Royal Free or UCL...Need to decide by Monday!! First timer!

[firstone1]

Not sure which hospital to pick for my pre natal and post natal care...as well as the scary giving birth bit.

Royal Free is slightly closer to me than UCL but with the new(ish) unit at UCL I seem to be swaying towards this one.

Wondered if anyone could give advice. If you've had good or bad experiences at either etc.

Much appreciated.

Hiya, I don't know if this is much help but i didn't want you to go unanswered! I had the same decision to make (I live in West Hampstead) and went for UCL. I'm now 27 weeks.

I reckoned that the traffic can often be awful in Hampstead so could take ages to get to Royal Free, and it's usually quite a quick drive through the park to UCL, so the distances worked out similar. They both have absolutely awful parking facilities, so no benefits there.

So far I have found UCL good and efficient, I've never met the same person twice but I'm not a very 'hand-holdy' sort of person so don't really mind about not building relationships as long as the job is getting done.

I've spoken to some people who questioned the quality of the Royal Free's emergency care, but I'm sure that everywhere will have had someone with a bad experience to tell, so not sure how much attention to pay that.

Hope that helps, a little, good luck with your choice.

I gave birth to DD1 at RF and my experience was absolutely fine. I also lived in West Hampstead and drove their in peak rush hour within 10 mins so no issue there. My experience of the actual birth was very good, although I had a very quick straightforward birth (arrived at hospital at around 6.30pm and gave birth at 9pm). Midwives were lovely. Antenatal care was less good - on a ward with 4 others and got very little help with bf overnight, although a lovely woman came to help the next morning. My one issue with them would be that no-one spotted that DD had a sever tongue tie, although it was spotted by a midwife at a home visit and snipped within a week or so of her birth. I had a friend who gave birth at UCL and I think she would also rate the care she received, so I would just go with the one closer to you.