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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Private birth room with the NHS

62 replies

Misstiffany · 23/12/2020 11:52

Hello, so I’ve just discovered only now that you are able to pay for a private birth room within the NHS?

Has anyone done this? And how do I go about getting more info about it?

How much roughly did it cost?

OP posts:

spaceghetto · 23/12/2020 13:21

@KylieKangaroo are you sure she was sleeping? I had a horrible experience when I was on the ward for one night. My baby cried a lot while other ones slept. A lady popped her head in and said "are you actually looking after your baby we're trying to sleep?" I was mortified and felt even more awful than I already did after a difficult birth and NO sleep.

Diddlysquatty · 23/12/2020 13:24

So.... I got a private post natal room without having to pay for it because they spotted during giving birth that I had threadworms 🙈

Diddlysquatty · 23/12/2020 13:25

.... thanks to my older children I should add

MonkeyPuddle · 23/12/2020 13:27

I gave birth a few weeks ago, all the private rooms were being used as isolation rooms for positive covid patients or those waiting for swab results to come back so it wouldn’t have been possible to have one.

pinkgin85 · 23/12/2020 13:28

I had a private room both times at The Royal London and I can't recommend it enough if you can get one. You can't book them in advance but if one is available when you're ready to be moved then you can take it. I believe it's £150+ per night but it's totally worth it if you can afford it because my husband could stay the night with me in it, not on the post natal ward. I had csection both times so needed his help.

firefly · 23/12/2020 13:34

London based here. £170 a night. Stayed two nights. Would pay it again like that.

Scottishskifun · 23/12/2020 13:34

It can't be done at our maternity hospital.

I had a baby in the neonatal unit was walking nearly 4 miles a day back and fourth to it to breasffeed and was still told I was low priority.
The neonatal unit tried to find me a bed near them but they only had 4 all were taken.

I still remember the "woman" aka girl across from me saying to her visitors (who stayed til 11pm at night) that I was disturbing her recovery as the midwife would wake me when my son needed feeding and that she needed a private room because of it was had been constantly asking the midwife

Keha · 23/12/2020 13:35

You just have to ask on the day really, see if they have any. I had a pretty bad birth and my MIL asked, they actually didn't charge when they found out about what we'd been through, but I think that was partly because they had spare rooms.

peachypetite · 23/12/2020 13:35

I had my own room and bathroom following the birth of my baby last month. It was on the midwife led unit, not the labour ward.

fairydustandpixies · 23/12/2020 13:36

I paid for one with DS1 (DS2 was born at home). Cost £45 but that was 22yrs ago!! 😁

Crimblecrumble1990 · 23/12/2020 13:39

My local hospital (in bucks) has a couple of private rooms and it is first come first served if you ask on the day. I paid £180 a night. It was extortionate and the only benefit I found being in there was the privacy but it was worth it (bloody sheets weren't changed for my 3 night stay, missed all the fancy meals as I was sat in NICU with baby). If it wasn't for covid it also meant my husband could have stayed with me. I would pay it again to not be on a ward.

HelloDulling · 23/12/2020 13:40

Our hospital-a large teaching hospital-does not have private rooms available to pay for, but all the rooms on the midwife unit have a loo/basin, and you stay in them until you go home. On the consultant-led ward you are in with all and sundry.

thisismycodename · 23/12/2020 13:42

It depends on the hospital. I was given a private room (there were about 12 on our ward, from memory) after first birth because it was very, very traumatic, I was a state and I had a baby who would not stop screaming whatever I did (who was probably disturbing all of the nice well behaved newborn babies who hadn't been dragged out of their mothers by force!). It meant DH could stay with us the whole time (a week!) which was sorely needed.

Second time I was having an ELCS (because of first birth) and I asked to book a private room and was happy to pay, I think it was around £100 a night. They said I could if there was one available on the day and that it'd be chargeable if it wasn't on medical need. Fine by me. As it was, when the day came they were nearly all empty and they very kindly gave me one and didn't charge. DH was gutted because by then there was a pull out spare bed in them, but he didn't need to stay this time (plus we had a toddler at home who needed him) and first time round he'd slept on a hard chair for a week

At our hospital there is also a private 'wing' that private patients go to automatically which you can also book as an NHS patient and they are swish en suite rooms but they're £750 a night which was definitely out of our budget!

catnoir1 · 23/12/2020 13:44

I had a private room after I had dd but she was in nicu and I was initially on a ward with with 2 other mums who all had their babies so they moved me.

pringlebells · 23/12/2020 13:44

I would love that, I don't know if it's possible at my hospital as I've never heard of it but the wards were incredibly loud and I didn't get any sleep

thisismycodename · 23/12/2020 13:44

Mine was 2 and 4 years ago, so fairly recent.

LunaL0veg00d · 23/12/2020 13:48

I did this. It was great, own bathroom, massive tv. And DH was able to stay the whole time. I was there for 2 nights and it was pricey, £250 a night. They did have cheaper options, but it was worth every penny!

LunaL0veg00d · 23/12/2020 13:49

Oh we had asked the midwife if they had any after DD was born and she arranged it for us and took me down to the room from the labour ward a few hours after having DD 👍🏼

RosesforMama · 23/12/2020 13:52

I was(eventually) given a private room to wait in as the delivery rooms were all full of women who had given birth but were not moved out of the rooms. I was told I must deliver on the consultant led unit (had cholestasis) but could not as no room. One room became available on delivery but was given to a woman who was making more noise than me. It was awful and felt very unsafe.

My DD was born on that postnatal ward btw, 20 mins after I was told I was only 3cm and not a priority but someone would pop down from delivery to see me later if they had time. Never did see that person!

DreadingSeason2020sFinale · 23/12/2020 14:10

Ours are all private rooms in my local hospital. No postnatal wards. I cannot even imagine how hard it must be in a ward trying to breastfeed and such.

I can't sleep at all with strangers around me at all. I stayed awake for 3 days straight when I was stuck in hospital over 10 years ago. They discussed sedating me at one point,

DreadingSeason2020sFinale · 23/12/2020 14:11

Sorry posted too soon.

So give the option I would pay anything for a private room if I wasn't in my usual birthing hospital.

movingonup20 · 23/12/2020 14:13

If you have a normal delivery you can ge discharged from the labour suite - I highly recommend for second + babies leaving side rooms for those who have had difficult deliveries

NailsNeedDoing · 23/12/2020 14:17

It will be different at different hospitals, you need to ask yours if they let people pay for rooms.

When I had mine in an nhs hospital there was a private maternity wing attached and you could pay per night to stay in there, but it was always subject to availability. Even with a booking, you might get a room, you might not. When friends have paid the nhs for a private room, again it’s been subject to availability and not guaranteed. If there was a woman who needed a private room more, they’d get it regardless of whether they paid.

ancientgran · 23/12/2020 14:20

I had my babies many years ago and I thought the post natal ward was great, lots of women all supporting each other. Back then visiting was strictly controlled, one visitor by the bed for one hour I think it started at 7. It sounds like the visitors are the problem.

CorpusCallosum · 23/12/2020 14:21

I just asked before they moved me from recovery to the ward. They never invoiced us but I understood they could.

Was the best bit of self-advocacy I ever did during the whole pregnancy/birth/postnatal period.

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