Best NHS hospital (London) for maternity & child birth

[Rj1988]

Hi Ladies,

Just found out that I'm pregnant! (Conceived via IVF)
Still early days for me and this is my first time.

I have been researching online about the best maternity hospitals in London and now I am confused between

UCLH
St Mary's ( nhs only not private lindo wing)
Chelsea & Westminster
Queen Charlotte & Chelsea hospital

In terms of commute they are all within 20-40 mins drive for me

Need your suggestions in deciding which one I should go ahead with

Have you looked at the CQC reports for each? That might help you narrow it down.

@klajdndhus - yes I just did. The imperial trust seems to have better ratings than UCLH

but they are rating for 11 hospitals together and they are all 2019 reports.

So would be good to know if someone had any personal experience and would recommend any particular hospital over the other.

Whilst there will always be some things some trusts do better/ have more experience of, a lot of your experience will be down to whose there on the day, what kind of antenatal care you need the birth you have etc etc. Some people may have great experiences in one place but you talk to the next person who have a completely different story.

The hospitals you have mentioned are all tertiary centres with good neonatal services - all are London teaching hospitals and I think you would receive good care in all with access to specialists if needed. On the flip side the care may be less personal in big hospitals compared to if you went to a small local hospital where you might see the same community midwife every time- this often doesn’t happen in the bigger hospitals - not that that matters, but something to consider if that’s important to you.

Things to think about are what kind of birth do you want do they have a birth suite/ water pools if that’s something you want or what is there labour ward like - lots of centres have information on the internet or even Twitter accounts that post info

But overall I wouldn’t worry about any of that too much! I would happily pick any of those centres. But mostly I would pick where is nearest to you - whilst right now 20-40 minutes might not seem far if you go into labour in rush hour on a Monday morning driving through Paddington to St Mary’s or through Shepherd’s Bush to the Queen Charlotte’s will NOT be fun!!!!! You won’t be able to hop on the tube or the bus in labour and being stuck in a car in non moving traffic having contractions would be awful!!!!

So I would highly consider where you can safely and comfortably get to!!!

Good luck!

@Breadtoastbread - thank you for you suggestion.

Both UCLH & St Mary's are equi distance for me but if Chelsea is way better then I don't mind the extra 10 min journey.

Is it possible to have midwives appointment in a different hospital and child birth in another?

No you would have to transfer your care midway through your pregnancy to another hospital you can’t split care between different hospital trusts.

Also not sure where you are based unless you are very very central st Mary’s to Chelsea and west is not 10 mins extra on a good day would be 30mins drive- on a bad 1hr+ to get through London and the traffic around the roads near Chelsea west and through Kensington can be a nightmare.

Having been in a car in labour it is not something I would want to do for any period of time longer than absolutely necessary!!!!!!!

I haven’t given birth in either of those three hospitals, but would be happy to go to any personally. So just go with what’s nearer. Plus if you have a normal healthy pregnancy you won’t see any doctors just midwifes and sonographers for scans- the only important things are do they have the services to give you the birth you want (birth suite / labour ward / pools etc) and a good NICU if something god forbid went wrong which they all do.

If something came up antenatally in pregnancy likely all of those 3 centres would have the specialist care to deal with.

I gave birth at St Mary's a couple of years ago and had a pretty good experience. I was higher risk so had excellent care from my midwife and I think I saw three consultants throughout the pregnancy and they were all excellent. I had an ELCS but had a few of my checks in the midwife led unit which seemed very nice. I've heard the postnatal ward isn't great but I was given a private room after my ELCS so never saw it. I had a fairly complex history (hence being high risk) and cannot fault the staff at all; they were incredibly considerate and went out of their way to make sure I was safe and comfortable. That said, friends who have given birth in most other London hospitals have said exactly the same so I think it's much of a muchness. I had weekly / fortnightly appointments at the hospital for most of the second and third trimesters so I was glad to have chosen one that was convenient for where we lived.

Oh and Chelsea and Westminster and St Mary's are part of the same trust so you can move between them - I saw a consultant from C&W at one point albeit he came to St Mary's to see me. One friend was supposed to give birth at St Mary's but was switched to C&W at the last minute because of some practical reason, can't quite remember what it was now.

@Breadtoastbread - I am based in north west (NW11) so in maps the distance to Chelsea is only couple of mins more than st Mary's Bec I can take the A406 as I would be driving most of the time.

@mynameiscalypso - thank you for sharing your reviews about St Mary's... I am very confused between UCLH & St Mary's with the latter I don't have to worry about congestion charge and I can just take my car for all the appointments.

I've heard about their private rooms in lindo wing and they are apparently very nice but i would be based in nhs...

I think what really matters for me is good midwives who I can get through quickly in case of any emergencies and a possibility to get a private room on the day of delivery if there is one available

I am sure most of them have a standard antenatal process which they follow but incase anything goes wrong how quickly can they look after you.

I live walking distance to St Mary's so can't help much re cars etc. I don't think there's a lot of parking there though? Probably the same for UCLH though. In terms of private rooms at St Mary's I was NHS too and they do have private rooms available (not in the Lindo wing sadly; they're not that smart or luxurious!). I think there is one private room, one room for two women and one bigger ward. I never had an issue with the midwives at St Mary's - mine replied very quickly to texts and if I ever needed anything, would sort it immediately. The midwives during my ELCS and afterwards were great too.

