Closure of maternity services at Whittington Hospital, North London

[whittingtonmum]

Have you heard of the plans to close maternity and A&E services at the Whittington Hospital in North London?

I am 29 weeks pregnant with my first child and intending to give birth there. So far I have been really pleased with the Whittington.

I just can't imagine the reasoning behind closing maternity and A&E at such a good and busy hospital in such a densely populated area.

What are your views on this?

More info on the planned closures here:dwhc.org.uk/

I am due to give birth there early July time too so not pleased to hear this! Just signed a petition today when I went for appointment. It doesn't make sense after spending all that money on birthing suite too. Going to check out your link.

Hello WhittingtonMum

I did it at the Whittington too. They were great - but most especially the community midwives were greay, postnatally. And with apologies to anyone who had a good experience with their HV in Haringey - a damn sight more use than the useless HV who showed up to my house 5 weeks after the baby was born with a leaflet about BF. [A wave of annoyance has just swept across me, remembering this].

What I am going to do - write to everyone I can think of telling them to look at making cuts elsewhere eg in the Haringey HVs service, not the Whittington.

[Note - I wonder if the HVs are paid for out of the PCT budget and the midwives out of the Trust budget - does anyone know or I will see if I can find out].

Ha!

The other thing WhittingtonMum is that I see from your own blog (why don't you post the link on here?) that there's a public meeting on Thursday night (4th March) in Hornsey led by Lynne Featherstone MP.

I'll come along to that if you like - I could do with a good shout!

@hippopo

Agree it doesn't make sense. I don't think they'll close it before July but if you were planning to have another baby there the maternity unit might be no more...

@MrsBaldwin

all right, all right by popular demand here is the link to my blog: whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/

Happy to open it up to other whittingtonmums to share their experiences. Just contact me or leave a comment.

And yes PLEASE do come along to the public meeting on the 4th. Me and whittingtondad would like to hear you shout

Everyone is warmly invited to the public meeting. Bring your friends and neighbours !
whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/public-meeting-with-nhs-bosses-this-thursday/

Sorry - should have put the link like this:

whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/public-meeting-with-nhs-bosses-this-thursday/

I am new here

I find it shocking they'd consider closing the Whit's maternity service. I'm planning a home birth but have been under the care of the amazing Whit home birth team, and have been v impressed with the Whit in general so happy to transfer in if I need to. It makes me so that they want to do this!!

I've already signed the petition for the A&E closure - is there a specific one for the maternity service? I briefly checked out the dwhc but didn't see anything specifically about the proposed closure of the maternity services..

Hi Caitni

There isn't a specific petition about maternity services. It is all connected:

If the A&E goes, the maternity services and many other services will go, too.

What really shocked me was talking to Rachel Tyndall (NHS North Central London review panel chair) on Thursday. If maternity at the Whittington goes our community midwives will be based at UCLH or Royal Free. More on the conversation on my blog:
whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/high-profile-nhs-panel-struggles-to-present-case-for-ae-clos ure/

So even if we say: "Fine. They closed the Whttington I will have a home birth then"
Our midwives have to travel much longer distances to provide ante-natal care or get to your home. And - heaven forbid there should be complications....

I agree that the Coalitions website focuses mainly on A&E and I will raise this with them. I will also try and make my blog more focused on the threat to maternity services.

And don't forget the special childrens a&e at the Whittington - where will we take our babies if there's an emergency? One woman told me that the Whittington was brilliant saving their 4 months old granddaughter....

I managed to speak to Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives about how the closure plans would affect maternity services at the Whittington.

Here's what she said:
whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/some-answers-about-the-future-of-maternity-at-the-whittingto n/

If you would like to use the Whittington maternity and A&E Services in the future here are a few easy letters/e-mails you could write:

whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/write-to-save-the-whittington/

There have been a few hopeful signs recently that something can be done to save the Whittington so it would be really great if you could write a few e-mails before the election.

The more of us write the better the chances that we keep the Whittington open

Green Party leader, Caroline Lucas, is on mumsnet tomorrow at 1 pm.

I asked her if she would save the Whittington. Let's see what she says...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/933591-Live-webchat-with-Caroline-Lucas-Green-Party-leader- and-MEP?rnd=1269260082091

Whitingtonmum, great blog. I shall watch the chat tomorrow closely.

I think this is the sort of thing we all need to do. Blog it, FB it, Twitter, MN, whatever forums you happen to be on. The more publicity generated the better.

Politicians scare surprisingly easily. Unfortunately, Trust CEs don't; so ultimately it has to be the politicians who are persuaded. That does include Local Councillors though.

I was born there a very long tie ago. What sad news. if there is a petition I'll sign up. To be a Londoner and be born at The Whittington is lovely.

how sad ds(16) was born there

I saw a protest march about this the other week. I too feel v as both my girls were born there. the fabric of the hospital is a bit grim but the clinical care was excellent.

Hi Jux

thanks Caroline Lucas did indeed pledge her support for the Whittington on mumsnet on Friday

whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/breaking-news-caroline-lucas-pledges-support-for-whittington -on-mumsnet/

Hello Starbear, Southeastastra and bundle

yes it is very sad. But the good news is that I think we are really making some progress and I now believe that we might be even be able to stop the closure of the Whittington.

But ONLY if all of us pull together and fire off a few e-mails.

I've calculated that doing everything you possibly can to save the Whittington should take you LESS THAN 5 MINUTES.

Here's how:

whittingtonmum.wordpress.com/act-now-to-save-the-whittington/

I'm sorry to disagree with you, but I do. I'm sure lots of people have had really excellent care, but the clinical evidence is pretty unequivocal -- maternity units that are low volume tend to provide worse care. If you catch a doctor at the right moment, they might tell you the stories of which hospitals they know to avoid for maternity (there's one in the home counties north of London) because the care is unsafe, because the unit is too small.

There are too many maternity units across North Central London for the number of births happening. The Whittington maternity unit is not sustainable for high quality care at any reasonable cost.

What? But they've just spent £££££££££ on improving it!

'there's one in the home counties north of London'

Well that is almost certainly Chase Farm then where I gave birth to my first!

Yes, they've spent lots of money on it. That's what happens if you have to keep on running unsustainable services, it costs more than a more sensible arrangement would.

There are lots of weak maternity services -- look at the Healthcare Commission investigation of Northwick Park, for example. But neither Northwick Park nor Chase Farm are the one I'm thinking of, which was further north, and never got on to the regulator's radar.

Not QE11?

I think I shouldn't name the hospital or do any more confirmations or denials, as it may have improved in the year since I last heard about it.

LOL, tis okay. They're all falling apart anyway! The NHS is creaking at the seams!

No no no! They're not all falling apart. There are some really excellent maternity units out there: the Royal Free's birth centre and the UCLH neonatal care unit are just two examples.

The NHS is creaking in some places, but it's not all that bad. Nor should it be for £100bn quid! However, costs are rising fast and there's no extra money for the next few years, so it's going to be a painful transition.

But those two you mention are the local hospitals of the affluent!

Well, the inverse care law persists, that's for sure. But that said, both hospitals serve significant deprived populations as well. And the best PCT in London serves the most deprived community in London (Tower Hamlets).