NHS antenatal but private childbirth?

[yuyi]

Hi, I'm living in E14. My GP normally refers people to Royal London Hospital but I've heard some bad stories about them. I want to go private but the insurance policy I found only covers the childbirth charges.

I went to Lansdell Suite today. Apparently they don't accept women who have their antenatal care in another place. I asked if I could have NHS antenatal care at St Thomas and go to Lansdell Suite for babybirth but was told my post code is not accepted at St Thomas.

The other option I considered is to find a consultant who works at University College London Hospital (UCL) and The Portland Hospital (PH) so that I could have NHS antenatal care at UCL and childbirth at PH. However PH seems very expensive and my insurance limit can only cover the first night for a normal delivery...which means that I could easily end up with a shortfall of thousands of pounds. UCL also told me they don't have private care unit for maternity. They have amenity rooms at 250 or 500 pounds/night subject to availability. The rooms can't be booked. Anyone who tried to mix NHS with private maternity can share some experience here?

Thx a lot!

Hi Yuyi, it sounds like you have been given some confusing information. Lots of women have NHS ante-natal and private delivery.

I didn't have my baby at the Lansdell, but when I was looking around, I got all the brochures from their consultants and they all offered a delivery-only package. Unless there's been a policy change, then perhaps the midwife was thinking of the situation where a St Thomas's patient wants to transfer to the Lansdell rooms - in that situation I can see that they wouldn't allow transfers from other NHs hospitals. They would be overwhelmed. It's probably best to ring the Lansdell consultants' secretaries to get the full picture. I googled one of them for you, and you can see he offers a delivery only package: londonpregnancycare.com/

At the time, I know that the Lindo at St Mary's, the Stanley Clayton Wing at Queen Charlotte's and the Guthrie Wing at King's all offered delivery only options. You might need to be more persistent and go direct to the consultants' secretaries who are more used to dealing with this sort of situation. These are all less expensive day rate options than the Portland.

I did exactly the combination you describe (UCH ante-natal and the Portland for ELCS delivery). My consultant at both places was Pat O'Brien. He's a very calm and capable type. My son had the cord wrapped twice around his neck and my uterus was wierdly vascular and needed lots of extra sewing up; I never had the slightest inkling that anything was less than totally normal. If you look at the Portland's website, there's a list of all the consultants, and you can see who is also at UCH. (Or any other NHS post.)

Whoever also told you they don't have private maternity at UCH was only telling you half the story. They do, but only for ELCS deliveries. Google the Fitzrovia suite.

You'll need to check the insurance details very carefully - all the policies I've seen only cover private care if you need a CS and even then have limitations on the charges applied. The Portland also has a private NICU and SCBU and you'll need to ensure that your policy covers your child just in case you need those extra services as the costs are astronomic.

As far as transferring to private care though, I did this seamlessly, twice, but I found my consultant first and he and his secretary sorted out the logistics. Mine was a planned section each time which is easier to organise for obvious reasons.
Hope that helps.

ghislaine - I'll certainly get in touch with the secretaries. thought speaking to reception was good enough！　：－）

Saccrofolium - it's BUPA Worldwide medical insurance at roughly 135pounds per month. They told me private childbirth is covered. level of cover is up to 6500 pounds per membership year. benefit explanations:" we pay for maternity treatment and childbirth after the mother has been a member of the plan for 10 months, including:
-hospital charges, obstetricians' and midwives' fees for normal childbirth
-post natal care required by the mother immediately following normal childbirth, such as stitches
-up to seven days' routine care for the baby.

thanks so much for your reply！

That sounds similar to the wording in our policy but the limits were where it all came undone. Despite saying they'd pay obstetrician fees it was actually only to a limit of £500, and there isn't an obstetrician in the country who will deliver for that, let alone a c section if you need one. I hope I'm wrong and maybe it was just us but I urge you to phone them and check the individual limits.