They’re all pretty much of a muchness. I would definitely go for whichever is nearer and quicker to get to.

Do all those hospitals (still) do private rooms for post natal, subject to availability on the day? I had all midwife appointments at UCLH 6-7 years ago and gave birth on labour ward (induction). Exhausted after being in for so long, I happily coughed up around £500 for a night’s stay in a private postnatal room which was basic but amazing to have privacy and space for my partner to stay over, and for that alone definitely worth the money. I wonder if any of them do that? (Nhs birth but availability of a private room post natal).
It’s a while ago but fwiw the antenatal care at UCLH was fabulous, as was care during labour - I had a lot of issues and felt totally safe and very very well looked after. Post natal was a bit meh but I put that down to being in over a weekend - never a good thing in my experience, and very hard to get discharged!

I gave birth in Chelsea & Westminster last year and although I have nothing to compare it to I thought they were very good. It helped having a Residents’ Permit though, otherwise I expect parking could get expensive.

I gave birth in QCCH and also paid for a private room after. It was well worth it. The hospital is fine, staff were lovely and they have excellent neonatal care if needed.
I'd really choose one that's a very short drive tbh. The parking at Charlotte's is good if that's a factor for you. Carpark at the back, paid parking on the road out the front.
No parking unless lucky on street at St Mary's. If you're booked at QCCH or Mary's you may end up being sent to the other on the day if they're v busy.

You can vanish down rabbit holes by excessive reading of reports.

These are all large London teaching hospitals with good facilities. Your experience on the day is more likely to be influenced by random factors like who is on shift and whether the birthpool sprang a leak earlier that day and won't be fixed until tomorrow.

My advice is always to go for the one which has the shortest and most reliable (bottleneck free) journey.

Just to say Queen Charlotte’s and St Mary’s are part of the same trust (Imperial) and Chelsea and Westminster is a separate trust - the fact Charlottes has Chelsea somewhere in its name is a bit confusing so wanted to clarify!

And you have to book at one of the hospitals rather than with with trust with going with Charlotte’s or Mary’s but does mean if one labour ward is full to capacity when you are going to deliver they will transfer you to the other.

@countbackfromten

Just to say Queen Charlotte’s and St Mary’s are part of the same trust (Imperial) and Chelsea and Westminster is a separate trust - the fact Charlottes has Chelsea somewhere in its name is a bit confusing so wanted to clarify!

And you have to book at one of the hospitals rather than with with trust with going with Charlotte’s or Mary’s but does mean if one labour ward is full to capacity when you are going to deliver they will transfer you to the other.

Sorry, totally my mistake. I got confused re C&W and QC!

Thank you ladies for all your suggestions!!! xx

Having a possibility of a private room is a big boon but I totally understand these are on demand and not always available. So one has to be lucky on that day.

Hopefully this thread would be useful for other ladies too!

@Rj1988this thread is apt for me as I am in a similar situation. I have recently found out I am pregnant and I live in Clerkenwell/Barbican. I have options of St Thomas (2.5 Miles), UCLH (1.9 Miles) and St Mary's (3.9 Miles). I plan to go via Nhs too but want to have an option of consultant led delivery as this is my first baby and I might feel anxious and need consistency.
What did you end up Deciding? Any insights would be great to help me make a decision!

@Newmumtobe08 - congrats!!! 🎉🎉 I have heard great reviews about St Thomas too but it's slightly far for me...

thanks to all the wonderful ladies here who have added some useful comments

I was really confused between St Mary's & UCLH but finally decided to go ahead with UCLH just bec I can take the tube there too if driving is not possible.

I will keep this post updated on my experience for everyone

Hi, I am at St Mary’s and very happy with the care there I’ve had so far. If you give birth at the birth centre there you automatically get a private room following the delivery (with a double bed!). If you give birth on the labour ward then you can pay for a private room (but not always available) or pay an astronomical sum for a room in the Lindo Wing (again, not always available).

I have an independent midwife and she is very anti UCLH as she says they take an over-medicalised approach, e.g. can be unnecessarily cautious and/or move very quickly to interventions that may not be needed. So I think it depends on your stance on these things. I’m planning to give birth in the birth centre and am very happy for example to go to 42 weeks without being induced (assuming there’s no medical reason to do so), but of course others may have a different view and prefer a more interventionist stance.

Hello, just to say I had both my children at UCLH. One in 2018, and one in 2020 and I thought they were great. Couldn’t fault them.

Hello. I realise this is an old thread but the same question has popped up for me. I would be interested to know what people ended up choosing, what others are currently considering now etc. I live very far from these central-London based hospitals but I am contemplating going to them for the outstanding level of care, in comparison to hospitals more local to me. Is it worth it?

I went to Queen Charlotte's and it was fabulous

What does ‘very far’ mean in terms of travel time compared to your local hospital? I can’t see the difference in care making it worth all the extra travel time really, especially if you end up having to go in fairly often.

About 1-2 hours travel