How to make choices about maternity ward?

[pandabiscuit]

Hi everyone,

I'm after a little advice as to how to choose maternity services in my area. I'm 5 1/2 w pregnant with my first so am completely new to this and am feeling slightly overwhelmed by the decisions I'm needing to make already.

GP last week wasn't very helpful apart from telling me I needed to let him know ASAP which hospital I wanted to have the baby at as some were slightly out of area and the sooner I told him the better and more likely I was to get appts etc on time.

It seems my choices are the Royal Free, St. Mary's and Northwick Park - the Free is geographically closest. I'm aware of the bad rep both the Free and Northwick Park have had in the past but don't know if that's changed recently and if anyone's got more positive recent experiences? Also can you choose where to go or not ?- UCH is also pretty close and I've heard positive things about it so not sure if it's an option.

As we don't want to tell friends or family yet we can't draw on their experiences so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My DH and I know we at least want a hospital led delivery as it's our 1st but other than that not sure how to choose!!!

Sorry for long post - am a newbie to the site!

I looked on NHS website. All the hospitals have reviews. I read general reviews and almost all of them mentioned something about maternity. My closest hospital is North Middlesex University hospital and Whittington Hospital. North Middlesex hospital has horrifying reviews and mentions maternity not in good light, Whittington Hospital has great reviews especially for the maternity. I went on hospitals individual sites, searched mumsnet for both hospitals and decided to go with Whittington because of the positive reviews and the new birthing center. My booking appointment is on July 13. I hope I will be pleased. In my research I found very good comments about UCH.

Good luck!

Hi Panda!

Welcome to MN and congratulations on your pregnancy.

Im not really of any help to you as I am not in your area but didnt want your post to go unanswered for too long.

Have you tried to post in Mumsnet Local for advice from people geographically near you? You might get a better, more relevant response there....if you go to your talk topic and scroll to the bottom, mumsnet local should be there second from bottom.

Congratulations to you on your pregnancy!

You could have a look at Birthchoice UK
www.birthchoiceuk.com/
I found that very useful in making my decision - the checklist is great!

As the site explains, you may actually choose any hospital to have your baby in so do ask for UCH if that is your preference.

My advice would be to go to one close to home (sometimes there are a few false starts in labour and depending on how your pregnancy goes, you may need to pop in for checks quite regularly).

Also if you can't ask friends because it's early days yet, why not ask on the "mumsnet local" part of this site?

X post about mumsnet local Glasgowlass!!

Hi glasgowlass and babynelly2010

thank you both so much for replying so quickly- can't believe just how stressed something this trivial is making me- despite reading as much as I can about it all I don't have a clue about any of the processes or what the next stage is and the whole thing has been a bit scary and overwhelming!!

I'll definately check out mumsnet local
I've also heard very good things about the Whittington- just not sure if it's an option for me.

Congratulations! I know - it can all feel a bit rushed at the beginning. I'm now 25 weeks with our first and I remember feeling exactly the way you describe!
I started off at the Royal Free and found the midwife, scanning and other antenatal stuff to be OK. Bit slow and a bit of a wait sometimes, but all in all OK. Fortunately, my pregnancy has remained uneventful, so I can't comment on what the service is like if special circumstances or other complications crop up. My reasons for choosing the Royal Free initially were based on nothing more than the fact that it is geographically close and that I am in Barnet PCT and assumed that I could only received maternity care from a hospital that was also in Barnet PCT. Not true!!

However, I have in fact just transferred my care to the Whittington. We did a bit more research, talked to friends who have recently had babies and friends who are healthcare professionals and made the decision to transfer to the Whittington. Our reasons are that they have more and better birthing facilities (check out the birthing suite online!) and that their neonatal unit is superior to that at the Royal Free. I haven't yet had my booking in session with the midwife so I can't comment about what the staff, etc are like.
Your GP is right that you need to make a decision fairly soon to make sure you get in the system in time to have your booking in appointment at about 10 weeks and your first scan at about 12 weeks. Getting your GP to make a referral usually takes some time, which means you have less time to think about what you want to do. However, you can usually self-refer to antenatal care and maternity services (look at the websites of the maternity units at the hospitals you are considering to see how to go about this - usually fill in a form and drop it off/post it). Self-referral is usually a quicker process which means that you will have a bit more time to think. And remember - you can always change your mind mid way through pregnancy and change hospitals. I agree with Babynelly that the Whittington generally has received better feedback on Mumsnet.
Good luck!!

