Experiences at Barnet for maternity care

[Kooky0105]

Hi everyone,

I have just found out that I am pregnant last week, currently bang on 6 weeks so really early days! I have two scans over the next month at my IVF clinic before I get discharged to NHS care but apparently I do need to self refer to my chosen hospital soon.

For my first pregnancy, I gave birth at UCLH where I had a rough experience with a complicated induction and mistakes made through the process, however I wonder whether that was an anomalous experience given how highly regarded UCLH is globally.

For this second pregnancy, I am considering Barnet which is my local hospital. Proximity to home feels more important this time around with a two year old at home. Despite it being round the corner we didn't consider it the first time as we'd heard friends having tricky experiences back then, however that was back in 2023 and it may well have changed since then...

Does anyone have any recent stories, good or bad, to help us make a decision? We are quite torn and not sure whether to go for UCLH again! For context we live in Whetstone so the closest hospitals to us are Barnet, North Midd, Whittington, Royal Free has now closed .

Thank you in advance!

I gave birth in Barnet last year, and overall it was a positive experience. I was able to give birth in the midwife led birthing centre, which was amazing, but apparently it's closed a lot so is not to be counted on. I had one quite rough midwife but generally the midwives were lovely. The labour ward, where I was after the birth, was horrible. It was hot and noisy, with very little privacy. Overall though, the birth wasn't a terrible experience so I'm not complaining.

Before birth, scans went fine, though you'd often have to wait quite a while even with an appointment.

One thing I will say is parking is terrible. You can easily spend over an hour looking for a space, so ideally go by public transport when you can