Experiences with UCLH (Labour Ward or Fitzrovia Suite)

[LillianFullStop]

We are considering a transfer to UCLH but noticed on their website that the visiting hours are quite short even for the fathers (2-8PM).

How was the level of post natal care? I might be going for ELCS and worried about understaffing and not being mobile enough to pick up my own baby and with the short visiting hours DH won't be on hand to help. I know there's a lot of debate around men staying overnight but a 2PM start to the visiting hours I feel is quite late.

Has anyone been successful in transferring to the Fitzrovia Suite for post natal?

I was told during the VBAC clinic yesterday that ELCS at UCLH can be transferred to the Whittington as they have some kind of sharing arrangement and a great deal of scheduling pressure. Just thought I’d mention in case you were aware.

I had a crash CS at UCLH in 2012 and the after-care on the recovery ward was brilliant. Great help with breastfeeding and very caring staff. We paid for a private room so once recovered from GA I moved back there and was discharged the same day. Sorry I can’t comment on the postnatal ward.

Thanks @fretnot - an ELCS in Whittington would be a concern as my reason for transferring to UCLH is to be really close to GOSH in case the baby needs to be transferred straight after birth.

Can I ask was the private room on the Fitzrovia Suite and was it easy to get? On the website they only had 4 private rooms so there might be a chance one may not be available on my date.

I was told that fathers/ birth partners can stay nights or as long as you want and can come and go through the day/night. The visiting hours apply to everyone else, including family members and siblings.

I’m not sure where the room was, tbh, and I haven’t heard of the Fitzrovia Suite. We asked if a private room was available while waiting for labour to start on the antenatal ward (so noisy it felt like there was no chance of that!). It isn’t possible to book so will depend what is available on the day.

Thanks @fretnot I guess I can try at the time and hope they at least have a room for one night.

I hope you're right @nopun as 2-8PM seems so short. I have an appointment this week so I will clarify then.

I know this is an old thread but was wondering if we had more reviews of UCLH labour ward and also if someone managed to confirm if the partner can stay with you during the night

I’ll be honest here - the rooms are fine and the partner can stay. The medical staff is basically the UCH staff which is very good. The problem starts with the admin and finance team that is dedicated to Fitzrovia Suites - I found their practices very questionable:

1. You never find the admin person. The entrance is almost never staffed, and anyone can gain entrance to the rooms, which is very concerning. I felt the security on the NHS side was a lot better.
2. They are not truthful in the estimates of how many days you are expected to be there. We had a 35 weeks baby, and were led to believe we would likely only need a couple days - in fact we needed to stay a lot more with costs escalating quickly.
3. In our particular case they have (and still are) trying to charge us for days we went to the hospital before baby delivery due to bleed, when we were nowhere near the private suites. That is even with us being very clear that we only wanted the transfer of care to happen at the point of delivery. It is a blatant attempt to inflate the invoice and charge us thousands of pounds more than what we owe, and at this stage I still don’t know if we will be able to resolve this amicably or if we’ll need to pursue legal action against the institution. Believe me - this is absolutely the last thing you want to deal with when you are caring for a newborn.

In hindsight we should have gone to Portland. My advice is to stay away from Fitzrovia Suites - if you want to use UCH, go to the public wing and give Fitzrovia a good miss, otherwise go to Portland.

Absent any other review sources, I sincere hope this helps people choose the service that will give them the least headache, and that you don’t have to go through what we are going through with this institution.

Good luck!
Ale