Whittington or Royal Free hospital

[Izabel]

Has anybody given birth in Whittington or Royal Free Hospital? I cannot decide. Also do you know whether they will tell me the sex of the baby at the 20-week scan? Thank you.

Not me, but friends. Two years ago the Whittington wouldn't tell you the sex, but the Royal Free would (but do check that's still the case). Things went better for the Royal Free family than the Whittington one - but that's as likely to be chance as the result of any difference in care! (We're going to UCLH)

i had my son at the whittington but that was 13 years ago! it was fine but i imagine things have changed since then. (they wouldn't tell me the sex of the baby, didn't want to know though).

I had ds1 in Whittington and it was disgusting. Very dirty. No bf support or general help after my c section. HCA's took ds1 and held him if he cried, instead of passing him to me (when I couldn't yet sit up and reach), without asking me.
Had ds2 in Barnet, another scetion, but 100 times better.

A couple of friends have been in royal Free and loved it. They will tell you sex I thinkk. Whittington wont.

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I'm glad it wasnt just me being fussy about Whittington. I did wonder at the time, as it was first baby and didn't know what to expect.They had cockroaches in the delivery suite when I was in early labour ward, so all the women got shipped in there with us. And I paid for an amenity room with mould on the bathroom walls and hair and an old razor in the shower.

A friend had her ds in the Whittington and it really wasn't a good experience. I know a number of people who have been to the Royal Free and on the whole, it seems to get pretty rave reviews.

I'm having mine at the Royal Free and they definately tell you what you're having (that was one of the main reasons i choose Royal Free over Whittington and crappy North Mid) well at least what they think but not 100% guarantee.

there's a brand new baby facilities built a year or 2 ago and they have tours of birth centre evry sunday, the only thing i've not really liked is that everytime i go there for antenatal care i've seen a completely new midwife so don't even know who will be my midwife come birth time! but then i seem to see a different GP very time i go to my surgery also

How far along are you?

The Royal Free had it's labour ward re-decorated\tarted up probably 4 years ago, so it's a little bit smarter than the Whitt,
I had my first baby at RFH (as i had worked there) and it was good, but I think it all depends on which mws you get.
In my day, the \free was a consultant led unit whereas the whitt was more mw lead, which led to happier mws. That said, the whitt labour ward is a vvv busy unit with some very complicated deliveries going on.
I think I'd opt for the RFH on balance

I've delivered at both. (4 yrs ago at RF and 2 yrs ago at W.)
Neither was perfect, that's for sure.
I thought the MWs who were actively involved in my care (rather than the ward night staff who were dreadful at both) were much better at the Whit. Whit was trialling a home-visiting MW service, so most of my antenatal appts were with the same MW (who said there was a 70 per cent chance she would attend my delivery) and took place at home. You have to live in the right catchment though, so worth checking that. Of course, she was actually off duty when I went into labour.
Delivery suite at W was actually cleaner than RF (which I think has been revamped since).
Showers/loos at both were unspeakable.
A pregnant friend asked the scanner at the Whit about the sex not long ago and was told, 'No, I can't tell you that' while a little mime was performed making it very clear it was a boy.

views definitely superior at RF!

I've chosen the Whittington on the basis of getting to appointments, as I live on one direct bus route and work near a Northern line tube station. At my first scan (12 weeks) my only concern was that the one lift in the maternity unit was full of porters with patients from other sections entirely, as it's on the 5th floor I wasn't too impressed with having to wait for the lift to come back, 6 or 7 pregnant women having to squeeze into half the lift as there was still another trolley there, and then being told we had to get out on the 3rd floor! The other buildings have lifts, and the front one has several, and I thought that whole thing sucked for both women in the maternity unit and other patients who might have liked a little more dignity...

Luci

We felt that Whittington was very grubby so
used the royal free as it was cleaner and had fantastic facilities, the re-furbed birth unit is great, however.... it is very popular so as a result gets very crowded, when we arrived we were shoved into post natal ward with very unsympathetic nurses , we were also shunted from room to room as the labour progressed. When we did the tour we got the impression you would have a birthing room for as long as it took but this didn't really happen. I felt that birth took longer as a result of being moved around as my partner never felt comfortable enough to 'relax' (in the very loosest sense of the word).
Have heard very good things about UCH so will go there next time.

Thank you for your answers. I am not pregnant yet, just trying and am very excited so at least planning everything at the moment.

IMO the Royal Free has made strenous efforts to improve its maternity services -the birth centre is testament to that. I had a wonderful, swift natural birth there with my DS in june 05.I recognise that I am very lucky and that a short straightforward birth is a different experience to a more complicated one - and I was only there for a matter of hours but I found it to be full of dedicated staff who want you to be able to have the birth you want. I am sure it lacks the luxurious comfort i gather you get at john and lizzies but for someone like me who believes that we should all have the right to an equal birth on the NHS it was wonderful and the knowledge that should anything change and you need more intervention, that the maternity ward is right over the corridor is comforting. i will be going back! ps they will tell you sex at the scan. HTH