North mid hospital / North London maternity recommendations?

[Acer77]

Hi all,

I have posted this in the childbirth section too so apologise for repeating myself!

I need to register for maternity services and obviously choose a hospital to give birth in eventually! I am currently 7 weeks PG. My doctor says I can choose any hospital I like in London but obviously it needs to be easy to get to - we are in North london.

Has anyone used North Middlesex since they had an overhaul and new maternity wing / birthing centre? That is our nearest hospital.
Other options are The Whittington, Barnet and UCLH

UCLH is easy to get to for antenatal care because I would go by public transport but I'd be worried about the traffic if driving during the day for the birth....but I expect it would have excellent care because they are a university hospital?

Any experiences in the last year or 2 would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Congratulations! I ummed and aahed about North Mids v The Whittington (I live in Sth Tottenham). I went with the Whittington in the end as a lot of friends had had their babies there and gave good reviews. It was fine - I have nothing to compare it too. They have been doing a fair bit of renovation work which may or may not be finished. The antenatal care was pretty good, everyone (with one exception) was lovely. I was consultant led due to GD, and the community midwives who came out post birth were great.

The birth centre is meant to be very good, and they encourage stuff like acupuncture for pain relief during pregnancy and birth if you fancy that.

The post natal ward was hellish imo, but I think that's fairly usual (also I'd has a c section so was in for a few nights).

Downsides for me were hauling my arse up the hill to Archway (which is a pretty grimy anyway) when I was getting larger and had spd (I had a lot of appointments though) Also, parking nearby is a bitch as and when you do have the baby.

Next time I'm going to go to UCH like my neighbour, as I can get the tube straight down. Oh, if you think you might like to have a Harmony test, I believe they offer it at UCH, whereas we had to pay £500 to get it done privately at the FMC.

Btw, I had my daughter last December.

Hi Acer. I'm also in North London and have asked to be referred to UCH. I'm not from the UK and don't know anyone who has accessed maternity services here recently.
I went with my DP mothers advice of UCH (that's where she gave birth). She also recommended Royal Free as the second joint good option.

I'm at UCH under consultant led care and it's fine. It's very busy and as is usual for UCH it's disorganised at times and I've spent a lot of time waiting as clinics run late. On previous threads, people who've given birth there have given similar stories to people at all other north London units (so some good some bad experiences) so id consider all other factors like how easy it is to get there at all times, parking, ease of getting home after the birth etc.

Don't be fooled by the university hospital bit. I work there and would say it does some things as good as other trusts in north London, some thungs better and some things a lot worse-they just have good PR and branding!

Thanks ladies for the advice! I may see if I can have a look around any of them so I can get an idea of what they are like. The main thing is what the staff are like though I think and sometimes that experience varies on who your midwife / consultant is...

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has given birth at North middlesex in the last year or 2...
Xx

Hi Acer I'm 20wks first child & been referred to Whittington hospital. So far so good. I also had to stay there over the weekend (Murray ward - maternity ward) due to chest pains & they took it really seriously although I wanted to go home. But finally discharged yesterday. Midwifes are lovely. Staff there was good except for one which I will unfortunately be putting in a complaint about. Although I did have my 20wks scan today and was really not happy with the sonographer, whom I complained about, and she personally gave me a call back & situation got sorted.

Really I don't think any hospital is perfect. I used to go to the UCH for weight management programme, appointments always ran late, and on many occasions cancelled when I got there due to not enough staff. Again not sure how antenatal would be, but from that experience I wasn't going there.

Good luck, hope you choose the right one. Also good luck with your pregnancy xx

Did you look at Barnet or Edgware birth centre?