Whipps Cross or Homerton Maternity 2023

[Sonontheway]

I am pregnant and struggling to decide where to give birth as I live near Whipps Cross and Homerton Hospital. Could anyone share their most recent experiences at the maternity ward in Whipps Cross or Homerton? I need help deciding between the two; reviews everywhere are mixed and outdated. Whipps has recently been refurbished, and Homerton has made some improvements over the last decade.

Your help would be much appreciated :)

Sorry, nothing recent to add. I had a horrible experience at Whipps - nearly 18 years ago now 😲. Locally, people seem to prefer PAH to Whipps (we're n between) so maybe Homerton would be better.

Mostly just writing to bump this question.

I have worked at both and I would choose Homerton if I were in your position! I also had a friend who had a very high risk pregnancy and very premature baby on NICU at Homerton, raves about the care she received (she is medical too so is hyper-critical).
Good luck!

The staff at Whipps are lovely but the place is falling apart. The bit that was renovated was just the lilac suite I think? That opened in 2020 but I've heard more recently that it's often closed due to staff capacity. I gave birth there during Covid and it wasn't a great experience, but obviously things are a bit different now. I've heard a few people who've had good experiences there but overwhelmingly they are bad, whereas most people seem to rate Homerton. I also live close to Whipps so went for that for convenience, but I'm not sure I would again. Is there any option to do a visit of the maternity unit now? When I was there there was a lot of construction going on and it meant drilling above my head in the postnatal ward and being crammed into bays with loads of other people. As I say though, I can't fault the staff, but they definitely have capacity issues...

I have no experience at Homerton but had my first at Whipps and about to have my second. The Lilac birthing centre is open now and is lovely - you can book a tour there if you follow them on Instagram it gives details. I think if you ended up giving birth in there it would be great.

My experience with my first was during COVID, so a bit unusual. I ended up giving birth on the labour ward. The midwives and doctors were great. The postnatal ward was pretty horrendous and I think this is very run down - but I have nothing to compare it to and I was only in there for about 12 hours before discharge. The midwives were lovely but it felt understaffed and I don't think I'd have wanted to shower there etc - the room I gave birth in on the labour ward was nice and had a shower and I used that.

The community midwife team I have seen are lovely and I've never had a bad experience at triage. I'm low risk though and so I can't say I really put huge amounts of research into choosing. My neighbours I think have mostly chosen to go to North Mids which is also close to us as well - whipps does seem to have a slightly ropey reputation locally.

Thanks for sharing! What is PAH?

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant with my first DC and have chosen Homerton. So far, I am happy with the care I have received. Whipps Cross was closer to me but I hadn't heard great things about it. I had a consultation early on with my GP who recommended Homerton and North Middlesex hospital over Whipps Cross.

I had my first at Homerton during 2020 lockdown and am currently pregnant with my second, I will choose Homerton again (over Newham which is my other close hospital). The care was generally very good, the post natal experience was not positive (though I was only there for 30 hours or so), but I am hoping that they have made improvements to that post-Covid.

I know it's further away but I highly recommend UCLH

@Sonontheway hi op Congratulations on pregnancy. I've always given birth in whipps cross hospital. I've never had any issues what so ever. I'm currently expecting my 4th baby and I'll be going back to whipps to give birth.

May I also add that I gave birth in 2021 and there wasn't any issues. They have refurbished some parts of the maternity ward.

I'd say Homerton if you are anything other than textbook.

I'm 38 weeks, live 10 mins walk from whips but under the care of the Homerton. Have you read the CQC report/rating for whips? The Homerton have been excellent with my high risk pregnancy this far, can't complain!

Also Homerton have neonatal intensive care unit, which hopefully won't be needed but piece of mind

Princess Alexandra Hospital (Harlow).

