swottybetty Here is my 2 pence on private care at St Thomas's. Although I do think Portland would have been better. But they do not have emergency care for the mother so you have to be wheeled to the nearest NHS hospital in case anything goes wrong. I found that too risky for my twin pregnancy. Thats why I chose to go private at St Thomas'. Must say that the service was less than stellar. I had to beg the night nurse to take my 4lbs prem babies to the nursery for 5 hours so I could get some sleep and not have to feed them in the middle of the night. No breast feeding support at all when I was there. But I did manage to do it with the help of my family for 1 month. The service was very basic despite going private. Yes I had a clean ensuite room etc, food was decent but service and attitude highly depended on who was on duty on a given day. For e.g. If I asked for food betweem meal times, some would give me a funny look. I was Bfing my babies. We all know the hunger pangs set in at 2a. I was too zonked out post my c-section to hoard snacks. But I must point out that some midwives were really fantastic. I wish they were there through out my 5 day stay. I shudder to think what the service would have been on NHS care. But that's just my experience does not have to be yours.
Here is the breakdown of cost.
£3000 to book a room in Lansdell. This includes one night stay. Each additional night is £650. They normally discharge c-section monthers anywhere from 3-5 days if all was normal. This is the only fee you have to pay now and additional nights are pain upon discharge. Every thing else is paid after you are home with the babies.
£3500 for the preferred consultant. The two senior most docs Con Kelleher and Lawrence Mascarenhas are excellent and have loads of experience with twins including vaginal births.
£400 for the anesthesiologist if you need spinal/epidural
£400 for the paediatrician who checks your babies right after birth. If the babies need to go to NICU or SCBU then NHS care kicks in. I think NHS is brilliant for that.
Also if the mother needs emergency care after birth then also NHS coverage kicks in. For example I know some one who needed a pulmonary surgeon because of ruptured blood vessels and was in ICU for 4 days. All this was covered under NHS.
I had my scans done privately at the Fetal Medicine Center (www.fetalmedicine.com). They charge £200 per scan. I was monitored every 2 weeks from 24 weeks for TTTS. Prof Kypros Nicolaides hopefully be able to guide you on the frequency of scans.