Whittington Hospital reviews needed

[zuzkah]

Hi there. Im due in two weeks and still haven't decided in which hospital to give birth. Would be glad for any info/experience about the Whittington hospital in Archway as it's the closest one for me. Thanx

I had my DS at the Whittington and have booked in there for my 2nd next year. I think all hospitals have plus and minus points. But the main thing for me was to be well looked after during the birth and the labour bit was great (including tea and toast afterwards). I've heard from a friend who is a a midwife that the staff on labour ward work really hard not to bring in agency nurses (unlike the Royal Free) so the care during labour is good.

The ward afterwards isn't great, even though I had a private room, it was still pretty noisy and hot so I'm hoping to avoid an overnight 2nd time round. Good luck.

I had my first three pregnancies at the Whittington and was very happy with the care given. AFtercare not as great but that is so in the marjority of hospitals.

Just gave birth at Whittington (2 months ago). I got an agency midwife though, but she was a retired lady who had a wealth of experiece (but just didnt really know her way around the hospital and equipment). I felt safe in her care, just sorry for her that she took longer to figure out equipment/admin that she wasn't familiar with. Still, the head midwife was present a lot to check in on us.

Labour ward staff were fab. Friendly, warm, efficient, etc.

Post-natal care was ok. Didn't get much support with breastfeeding, even though they kept saying they would help. But their help turned out to be more like 'just do it' sort of attitude.

Still, having given birth in Royal Free and Whittington, I think Whittington by far is better in terms of everything provided (with the exception of the aesthetic appeal of the hospital and location!)

Good luck! HOpe your experience will be a positive one too!

deep breath, hope this doesn't offend anyone, but after my admission to antenatal ward there a few weeks back for ovarian cyst (not diagnosed during 3 day stay) and overheard a lot of what was going on (including postnatal stuff), i've got standing instructions with all nearest and dearest to only let me go to UCH in any future emergency.

whit had no ultrasound available for THREE days, and were approaching everybody on a 'find the most minimal intervention possible and do that' basis.

NEED ADVICE-WHERE TO GIVE BIRTH IN NORTH LONDON? Hello, just found out I'm pregnant - first time - and my GP wants me to decide asap between UCH, St.Marys, Royal Free and Whittington. Please help - what can you recommend? How do I decide? How does it work - do you get given a specific midwife who looks after you for the duration of the pregnancy and then is there during labour or is it completely random/sporadic? I assume going private is too expensive for us, but roughly how much does it generally cost? Any advice much appreciated, i don't have many friends with kids so noone to ask...

I am due next week, so far I've received care from the Homerton Hospital Team, I had reservations about the hospital from day 1. I initially asked my doctor if I could have my care transferred elsewhere, he recommended that I didn't, I heeded his advice and have had the worst care possible. Homerton hospital's culture is Disorganised, Unprofessional and Lacks Communication. At 34 weeks I thought about transferring my care to the Whittington, but decided it was too short notice, now with one week to my due date I'm reconsidering. This is my first pregnancy and I think the care I've received so far with the exception of a few individuals has been inadequate, is the care I should expect, should it be questioned? How did some of the midwives actually qualify as midwives?! The receptionists are by far the worst you will come across in the country. I would never recommend to the Homerton. So far reeviews of the Whittington have been better and more consistent than those of Homerton. I know with Homerton you can only stay, once you've had your baby for a maximum of 6 hours(providing its a normal birth) Can anyone tell me how long you stay for in the Whittington and what visitation hours are like??

A few points, ambulances are for people who's babies heads are protruding from their vagina's.
All maternity units are busy and nearly all post natal care in London is crap.
The best thing by far if you have a normal birth is to leave as soon as everything is checked and deemed well.

i have to say i had my youngest there 2 an half years ago and found the whole experience very very traumatic. i felt i was treated very badly by the midwifes, very rude and dismissive, patronising...they left me in the room for over an hour telling me i would be in labour for hours, my mum was there telling them that she had her babies very quickly, and i was telling them that i had my first baby very quickly too, but they just didn't listen. there was an incident where one midwife 'kissed her teeth' at me and stormed out of the room, because i was begging her for help, i felt that there was something wrong and that i shouldn't be in that much pain (it was because labour was progressing so quickly, and baby was very close to being born, as well as being distressed) but they didn't believe me and refused to examine me again.
they shouted at me for crouching on all fours on the floor, treated me like i was an animal, and disgusting for being on the dirty floor!! laughed at me when i said i didn't want pain relief and wanted to do things naturally. one midwife told me to get over it' 'labour is painful you know' i was only 2cm, but in agony with back to back contraction, 30 mins later i was fully dilated, baby was born a few mins later, not breathing properly, had swallowed lots of miconium. everything worked out fine, thank god. but afterwards they told me " if you ever have another baby, you really should tell us that you have them so quickly!" i couldn't believe it...both me and my mum had tried to tell them over and over again. i had my first child there too, the experience was similer, but not quite as bad.
i was shocked that they can treat woman this way when you are so vulnerable, maybe i was just unlucky (both time)
but then a lot of maternity wards are like this.
because of this i found it really difficult to bond with my daughter, and felt traumatised for months afterwards.