NHS v private

[EllaSW]

If you decide mid-third trimester to go private for the delivery:

1. when and what do you tell your NHS hospital?
2. how is any follow-up (e.g. midwife checks) handled?

1. you tell them that this is what you are doing and where you will be giving birth as soon as you make the decision
2. private hospitals only manage the delivery. If it is straight forward. If you need intervention they are not equipped and you’ll be transferred back to NHS during labour. Post birth appointments are provided by the NHS. You would only got back to the private hospital if you ( as the patient) had any post birth complications like healing/ stitches etc all of which are at additional cost per appointment.

Thanks @StraightTalkingTina

On 1 the private consultant advises that you continue going to your nhs appointments in parallel, including midwife appointments

thanks re. 2. The private hospital we are considering sits within a large nhs hospital but a different nhs hospital to the one I’m booked at. Would I therefore be transferred to the nhs hospital attached to the private unit or back to the one I’ve been at all along?

Where you go would depend likely depend on bed availability and urgency of what’s required. I imagine they would aim for the one they are attached to.

why are you thinking about private delivery?

I think you are being disingenuous @StraightTalkingTina.

@EllaSW ask the private provision of where you are transferring.

FWIW dd will have private births but we are in London.

thats quite a random thought for you to have. But you are free to have it.

@ILoveKitsCan I ask what makes you think the other commenter is disingenuous?

@StraightTalkingTinajust a personal preference

Because it depends on the private hospital. Chelsea and Westminster for example and others in London, do provide post natal care if you chose and pay for it. They, and others, provide more than has been inferred. They are also part of a large NHS Hospital.

Why have you decided to switch at this late stage?

@ILoveKitsi want to have a c-section and prefer the idea of knowing who would do it.

It’s fine if you have a straight forward delivery but if you need urgent care you will be blue lighted into an NHS hospital anyway…..only it will take longer. With all of the terrible press about mother and baby units I understand why you are looking into private care. But at the end of the day it’s safer to be in the place where all of the emergency care staff you may need are on hand, and they are dealing with complicated deliveries every day. I was told all throughout my pregnancy to expect a straightforward birth, one of the midwives even suggested a home delivery, and I ended up in theatre. If I hadn’t been down the corridor and in the same building as the surgeons and anaesthetists there would have been very little chance of survival for both of us. The experience was very far from perfect but we left the hospital alive. I wish you the best of luck with whatever choice you make and hope that you have a straightforward recovery ❤️