Which hospital in North London?

[Willow33]

Dear All, am six weeks pg now. We are waiting for scan before we tell anyone which means I can't ask friends where is good! So, new cyberfriends, pls can anyone tell if they can recommend a hosp with a great materity unit? Am thinking UCH, Barnet or the Whittington. Heard not great stuff about Royal Free.

Many thanks

I won't be much help probably, I had my DS at Royal Free and going back there again in July for DC number 2! Just wanted to say that I had a really good experience with them...I would not go back otherwise, right?
Also, amongst other mums I know, UCH can be very good and very bad...heard all types of opinions about it. It does have the winning point that its much more recent so things kind of look newer, I guess!
I believe you're gonna hear good and bad things about all of the hospitals, so keep in mind, whichever one you choose, you can always go back and change ir if you're not happy!

Oh...and congratulations on the pregnancy by the way :)
Good luck with everything!

I went to the UCH and it was both good and bad!
Very new clean facilities. Appointments were very well run and the midwives at the appointments were nice.
Labour not such a good experience. Was booked in for induction at 9am. Sat around and waited until 4pm at which time my DH had to yell at them to come and do something. Had a progression of four midwives, two of which were very nice, two of which were complete, rude crap and seemed to be very inexperienced.
But I have heard much much worse .... so all in all, I would recommend

UCH looks nice with specialist staff for problems. If no problems unfriendly bitches.

Wittington, looks tired and run down with friendly caring staff.

Barnet kind of in between but the best thing about it is that you can easily go to the Edgeware Birthing Unit which is like a spa hotel.

I had DC1 at the Whittington, but it was a few years ago. I chose it because although it was indeed tired and run down, my GP said it had a good standard of care, which I thought was true. I found it to be absolutely fine. I didn't have a great labour, but I don't think that was due to the Whittington, more to do with the angle she was coming out at! It was big and very busy but there were lots of staff around. It was a few years ago now so it may well have changed. But it was fine.

I had dc1 at UCH and will be going back for dc2. They're very busy, but I've had a few complications in the past and I trust that they're completely on top of things. I'd recommend them

Thanks ladies. I guess the no parking at UCH is a pain.
BTW my GP says that both the booking appt and the first scan are around 11-13 weeks. Is that the norm?

I'm 40+5 and I'm with uch, a bit far from me considering I'm in oakwood but really good reputation. The fact that they are really busy does put me of a bit but if any chance of complication it don't get better than uch!
Who has had their babies there already? It's my first so I have nothing to compare to really!

I had DD at the Whittington two years ago and am now booked in there to have DC2 (am 8w). They have a lovely birth centre (it was brand new 2 years ago) if your pregnancy is low risk. I started off there but DD was back to back so I had to be transferred to labour ward for ventouse delivery. Antenatal care was always busy and postnatal care was a little patchy, but I've heard people say that about all the big London hospitals. Overall I was happy with my experience.

Booking in can sometimes be earlier (from about 8w) but as long as its before your scan that's the main thing.

And congratulations :)