Hospitals: would you go privately?

[Jecca]

It wasn't an option for me and I was in and out in half a day so I don't know if it made much difference, but if you could afford it, would you choose a private hospital? What would you advise your best friend to do???

hmmm i may... although you know if anything goes wrong they'll probably transfer you to an nhs one!

i was a private patient in an NHS hospital and although i only wanted my own room I think the care was crap. Am assured its better when EVERYONE is private

No. Because they are excellent if things go well, many are not so good if things go wrong. they don't have the facilities or the experienced staff all too often.

No. Ditto Floss.

DP nagged me endlessly to go private. They couldn't fit me in privately, but I couldn't have had better care than I had NHS. Would have been nice to have own room, but how galling to pay for same consultants you'd have had free anyway! I'd rather spend the cash on several years' worth of health insurance.

Yes - but would always go for King Edward VII hospital where they have full intensive care facilities and where the dear old royal family go!

DH was looked after very well there!

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Oh - is this a birth thing then - so DH's hospital stay is a bit irrelevant then

Not an option in Scotland - no private maternity facilities.

However I PPH'ed (if such a thing is possible) after both our girls and so was pleased I had full facilities available.

Sounds good SB, untill they find you have MRSA and refuse to admit you....

No. Wouldn't occur to me.

yes - have had private insurance for years, first through dh's work then through the company I worked for. Now I'm retired, we don't have the insurance but as I have an eye condition that is reviewed every 12 months I will still go to see the same guy privately.

floss - they don't find out until you are there though

If I had insurance / cash I would go privately for a 'quality of life' but minor procedure if there were long NHS waiting lists.

But not for childbirth - I'd be more likely to spend theoretical cash on a private doula and nice takeout meals brought in!

for childbirth?

no

Not necessarily SB, if going in for routine op they will probably swab you prior to admission in clinic.

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Thought I'd rather spend the money afterwards on one of those parentsneedpampering holidays that we can't possibly afford, but my friend's American so she hasn't even looked at NHS hospitals yet. The hospitals she's looking at have low C-section rates and only a small number of babies that need to be transferred, but I still feel uncomfortable about it.

Is there any evidence of private hospitals being a problem if things go wrong or is it just an urban myth?

Well, it depends what for and what hospital. ie. my local NHS hospital was terribly dirty when I gave birth, so when DS was hospitalised with a condition that required surgery the thought really crossed our mind, then we were refered to another NHS hospital that was immaculately clean. I do also wonder if a private one could have offered the same level of experienced doctors (our doctor was the only ENT paediatric specialist in the area therefore lots and lots of hands-on experience, I doubt a local private hospital could have beaten that).

Now, in terms of allergies, where the waiting lists are eternal, it made sense to go private, otherwise DS wouldn't have been seen in years.

Chandra - I think in a good private hospital you'll find they are exactly the same consultant you would have seen in the NHS!

I have seen an example of it and have heard of very unsafe practices, ie machines not being checked and callibrated, risking lives. But I am an NHS worker, so very anti everything private and tell the seller type people in the shopping malls which shuts them up quick smart!

Jecca - It's a view widely held by consultants, for starters!
I think it is because private hospitals do not usually have the back-up of intensive care, range of specialist consultants etc.

I was thinking specifically about childbirth...

I can't tell you about childbirth specifically. I can tell you about working on a specialist ward where we would frequently have patients paying by the day for their private care and operation on an NHS ward, as the private hospital had neither the facilities nor the staff able enough to care for such sick patients. I can also tell you about the man they refused to take back because he had been diagnosed MRSA. Don't know whether he was able to stop paying or not. If I were those patients, I'd be absolutely furious. I was not getting what I was paying for.

Thanks Blu and Floss. I think the big plus might be on midwife availability... I know at my hospital you'd be lucky if you were only sharing your midwife with one other person. I imagine if you're private you get a bit more attention in those moments you're yelling for an epidural and wondering if your midwife will ever come back off her break???