North London Hospitals - Experiences?

[designerbaby]

Hi all,

Having had a terrible 12 week scan experience at the North Middlesex Hospital, I'm rebooking at the Homerton... Just wondering if anyone's had any experience of these two, or any others in the area esp:

North Middlesex
Homerton
Whittington
Royal Free

Many thanks for any insights - finding info on the net is IMPOSSIBLE and you lot are by far the best source!

Ta
DB
xx

oh yes, i agree with effie (are you a namechanger? do i know you?!), the scanners at the homerton are all fantastic. and i probably met most of them....

I am having my first ds at Homerton. They have been fine to date, three scans in (I am 26 wks) and have seen consultant there re baby's feet development. Everyone has been helpful - yes busy and business-like - but helpful.
Sorry to hear you have been having a horrible time, finding somewhere you are happy with will help I hope. good luck

My friend just had c section monday for twins. She works in A&E there as a sister and I used to until I moved to Yorkshire.In the past post natal care has been renowned to be very crap but recently it has improved. Clean wards, new bathrooms, strict ward sisters on post natal, and excellent fetal medicine.

I had my ds at the whittington as didn't fancy the homerton, totally agree with other posts about tired hospital, but excellent care and prompt action when needed.

Sorry, c section was at Homerton.

As bundle said I'm a doula.

Not hugely keen on St Mary's either. It's not the refits it's the care. Some of the ugliest hospitals have the best mws and some of the smartest hospitals have the worst. I've been in hospitals across London. Homerton is very busy. Make sure you get some good antenatal classes under your belt and know what you want from your birth (whist making allowances for when things don't go according to plan). I was at the Homerton last Tues/Weds and there were 2 incredibly fantastic mws... Tracey and Camilla. Very hands off and total holistic in their approach. They were rather good at warding off an overzealous "here take this pill" doctor.

I changed my hospital care from Barnet to The Royal Free, So far the Royal Free has been great no long waits, scans on time etc midwives and doctors lovely.. Not sure about the others though.
Frances 35+1

I think often what really matters is the midwives you get. Sometimes people have a bad birth and think it's the hospital but it's not really. Get a doula. That is my utterly well worn, totally predictable piece of advice.

Thanks so much for all your insghts and advice...

Thanks Mars - I figured (hoped?!) your wide experience was in some kind of professional capacity! I have read a bit about doulas, but thought they were more for people who's partners were either ebsent or likely to be a bit useless... I have high hopes for my dh, although maybe i should wait and see how he fares in the antenatal classes.

But perhap not... I'm not always the most assertive of people, especially when under stress, so maybe having a doula would help in making sure I don't get railroaded into something I don't want? Plus dh's father is a doctor and he tends to go along with everything doctors say regardless... not always a bad thing, but from what I've heard during childbirth docs can sometimes approach things with a slightly different set of priorities...

I think my only real reservation about the homerton at this point is the busy-ness - they really do seem to be flat out - but possibly this is just the antenatal clinic and not representative of what things are like on d-day.

Also a bit concerned about post-natal care, as I, too am "out of area" (wood green rather than hackney)... particularly with regard to bfing - would a doula be helpful with this too?

Thanks so much for all you advice...

DB
xx

i had real problems with getting postnatal help because i live one street inside the hackney border and gave birth at teh whittington (islington) - i had to arrange directly wtih the head of midwifery at homerton and whit for midwives from islington to visit me postnatally - teh homerton ones would have been fine but I wanted a bit of continuity of care and had not been to the homerton at all during pg. i'm not sure who would visit you in wood green. do get numbers of la leche league, etc in case you need any advice. a doula would have some knowledge depending on her experience and mars isn't far from you

LOL! Are you pimping me Bundle???????????

A doula would help you at any stage you wanted it be it antenatally, during labour and/or postnatally!

You can find out about doulas on Doula UK Some only do Postnatal, some only Birth and some do both. Personally I think everyone should have a doula (or a doula-like figure) at their births. I'm continually jealous that I didn't and my clients do... go figure!

If you want to talk things through I'm happy for you to email me on lovelymarslady at aol dot com.

hth

I had a very bad experience at the Royal Free.

Their tour for new parents was quite misleading, and I think unless you are lucky enough to have a fairly quick, straightforward delivery (in which case you may be lucky enough to come into contact with only one or two midwives and have one of the nice pastel coloured birthing suites...) its a huge, busy hospital where the staff generally have a very brusque, uncaring attitude).