Panda,
I hope everything works out for you well. I also was very stressed out about finding a good place once I learned to be pregnant because I really don't know anyone around here, this is 1st pregnancy for us and I did not have GP at the time also. I self recommended myself to the maternity in the hospital because I did not know what else to do. Now I have the GP and the booking appointment, I am very happy about how my maternity care is going to go so far, but I am still very early anyways, 7 weeks.

Good luck with your pregnancy and congrats!

I think the best thing to do is check out Mumsnet Local, ask for peoples experiences, good and bad and then go to your GP and ask which hospitals they normally deal with.
As chicken said previously, you can choose to have your baby at any hospital, however, I feel she has hit the nail on the head with staying relatively local as there can be false starts, mad dashes and many appts to get to.

This site is a great tool for someone newly pregnant, I know it was for me, you can ask anything and you will get measured responses. You will be hooked in no time

Once your GP notifies the hospital of your pregnancy you will be called for a booking in appt(they may do some of this at your home, depending on your NHS trust). At this appt you will have a history taken, answer lots and lots of questions, have blood taken, urine tested and, if in a hospital, possibly your dating scan(mine was done on a diff day to my booking in). The midwife who books you in will let you know where and when your next appt is.
Its a good idea to think of any questions you want to ask beforehand, write them down and take these with you....do not be rushed from this appt!

Congrats on your pregnancy!

Birthchoice is excellent. A few extra points to bear in mind:

• You said you know you want a "hospital led delivery".

If that means a consultant-led delivery, vs a midwife-led delivery, then you may want to ask how many hours of consultant cover the hospitals currently provide per week. The more the better, basically: that way, there's more chance of you actually seeing a consultant during your labour. If it means a midwife-led delivery but in a hospital setting, then all three hospitals have midwife-led birth units. We had our first at the Royal Free birth centre and it was an excellent experience, and reassuring to know that if anything serious had happened, we were just metres away from the doctors.

• You can book to go on tours of them all.
• You've got time to make an informed decision. Loads of women don't even know they're pregnant at 5.5wks, obviously! So, don't dawdle but don't worry.

Wow thank you everyone - all your replies have been so helpful.

Feeling a lot calmer now!

slhilly- you mentioned going on tours of them all - which bit do you mean? do you mean the antenatal clinics or the actual birthing centres - I just thought those tours were for ladies further on in their pregnancies not for bumpless people like me?!

chicken-your point about staying local is one I'm definately considering - UCH being near the centre is something at the back of our minds in terms of traffic etc. We're trying to decide if the Whittington is more easily accessible.

So just found out UCH don't do tours anymore- all information online instead.

The midwives I just spoke to at Mary's and the Whittington sounded utterly adorable and very helpful and I think we'll go on tours to those 2 and the Royal Free in the next week and hopefully that'll help us decide!

Hi Panda

I'm 5 1/2 weeks pregnant too and think we must be in similar areas as I am looking at NCH and Whittington too.
My best friend was at Royal Free and didn't have very good experience. I was thinking about UCH as have heard good things but was worried about it being so bang in the centre of town.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting your question and to everyone who has responded. Really useful advice and I think i am going to go on a tour of Whittington and St Marys too.

Good luck with everything!

Hi Panda

I'm 5 1/2 weeks pregnant too and think we must be in similar areas as I am looking at NCH and Whittington too.
My best friend was at Royal Free and didn't have very good experience. I was thinking about UCH as have heard good things but was worried about it being so bang in the centre of town.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting your question and to everyone who has responded. Really useful advice and I think i am going to go on a tour of Whittington and St Marys too.

Good luck with everything!

Hi EmHaz

congrats to you too! Exciting and a bit daunting isn't it?
Glad the thread's helping you out too- everyone who has posted has been so helpful and reassuring.
I was so touched by the responses I had a little cry earlier which i'm assuming is hormonal?!
let me know what impression you get when you go round and we can compare! Hope it all goes well.

Hiya,

I too had to choose my hospital at 5 1/2 weeks and my GP put me on the spot to say there and then. I chose North Middlesex but after doing some research and being totally unimpressed with my antenatal care I transferred to Whittington at 18 weeks.

Thankfully my pregnancy has been low risk and straight forward but it has been very reassuring to have continuity of care with a brilliant midwife that I cannot praise highly enough. I am actually planning a homebirth now (surprised myself with that one) but have seen and heard some fabulous things about the birthing suite there too.

Good luck with your choice, do some research and trust your instinct.

