Help! UCLH, St Mary's or Chelsea NHS hospital?

[PJen]

Have to make a decision soon and GP couldn't advice and just told me to chose from one!!! Called a friend and she said "all of them are crap since NHS! Pay 15000 GBP and go to private" as if I have just won a lottery!! I decided on UCLH since it's new and shiny and now am double guessing. Well, I can't just chose a hospital becuase it's shiney, right? So does anyone here has any experience (prenatal or birth or whatever) in any of these hospitals? Please do share! I still can change my mind...

Thanks!
P

I have no experience of these hospitals so can't help much, but a couple of them (Mary's and UCLH) were on my list to choose from and my GP thought they were all good.

In the end, I chose by what's convenient (in terms of getting there to have the baby, and to any antenatal appointments), the presence of features I was especially keen on (e.g. a midwife-led unit - the Bloomsbury Birthing Centre at UCLH is supposed to be good) and then there's any general advice you can pick up on from local mums or on here.

UCLH is reportedly very good and if you're happy with it I'd just stick with that - but then I'm sure someone more experienced will be along soon! Do you have a booking-in appointment fixed yet? That might give you a better idea of what it's like.

Thanks Pidgin! this sounds reassuring. It all is new and very overwhelming and at the same time exciting!

I had my DC at St Mary's and while the antenatal care was excellent, post-natal was pretty shit and the facilities are very old. UCLH have just built a whole new maternity facility and two of my friends have their last two babies there. C&W is a bit far for me - if you're Bloomsbury way, it's probably a bit of a traffic nightmare to be honest.

Meant to add - I chose St Mary's because the AN facilities are easy for me to get to but if I had my time again (!) I'd go with UCLH

Thank you so much LadyBiscuit! I appreciate so much that you shared your experience! I live very close to St Mary's but had visited there for infertility clinic and the facilities looked very aged, so I agree with you on that aspect. I am 12 mins away from UCLH, which is not a disaster I suppose!

Their consultants and staff are amazing but if you have an uncomplicated pregnancy, then not having to go 1/2 a mile down the corridor for a loo and being in a room which isn't 35 degrees once you have had the baby is probably more important

Gosh - UCLH new and shiny? Was grotty and utterly filthy 5 years ago so would have advised against.

I would go for nearest - or easiest to get to - if you have to go in for lots of appointments if you go overdue it's a right faff to get your enormous pregnant body to the hospital every day. Also, London traffic jams and labour pains? No thanks!

Hi,

St Mary's is by far the closest for us but we've heard bad things about it if you dont get into the new birthing suite. Our other choices are Queen Charlotte's and UCLH.

Have to decide tomorrow. Any ideas which would be the best choice?

I had to choose between C&W, St Georges in Tooting and St Thomas'. It seemed that they were all v similar, and I am embarrassed to say that I made my decision in the end based on the fact that there was a Feng Sushi opposite C&W (for my post birth meal, which was delicious!), and a bus that went from near my house and dropped me off on the Kings Road - an excuse to pop in the shops on my way home. However, only one of these plans worked out - the midwife appointments for C&W turned out to be in Vauxhall, which was a complete pain to get to, so bear that in mind!

In terms of care, I found it to be the same as any other hospital, where you get brilliant staff and ones that don't give a toss. The surgery team were just fab, but the conditions back on the post-labour ward were pretty grim.

Good luck! I have now left London and don't have a choice where I give birth which makes it easier!

Hi denis870,
I went for UCLH at the end. I am in W2 area... You seem to be living very close to me as we had similar choices!!! Let me know if you find any good ante natal classes or groups close to our area!

Sapphire,
Have you started seeing the mid wife? My first appointment is on Wk 12! I wasn't happy as usually you should see your mid wife by Wk 8-10 but they didn't want to change... HUMPH! but oh well, it is NHS, what can you do??

I'm with UCH and they have been fantastic. I havent had an easy pregnancy. Had to do CVS and cardiac scan (everything is fine with my baby boy)and staff were amazing. The only down side is that I find a bit difficult to get hold of your midwife.

Lia1977 thanks for the sharing. Very encouraging to hear your experience. I am so excited to get to that stage. I guess we all are......

I'm at St Mary's which is lovely, if you're looking for a midwife-led birth centre and not a labour ward (that's the bit that gets the bad press). Birth Centre only opened about 18 months ago and its great, better than the private I looked at (I say I looked at, I looked at their websites and spoke to a few people!). Staff really nice as well and I can't believe I'm actually writing it but they speak really good English which I've found very helpful.
I know it feels really early to make such a decision but you can always change later if you decide to, up to about 20 weeks isn't normally a problem I don't think, although you might feel a bit of a lost soul in a new place. Strange how attached you get to your hospital, no matter its faults, its like supporting a football team! Good luck.

I went to UCLH for my early pregnancy scan and they were amazingly nice! I had some treatments done in St Mary's and the people were always grumpy there. I do believe that the architecture of work place affects employees attitude so I am so far very happy with UCLH!