Does anyone have recent experience of Queen Charlotte's Maternity Ward

[TillyHarland]

Hello,

I am new to this forum so I hope I'm posting in the right place! I am 6 weeks pregnant with my first child and have no idea what I'm doing or how this whole process works! The nurse at my GP hasn't given me any information and has told me she needs to refer me to a hospital of my choosing for me to have my first blood tests, checks etc. I'm in North West London and was given a big list and I have no idea of which to choose. Queen Charlotte's stood out to me as she said it particularly specialises in antenatal care. Does anyone have any recent experience of this hospital? The only discussions on mumsnet I can find are from as far back as 2012 and further. Otherwise the internet just throws up horror stories but I know these are to be taken with a pinch of salt. The other recommendation was St. Mary's which has a lot of bad press for whatever that is worth. Any help would be massively appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

I live in the same area. We've gone for St Mary's because it's closer to where we live and a friend gave birth there last year and said it was fine. Both apparently have nice birth centres if you're low risk (I'm not). I have to say, so far I've been impressed by St Mary's. Some parts of it are a bit grotty but every appointment I've had so far has been on time and all the staff are absolutely lovely. Because I'm higher risk, I have my own dedicated midwife (rather than seeing one of the community midwives although I saw one for booking in and she was very nice too) and she will organise all my appointments etc. I think you can switch between Queen Charlottes and St Mary's as they're both the same trust if you want. To be honest, I think they're pretty similar so better to pick whichever is more convenient location wise. I've also heard good things about UCLH but I would worry about traffic etc.