Dear Bellabr & Livie26,
Unfortunately having babies can in a minority of cases be a hazardous process for both babies and expectant mums to be. If you add into the mix on-going National issues with NHS finances and staffing there will be poor outcomes for every NHS Maternity unit in the Uk. Admittedly in many regions experts are at odds to explain why significant outcome differences can and do occur between neighbouring units with seemingly similar patient populations. But it is an area that a number of NHS Trusts and PCT's are now actively researching!
Due to the nature of the speciality, staffing and clinical care in 'most' units on the labour ward (typically the most critical area)is often not very different and by and large reasonably good and safe (I would hope!). Postnatal aspect of NHS maternity services are always where most units have the most challenges.
We like other units are continually striving to improve our services, our 1:1 care in labour stats are amongst the highest in the sector.
If you are fortunate enough to have low-risk 'normal' pregnancies the majority of the care you receive will be with your CMW or GP. We try very much to keep such expectant mums out of the hospital and away from the specialist Obstetric clinics needed for high risk pregnancies. Convenience and location of your delivering unit is also another important factor, more so if you develop problems and then are needing regular review in either the clinics or the Day Assessment Units (where in some circumstances you could end up going 2-3 x week when the need arises!).
We do unfortunately also end up seeing a significant number of mother's who have delivered at other neighbouring units but who live close by, who then end up coming to us when they develop problems post-natally rather than go back to their original delivering unit.
We support your right to choose how and where you wish to deliver and to this end have a formal agreement with Doula UK for their members to provide additional support for our expectant mother's (& their clients) who deliver with us, but also for them to provide additional voluntary postnatal support for all mum's on the postnatal wards.
I would advise that you take a first hand look at the various units you are considering delivery at. If you have both booked at the Royal Free have you personally had a good, bad or indifferent personal experiences wrt to your midwives and the service so far? In the various forums you are also more likely to get mother's feeding back negative experiences rather than always positive ones, its just in the nature of such forums! We have many mums who deliver with us who regularly feedback their positive experiences via cards and gifts but do not necessarily go onto the forums to share their experiences!
I would suggest that you undertake tours of the various units you are considering for delivery as you may get an instinctive 'vibe' for where you feel the staff are most receptive and which feels 'right' for you.
If you are having any specific issues or concerns regarding your care at the RFree I am happy for you to contact me (contact details [email protected]).
Good luck on a happy and positive pregnancy and birth experience where ever you finally decide to delvier!