I am pregnant and due any day now. I am giving birth at Whipps. I cannot comment on the birthing experience yet but I cannot fault the antenatal care so far. I have been well looked after. The lilac birthing centre is lovely and is open full time now (re-opened in May). I know a woman who gave birth there last month and had a great experience. I will probably end up on the labour ward but I know someone who gave birth there a few weeks ago and was happy. The only thing was she had to wait a while for her epidural due to the amount of emergencies. Could have been bad timing. She had a 5 day stay on the postnatal ward. My friend gave birth there during Covid and had a good experience, although wasn't too impressed with the postnatal ward but I'm hoping things have changed since then.

I work at whipps.( not on maternity but have done bank shifts there). I never had an issue with the staff there. I suppose every person has different views on each hospital. My sister had my nephew there a few years ago and didn't have a good experience, but since then, the staffing has changed dramatically

I had a good experience at Whipps a couple of years ago in the new lilac centre
I would go to whichever is nearest in case you have a fast labour, if I had picked Homerton the baby would have been born in the car park.

I’m almost 14 weeks pregnant and I am not impressed with Homerton hospital at all. My midwife is nice but I’ve had issues with the scan department. I had my first scan last week, the receptionist told me to fill my bladder , which I did and then they left me waiting over a hour and a half with no updates. I ended up breaking in the end and using the toilet. Apparently it was ok for me to do this all along but nobody bothered to relay that information to me. They couldn’t take all the measurements at the scan because of the babies position, this happens a lot and obviously has nothing to do with the hospital. The sonographer said she wanted me to come back in a few weeks when the baby was bigger and spoke to reception about booking me in for an extra scan. The receptionist told me she was booking me in for the 28th, both my husband and I heard this date. She didn’t write it down and also I didn’t get any letter or update on my nhs app. I just received a phone call from the scan department claiming that I missed my appointment today the 20th and it is being implied that I
got the date wrong but im sure they said the 28th. They called back and suspiciously have offered me a new appointment at the date and time I heard the receptionist say. Personally I am finding the experience with them very stressful so far but I’m hoping it’s just the scan department that is the issue

@EmJA85 this sounds annoying but I wouldn't worry too much about your care in labour and for baby afterwards - as far as I understand it the sonography department just does this specific but. I'm sure a midwife would be able to explain this better but I've had lots of irritating scanning appointments and it's not then really meant anything for my labour or postnatal care.

First time mum at Whipps Cross (March 2024). I was really happy with every aspect of maternity care at Whipps - from our first scan, community midwife appointments, birth and after-birth care. I had an elective c-section and the team who looked after me was fantastic. I was treated with care, respect, compassion and professionalism. As someone with a lot of anxiety, I was always put at ease and felt listened to. My birth was uncomplicated and I received a lot of support in recovery. I am so in awe of how hard everyone worked to make sure I had a positive birth experience. The only annoying bit was that they had no beds in the post-natal wards when my baby was born, so my husband and I remained in the recovery room instead. Not too bad because we had the whole place for ourselves overnight, but it meant my husband had to go up and down two floors every time we needed to sterilise/refill our formula bottles or make tea. We had to insist to be sent home the day after; there was a bit of a delay because the postnatal ward was full – in the end me and the baby got our final checks in the recovery bay, and were home happily ~28 hours after birth.

I just wanted to post again in case anyone is looking for info in the future having had my second child. A much more straightforward labour for me this time and I gave birth in the birthing centre at whipps, in the pool. The midwives who attended me were amazing and it was such a lovely experience. I ended up needing surgery for a retained placenta but everything was very calm, a doctor came up to see me and I was into surgery quickly and then allowed to go back to the birth centre to spend the night. Only one other mum in there during my time so loads of support and my husband could stay with me in a comfy room with double bed. Loads of breastfeeding support before discharge from a lovely midwife. I think only 10% of the babies at whipps are born in that birth centre (and it has recently closed and reopened again due to low staffing levels) but if it's what you end up with I honestly couldn't praise it more highly.