Our experience of the Royal Free is 4 years out of date, but at the time, it seemed to us that there was a pretty noticeable difference between how the midwives acted at the birth centre and the labour ward. On the former, they were lovely, proactive, helpful, friendly etc -- just what you want. On the latter, they were sullen, uncommunicative, etc. Who knows, maybe it was driven by the extent of autonomy? Anyway, it may all have changed, but I thought you ought to know what we felt.

FWIW, UCLH has moved most maternity services into a new hospital (shiny shiny) and they have a bucketload of consultants...

I just had a great experience at the whittington - if you are near the RF then you can't be too far from the whittington, I can't rate the MLU there enough.

I don't live in the whittington area either, it doesn't matter - i am in the RF area, I transferred to the whittington at 30 weeks as I was so annoyed with the cr*p care at the RF (see thread about this on childbirth board).

Hi Panda,

I can totally understand your stress about choosing a hospital...I've been there 8 months ago!

I'm now 35 weeks and have been with the Royal Free and happy so far. We chose it first of all because is 5 min walking from our house, but also looked at reviews and heard some opinions. You will find some pretty horrific stories about the royal free but when I researched about other options, some pretty bad stories also came up...guess it will happen everywhere!

One thing I advise is to do the royal free tour early on your pregnancy - they do it every Sunday afternoon. I've done it when I was like 10 weeks,( not even showing and everyone there had huge bumps...felt quite ridiculous), early but for me the best option..needed to see the place if I was to choose it over other options!!

Regarding the care I'm getting, I'm having a pretty straight forward pregnancy and my GP and midwife have been very good. You may hear about missed scans, blood testes being forgotten...well, never happened to me, everything going well, sometimes have to wait a bit for appointments but guess that's general NHS...

I've also done the antenatal classes and physiotherapy classes with them and they were quite useful, in case you consider that.

Keep in mind that you can always change hospitals later on if you feel you're not getting the care you want/need! You have that right!

Good luck with pregnancy and your choice and do let me know should you need any other info!

Hi Panda,

Yes, will do. Think am going to go to Whittington this saturday for a tour so will feed back after that. If you're planning on going too I'll be the short blonde one on her own - my husband has to stay home and wait for furniture to be delivered for our new house!

xx

Hello everyone,

Thank you thank you for all your advice.

EmHaz I'm thinking of going to the Whittington on Saturday too - if we manage to get there I'm the curly haired mediterranean looking brunette with my husband so I may well see you there!

Neshi - Thanks for your post. I'm not writing the Free off yet - I know it pretty well from other circumstances and I was hoping not everyone would have bad things to say! I'm thinking of trying to get on their tour as you suggest but I'm not sure if leaving it another week and a half is too late to decide as I'll be 7w+ (hopefully) by then and am feeling the pressure to let the GP know where I want to go.

That's part of the problem visiting Mary's too - their tour is Monday nights and I won't be able to make next week so it'll be the one after that.

I guess I could just choose the Free - then go on the tours at my leisure and switch afterwards to somewhere else if I change my mind ?

Hi Panda,

Great - will look out for you and your husband then!

Have a good rest of your week

Hi EmHaz & Panda,
Think I met you at the Whittington Hospital today... Just wanted to say how nice it was to meet you and good luck with everything. I have my first scan booked in there next Saturday, I'll let you know how it goes.
All the best

Hi els195 -Nice to meet you as well. I was very impressed by the Whittington yesterday and really hope your scan goes well.

EmHaz - I was going to go on the tour on the Free but then thought even if the facilities were as good I've heard better things about the Whittington. Really the only benefit would be the slight geographical adavantage which isn't that great. I will check out Mary's at some point buut I think I'll tell my GP I want to go to the Whitt.

The other reason I didn't go is quite honestly I was absolutely exhausted! I've spent most of the day lying on the sofa with zero energy and eating every few hours as I keep feeling hungry! I was exhausted yesterday just after going on the tour and had to have a nap when I got in! I'm assuming all these symptoms are normal and I'm really hoping I'll have more energy soon!

Hi Panda and els195,

so lovely to meet you both on saturday!

I was really impressed with the Whittington and have decided to go with them. I filled in the self-referall form on the website as they said it was quicker than going through your GP. But I'll let them know too.

Not sure if I'll def go with the bitch centre. I really liked it but am thinking am most likely to go with an edpidural so shouldt really waste the birth centre's time. But am going to look into the pethadin (did i spell that right?!) injection the midwife talked about.

anyway, was totally exhausted too after the tour but had to get straight back to cleaning the house! all worth it though!

els195 - good luck with scan and def keep us posted - you can be our pregnancy guru!

have a good week guys xx