What private preventative healthcare or vaccines have you paid for your children?

[Fuckthisshittt]

Inspired by the chat about private vaccinations on the meningitis thread at the moment.

What private preventative treatment, vaccines, other stuff have you sought for your children?
Basically I want to know what the NHS is missing that I can pay for. Lucky position to be in financially, but we don’t have actual private healthcare.

I didn’t get chickenpox vaccine for mine, but both have had early private orthodontic treatment (palate expanders).

Have been thinking as they’re both sporty about having a heart scan when a bit older and would pay for this if needed.
And now Men B boosters.

What else is worth doing outside of the NHS?

Yes. Super important and the reason they get it a bit younger than you’d expect. Hopefully most 12 year olds don’t need it yet but many will by 15.

I looked this up this morning as we are local to the outbreak. Superdrug has a full list of all vaccinations it offers and I remember another family from the last outbreak (last year?) saying they had thought they were completely up to date with meningitis vaccines only to find out the NHS didn't cover the one their daughter died of, so certainly worth doing. They also do travel vaccinations like Hep B etc.

I paid for my DD to have MenB when it was added to the NHS schedule for younger ones - I think she was as about 9 at the time.

When I was early 20s I had the HepB vaccine (due to my lifestyle), more recently I've paid privately for me to have HPV vaccine.

HPV vaccine is ideal and hugely effective before someone becomes sexually active, but there are benefits after too, and the NHS will vaccinate MSM up to age 45 free of charge. Sadly my local trust will only do women up to age 21.

Chicken pox and Men B vaccines
Private orthodontics

Nothing at this stage, I will get Men B for eldest closer to late teens. I had 2 friends die of meningitis late teens/uni age.

In fact, it may have been 26 for women. Anyway, check with your local sexual health clinic if you are/your DD is 20s and want the HPV vaccine ✔️

I’ve never heard of that @JacknDiane and I have previously been under a cardiologist. That’s not to say it isn’t a thing but usually it’s electrodes on different parts of your body and you have to take off any underwires bra

Heart scans by CRY, Men B for both and HPV for DS who was the year before they introduced it for boys on the NHS.

It was either a small clamp on my finger or i put a fingerprint on a small white box thingy and held it there for a certain length of time, not long. It was to test for atrial fibrillation.

Just want to add another shout out to CRY. The age range is 14-35 so even mums 335 and under can get in on this, if they are worried. My own heart defect was detected when I was 35 and I've been monitored since. In my 40s, I had a cardiac arrest.
DD has a heart condition, detected early (privately- will explain below), simply because of my own history. I don't know if I'd even have considered checking my children's hearts were it not for my own condition.
My daughter was diagnosed privately only because we were never successful at getting a CRY slot close enough to us.
But what an amazing charity. We're so lucky to have access to such a great organisation.

I'm going to try and get my eldest into a CRY session semi local to us in October as he's 14. My youngest will do the same. My eldest just had the meningitis vaccination as scheduled but I think I need to check what stains were included. He didn't get MenB as a youngster. My youngest may have had it as I think it came out just after he was born but I need to check too.

One of mine has had the CRY check and others will too as soon as old enough.

I am now considering the Men B vaccines.

HPV we get at school here.

Paid for the rota virus vaccination for the younger 2. Paid for the tick born encephalitis vaccination for all of them, because we live in an area where there are a lot of ticks in the summer. But we are not in the UK, so I don't know if those are free there?

Orthodontists have been a mixture of state and private because the waiting lists are so long.

Paid for rotavirus and chicken pox before they became part of schedule

paid for various meningitis vax

paid for private speech therapy and OT

paid for orthodontics even though would have been covered on nhs because didn't want to wait 2 years

Chicken pox vaccine.

Chicken pox

Chicken pox
Men B
Travel vaccine - although don’t expect NHS to fund this

I have also had to pay £££ for a private prescription charge because we went through one of those doctors as part of our healthcare. It meant DC didn’t have to miss school for an appointment. I won’t do this again as it’s very expensive, this means an extra burden on the NHS. Don’t get me started on the GPs prescribing items that are available otc and much cheaper to buy that way. It’s disgraceful given the col crisis.

Chickenpox.

A public body list of recommended vaccines and boosters by age with a tick for which ones are cost-effective enough to be provided by NHS would be really helpful.

Mine get a flu jab each Autumn, and I paid privately for both to get the Meningitis B vaccine. I lost a house mate at uni to Meningitis, so I wanted to protect my girls. Having seen the news in Kent this morning, I'm very glad I did.

We live in an area that doesn't routinely vaccinate for TB so we paid for DS. they must have changed things because DD got hers on the NHS when I asked for it based on where we travel to regularly.

I am going to look into meningitis as I thought they WERE getting that via the NHS.

Braces.

I have a 13 year old. what age would you recommend they get the Men B one?

I paid for ds to get the HPV vaccination aged 11/12 (he turned 12 before the second dose) before they made it available for boys. I thought I’d gone very early but he then had a girlfriend when he was only just 13. They didn’t have sex but they certainly kissed so I’m pretty happy with that decision.

Please get proper advice - I've just had it in my reminders for when she's 16 so it's well before she moves out and has flatmates and such (she's aiming for dance college after high school). I 'think' she's too old to have had it routinely and I saw somewhere they recommend it for teenagers regardless. But don't take my word for it - I was going to check back on it in a couple of years.

Meningitis B, it was rolled out on the NHS when mine were just above the age to get it so I got it done privately.