New to London : Best NHS hospital in London

[Happyscotinlondon]

I am relatively new to London and I am very unsure of London hospital ratings and generally who has a good reputation for caring for / delivering babies :) If anyone can advise the hospital to be avoided at all costs and the ones that are considered the best I would be so grateful.

For info this is my first and I am 40 so generally considered higher risk, although not sure that being 40 actually makes me that x

The royal London is in a brand new building so no tunnels, it's all new and shiny. I've heard good things about the birthing centre on the isle of dogs.

I gave birth at St Thomas', but we lived in the catchment area, it's very popular and unless they aren't busy they won't accept outside referrals.

To be honest when you're in labour you won't want to travel far so look at where's nearest. You certainly won't want to be sitting in a taxi in rush hour travelling half way across London.

Eep. My hospital is lewisham. Feelin very concerned after reading these posts! I've been impressed by the antenatal care so far but now feeling anxious after hearing about these reports : (

Humpty - That is sad if true. The births I know would generally be between five years old and about 8 months now, so maybe it has gone rapidly downhill in the last six months . Have a friend going there shortly for no. 3 though, so will see.

penguins I can assure you it's true!

mssleepyhead I hate to worry you while you're pregnant but I would think extremely carefully about using lewisham hospital. If it's the MLU you're headed for, no worries.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply your story wasn't. I meant the bit about all the good midwives leaving.

Thank you all so much for the above it has given me some ideas and things to think of like travel

I had my child in Lewisham last year. The MLU was incredible, my midwife was outstanding. The nicu was also very good (the nicu stay was nothing to do with anything anyone did or didn't do during birth).

The maternity ward is a bit miserable, and they could really sort out their breastfeeding support (although I know this is happening).

At the moment I'm planning to use the MLU, and am on track to, but I know things like this don't always go to plan. A good friend of mine had a terrible experience at my other local hospital, in woolwich, which is why I was originally quite happy to be going to Lewisham. Will have to work extra hard at not developing GD so I can stay in the MPU!

I have a lot of friends who had babies in Lewisham, and all if those went well - only one other MLU. The antenatal ward is apparently great, but the postnatal mat ward is a bit understaffed. I had a single room in there while my son was in nicu, and it was fine for me.

Mssleepy I recognise you from the August AN group. I'm currently booked into Lewisham too. I had been hoping for a homebirth (or possibly the MLU) before the doppler scan picked up the placenta issue a couple of weeks ago. I've heard really good things about the MLU but bad things about the wards, so now I am consultant-led I am dreading it and considering paying a vast amount of money to go private (if I can find availability at this late stage).

Hi, I'm on the Isle of Dogs and wanted to have my baby at the Barkentine (it's amazing) but due to complications I will be giving birth at The London. I've heard that the care in labour is fine but it's the post natal care that is the issue there. Sadly I have no choice so it's just something I'm going to have to deal with for my baby's best interest.

Depending on what you want for your birth plan, I would say do a tour of The Barkentine.

Out of curiosity OP, what hospital do you not want to go to? I'm assuming as your on The Wharf it's The London?

St Thomas' has the best view!

I had two at UCH. The benefits of a teaching hospital are that if you need a decent specialist you will see one super fast. They were also very relaxed about my age (I was also 40 with dd1). My lovely consultant said "Oh I have many ladies far older than you Mrs Melly". I agree the aftercare can be hit and miss, but I think that is true of all NHS hospitals now.

St Thomas' has the best view!

This is very true! Although I didn't notice it until I'd given birth. We've got some good pictures.

I had my second child 7 weeks ago in Lewisham. I was on the labour ward and the care from both midwives and doctors was excellent.

I would highly recommend Queen Charlottes too.

Fabulous facilities and staff!

penguins it is sad, isn't it? Bad hospitals need good staff MORE than good ones, almost!

Glad to hear of good Lewisham experiences; I'm surprised but pleased it's not letting everyone down.

Oh, sad to hear mixed reports of Lewisham. I had DS2 at the MLU 3 years ago and it was an amazing, uplifting experience.
The staff were so caring and attentive, I had him in the pool which was fantastic, then we were left alone(by choice) to recover, DH brought DS1 in and all 4 of us laid on the big bed and cuddled our new arrival, it really was a very special experience.

Another here to say Chelsea is amazing.

Contrary to another poster, I would say avoid queen charlotte's. Of the women I know who gave birth there, all had horrific times, and one lost her baby.

missmash the MLU is ace - I was allowed down there for a bath during labour. I just wish I could have avoided induction and done the rest of the labour there! It's the hospital/wards that I, and my NCT group,found to be awful.

Humpty, sorry you had such an awful time. I didn't even see the other wards when I had DS2. I did have to go on there when I had a miscarriage and also during this last pregnancy and although the care was good the wards were not great.

Everybody will say something different, depending on their birth experiences there. I switched hospitals because I moved from North London to North East London so have had experience of two this pregnancy. I did all my early pregnancy stuff (and first scan) at the Whittington and switched at about 16 weeks to Whipps Cross. I was worried about switching, and chatted to my GP who encouraged me to move to Whipps, as they have a newer maternity unit with better equipment.

Now, being a paranoid idiot I immediately googled Whipps Cross and read some absolutely hideous news stories about it from last year. But I gave it a go and I have to say that so far they've been amazing. Appointments are dealt with much more efficiently than my old hospital and the new midwife team are fab.

So I guess the point of this is that I don't really have any advice for you on this. All NHS hospitals are much of a muchness really.

well I had a fab time with my twins at ST. Thomas - but that was a while ago now - the care was really good.
lovely views downriver ...and
private room with views of Big Ben afterwards ....completely irrelevant I know!