it.
Apparently, they have a very high turnover of staff and have to use lots of agency/locum staff.
All have said they would never give birth there themselves as they cannot provide the back up care should anything go wrong (Specialist neonatal care or high dependency care for mothers - God forbid they should need it)

However, you do get a nice afternoon tea there!

Friends are doctors and say absolutely no way should you ever give birth privately. They have all had experiences as quite junior doctors of doing locum shifts on private wards and being the only doctor there, with no backup.

You can be a private patient in the private wing of an nhs hospital, with all the bus emergency facilities available

Different from being in a stand alone private hospital which may not have the same emergency facilities

But in the end we decided to pay the money and go private

Private doesn't mean better.

Hopelessly - actually it is still less safe, the wards are further away, you have to make phone calls, you're not part of the "machine".

There's a reason my doctor friends (including some quite wealthy ones) say to never have a baby or major surgery even in a private wing...if something goes wrong in the night the staffing is atrocious.

Depends on the hospital, Alyosha. One of the reasons we decided to go private was the v poor staffing on the NHS postnatal ward. I am a doctor and I was satisfied by the emergency arrangements

Hi ladies! I am not sure this tread is still active! I just found out I'm pregnant and my GP told me to choose a Hospital. I am contemplating UCH. Did anyone have an experience there since Covid? If this is a busy hospital under normal circumstances, I can't imagine now. Any feedback? Thank you :)

Hi @Sandratxr I'm wondering how you got on at UCLH?
I'm trying to decide between UCHL and St Thomas for my self referral. Both have some great and some terrible reviews.
Thanks for any advice
C

@celip I am also trying to decide between St Thomas and and UCLH. Which one did you finally choose? Can you share your thoughts on why did you choose that one?

I decided on St Thomas, they have looked after me before, for non pregnancy related issues. So far I have had all my appointments and scans and the Midwives have been lovely, supportive and it has all run smoothly. Having just had my 20 week scan, I won't be going back in again until labour. So, just hoping that goes as well as the rest.
Good luck