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Childbirth

does anyone know of private anaethatists????

3 replies

disneystar · 04/02/2008 21:50

prob spelt that wrong but what i meant was i was talking to my midwife and discussing the fact i want an epidural due to the fact my husband and i carry a genetic gene called crouzons syndrome and 2 of my babies were born with fused skull bones making it impossible to push baby out without help but during last labout no epidural possible due to lack of staff medical emergencies etc.... so she suggested why not have a private anaethatist i have never heard of this any help on this one please?or can i go to my midwife for chek ups but when the time comes go private to have my baby so theres no lack of midwifes or doctors if theres a problem i have no idea here so any ideas will be great thanks

OP posts:

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Mintpurple · 05/02/2008 08:29

Hi disneystar - I have never heard of a public patient having a private anaesthetist, and even if you could find one to be on call for you, they still charge the private patients about £600 in our hospital.

If there are no available midwives to help doing an epidural due to emergencies etc, then they cant just suddenly become available because of the private anaesthetist IYSWIM, so you still would not get your epidural.
The midwives in most NHS hospitals, who care for private patients are public midwives, there are no 'private' midwives looking after private patients in labour wards, so they are just as busy and have to just split up their workload as best they can.

If you go private, most hospitals charge from about £5-10,000 for private care, so unless you are loaded, it becomes a very expensive option just to get an epidural.

Most of the time, most people will get an epidural within about 20-30 mins, but sometimes it just happens that the unpredictable nature of labour ward will not allow this. But it is unusual not to get an epidural when you ask.

Sorry that this is not what you want to hear, I suggest that you speak again to the midwife in your hospital who suggested this and ask her to investigate it.

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edam · 05/02/2008 08:47

I'd contact the supervisor of midwives or the head of midwifery at your hospital and explain your particular medical needs. And make sure it is documented in your birth plan in big capital letters, underlined three times.

Like previous poster, never heard of private anaesthetist with NHS birth, don't think that's a runner, sorry.