Hospital in Central London?

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I am in the early weeks of pregnancy and was told by the GP to choose an antenatal care practice and hospital. I am completely new to this (from Australia) and not sure where to start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Where do you live?. There are quite a few hospitals in central london- give us a vague indication eg WC1, EC1

Congratulations and happy Australia day from a fellow Aussie! My GP gave me a choice of 3 hospitals in our area, and I chose one based on it being the easiest one to get to quickly.

Well you could google and spend hours reading the reviews of the various hospitals and make a decision based on that. If you do bear in mind the only people who bother to write a review are those who have had a particularly awful, or a particularly good experience, so the results are likely to be skewed.

Or, you could make a decision based on the hospital which is easiest for you to get to. Ante-natal and scan appointments are usually on specific days at specific times and are not very flexible, so it helps if you can get to them easily.

The only other point I can think of its some places offer midwife led units which will have a non-interventionist approach and access to things like birthing pools. Others don't.

Personally I am going to the nearest hospital for convenience, and I am not bothered about birthing pools or whale music, but I am bothered about being near an operating theatre just in case it all goes horribly wrong on the day and I need an emc.

Sorry ladies haven't been on here for the last few days. Happy Australia Day to you too!

We just moved to NW8.

Congratulations! The royal free in hampstead is probably the closest hospital to you. I'm not sure what they offer but might be worth checking them out.

Ok if you are in NW8 hospitals near by are The Royal Free (in Belsize Park), St Marys (in Paddington) and UCH (near Euston).

Thank you all going to do some research this weekend!

I lived in NW3 and went to UCH. At the time the maternity services were separate from the main hospital but now appears to be part of the new building.

My NCT group gave birth all over the place - UCH, Royal Free, Whittington - and all had pretty similar experiences of care - both during the pregnancy and the birth. (Except for the one Portland mum who had champagne)