I have a catalogue of complaints about the hospital (ante-natal and maternity wards) - 2 and a half years on I could still rant bitterly about it at great length. But to sum up:

Agency midwives who couldn't have cared less about me, and seemed poorly trained and ill informed of latest thinking on things like BF-ing...

Rude, pushy consultant/SHOs who couldn't be arsed to give full information, or even proper eye contact, when speaking to me. Also extremely quick to push for induction/intervention/c-section.

Dirty - filthy toilets, didn't change my sheets despite me asking repeatedly.

Incompetent/Scarily lax security (almost forgot to give me anti-D injection in time; nobody seemed bothered about the buzzer system and just buzzed people in and out fo the ward without asking who they were; a nurse took my baby away to 'give me a rest' and my sister arrived to find him unattended in a cot in a hallway)...

I would NEVER go back to that hospital for anything ever again.

lol @ pimping marslady! (do I get a cut )

hatrickjacqueline, I'm really sorry to hear about your friend's terrible experience. and yours LoveAngel

my one piece of advice, whichever hospital you choose is to have a plan a and a plan b - having a natural/vaginal delivery just sometimes doesn't happen and it's no one's fault. do think about what you would like to happen if any type of intervention is required for your/your baby's health.

Had my first DD at Royal Free. Currently pregnant again and now with Whittington.

Now that I've had the benefit of comparison, I would definitely choose Whittington over Royal Free anytime.

Royal Free experience -
Unsupportive and uncaring midwives - pre-natal and post-natal. Like that couple in the news whose baby died from negligence (the wife said on several times, she was made to feel really small and silly), I felt the same throughout.

Although I haven't yet given birth at Whittington, I have so far found the midwife team more supportive, more organised, and in every way, more 'together'.

My friend had 2 miscarraiges in the last year, the recent one being quite advanced. The staff at Whittington were wonderful to

her.

Does the world divide between people that can stomach dirty hospitals and those that can't? I have had so many recommendations for the Whittington but when we visited all we could see was dilapidated crowded wards and dirty rooms. And the delivery rooms all had old beds with stirrups!

We are booked at Royal Free and have come across some lovely midwives there, the birthing suites are fantastic and very active birth friendly (as are the staff there) but there are only three of them, and the ante-natal care has beem more than a little shambolic PLUS the midwife giving the parentcraft class the other night spoke of syntometrine injections to bring on placental delivery as though this was an automatic feature of giving birth and stated categorically that it held no risks!

We are booking into Edgware Birth Centre now.

"And the delivery rooms all had old beds with stirrups! "

I don't think they all are.

I was in a room with an old bed at the Whit but asked to be moved - into one with a funky electronic bed (4 yrs ago) but wasn't there for long as was whizzed into theatre almost straight away for c/s

I made my first decision based on appearances of the hospitals unfortunately and learnt the precious lesson of 'don't judge a book by its cover' with this one.

Was even told in my NTC class that with Whittington, you'll need to bring your own pillows as all of them got nicked (is it true? Anyone?). Still, I'm happy with Whit - definitely happier with the level of midwive care.

bundle - it is possible that the ones with the stirrups were free for the touring couples because the good ones were being used LOL. Not great for confidence though!

The beds are okay at the Whit. I'm a big Whit fan!

Had no 4 at the Whit 3 months ago. Had excellent ante natal care under Miss Henson. Nearly always seen on time. Felt I was listened to. Think that is more important than a lick of paint.

Designerbaby, are you in Haringey? The midwives that visited me after the birth were v helpful with feeding. Even tho it was my 4th i was struggling to get her to latch on. Midwife was so patient, felt she would have stayed all day if that was what it took.

ldc?

if you see Miss Henson, send her my love.

I love Miss Henson

ladymac, ahhh, a woman of my own heart.

I Miss Henson

lemon drizzle cake

I also Miss Henson. Whenever I have a Whit client I ask who their consultant is and if they say Miss Henson I get all gooey. Clare Mellon is also rather fab! But my heart belongs to Miss Henson (when my bp went sky high with the DTs and the MDU wouldn't take me in for monitoring my GP called Miss Henson and it was VIP treatment all the way.

Miss Henson