Private birth room with the NHS

[Misstiffany]

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?

I had a private room.
The room wasn’t to standard so we didn’t need to pay in the end. I think they wanted £120 for two days.

You can’t pre book the rooms and they are often not available. There were no available rooms for my first baby and I had to suffer the postnatal ward. Hell.

The only way to guarantee a private room is to do what I am doing this time, which is to pay for private maternity care in a NHS hospital. All the money is reinvested back into the NHS. It’s costing me about £17k.

Wow @recreationalcalpol ! That's a lot of money!

Yes, it is! It includes consultant fees to be fair, as I am high risk. But I will never never again spend a night on a postnatal ward!

You can pay and "reserve" one if you like but if the hospital is full then you aren't guaranteed to get it and you'll get refunded the money. And to be honest with the forecast baby boom for the new year the chances are practically zero

I'm having twins and both will require NICU so I've been told I'll most likely be given a private room

If you aren't having a c section you'll most likely be out within as little as 6 hours so I'm not sure I'd bother. Plus with with no visitors allowed it's not like you have to put up with random partners wandering around this time so antenatal should be much calmer and nicer

I was put in a private room post-birth every time I had my babies, for free (well done The Rosie in Cambridge!) Although I was moved to a ward a few days before I went home with my third baby as we were in with Jaundice for a while and ended up making friends with the other woman on my ward, we still keep in touch. So being on a ward isn't always bad news, I guess.

I mentioned I was a nurse and got one with en suite for free both times.
Was great.

I never even knew this was possible!

In East Lancashire an amenity room is £130.00 a night or £80 for up to 12 hours.
I paid £45.00 24 years go!

I should add we were readmitted to postnatal at day 5 and put in a private room. It was much better.

I did. Was nearly £200 a night. My hospital had 8 private postnatal rooms and I got the last one so there’s definitely a demand there. And all the profit was reinvested in the NHS delivery unit.

If you can afford it, most definitely ask for a private room. My NHS hospital (in North London) had 3, they were quite large, had a TV, little night stand and an ensuite with bathtub and shower head. Got chance to see them during the tour of the maternity ward. Think they were £100-£120 a night (in 2020), we were advised if you're interested say it when you get admitted - I guess if you end up having a speedy labour at least your name is already down. However, echoing what PPs have said, if someone had quite a horrific time of it they would be prioritised.

I ended up staying in hospital for 5 nights after having my first. On day 3 I asked about a private room (post-natal ward = zero sleep), however unbeknown to me the Head of Midwifery had already arranged me a side room that morning as she knew I'd be staying at least another few nights.

I've told DH if we're able to have another baby I'd 100% ask for a private room to try and be sure of some quiet time; also if he is able to stay the next time (not allowed this year due to Covid) you could easily fit a Z-Bed type thing on the floor as there's much more space.