North London Hospitals - which one

[Chocolateaddict1]

Hi ladies

Im expecting my first baby next year and I am based in North London. I have not been a patient since I was a child and have no idea about hospitals. Is there a certain hospital I have to go to or can I choose? The ones im looking at near by would be the royal free, uclh, whittington or Central Middlesex Hospitals.

Are all maternity wards basically the same? I suppose if anyone has any reasons why not to choose one please let me know. Or tell me what good facilities each hospital has which might narrow it down. Also what usually happens with parking - that’s a big issue I would want to know about. Im thinking in the end they are all the same... a safe place to deliver my baby ...

Thank you

No not all maternity wards are the same.the ethos,culture,practice and different staffing,the demographics of the mums all make for v different wards.

UCH is v good and has specialist NICU facilities

RFH is good
Whittington has NICU too

Essentially I’d suggest visitr, get a “feel” for the different locations

It’s so hard because some reviews are great and some are bad

Also some are more run down and some are more modern and look nicer, is that due to funding? I would have thought each hospital got the same amount of funding etc. I have looked online for photos but haven’t had a tour yet

I gave birth in Barnet which was fine. My friend had to give birth in Wittington and it was truly awful. She was supposed to give birth at UCH but it was full. Another friend gave birth at UCH and it was fine. Think about the journey to the hospital and appointments as well. I think some of it is luck of the draw on the day as to how busy/ how your birth unfolds. Good luck.

Reviews are a start point only not a definitive measure of quality
Consider your travel to the hospital for appts, for example is it near work?
Do visit,do ask questions of the staff,ask other mums.
Think about your birth plan,your preferences
You get midwife lead units, you get consultant lead units,

Best wishes and I hope you have a healthy happy pg

I know people who have had their baby at uch and royal free. They said uch was good, royal free not so much. I also know a lady who had hers at st marys and I’ve heard good reviews too, what kind of distance is best? 20 min drive possibly? Any longer and I suppose that’s a risk

I would always choose the closest hospital if possible.

In the nicest possible way I think it's pointless asking this question. I had my ds at UCLH and it was fucking horrendous but loads of others from my NCT group had their babies there and it was fine.

You will always get wonderful stories and horror stories about any NHS hospital.

And contrary to the poster above, my best friend just had her baby in the Whittington and had a wonderful experience. That's what I mean. It's different every time I'm afraid.

I had one baby at the Whittington, one at Barnet. Both were fine, but my experiences were really different at each because of each birth being different. That said, parking at Barnet was much less stressful - Whittington has no parking, so we used cabs (fine, but made us a feel a bit out of control).

Honestly, I'd choose based on where is easiest to get to for midwife appts - I was able to see the midwife at my gp both times (we moved), which was hugely helpful. The actual hospital wasn't such a big deal for us.

Essentially you’ll get multiple different responses,all subjectively correct
Go visit,get information weigh up pro/con
What’s closest to work?

I gave birth at the Whittington and received life saving treatment, they were absolutely fantastic and I would recommend it.

The only downside is they have a lot of female prisoners from Holloway and once I was put back onto the ward with my baby I was next to a lady who's baby was being taken away for addiction treatment and it was awful for her. You could hear everything through the curtains.

UCLH without a shadow of a doubt. World class obstetricians. There are good and bad stories in any hospital so it is slightly luck of the draw on the day but I had a fantastic ELCS with DC1 and repeating with DC2 at the end of the year.

Holloway closed 3 years ago.

I wrote this on another thread

I was in a midwife pool at UCLH this meant I never saw the same one twice. I found this a very disjointed process. If I had a question I could never get through to anyone . I think it's better at the whittington. In terms of the doctors and consultants however UCLH is amazing. I was at whittington but I transfered to UCLH during the pregnancy last year.

I don't believe there is any parking