Coming from overseas, back to the UK

[Allyinoz]

I am thinking of relocating from Australia, I am British.

I would like to have a second child probably down the track when i am back.

The problem is the first time round I had a lot of complications, pre-eclampsia, bad birth, thus I have been left with a lot of trauma.

Do you have a lot of choice or help in choosing care in the UK? For instance in Australia you can go privately with a Dr and have more 1:1 care,last time I was public and I got a little chewed up by the system. I owuld like some more control/empathy over the birth this time round.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Sure you can go private in the UK, you pay for it, of course.

I'd be guessing exactly what you get for going private, it may not be what you really want, though. In the public system, you get a choice of which hospital, usually.

UK Private hospitals (eg Portland, London) are v. expensive. I heard '£2000 before you've even had a contraction' and mainly for saudi princesses and seriously wealthy Londoners. (I could be wrong, just what I've heard).
Even a member of our royal family has chosen to go NHS so that is the more ?standard? maternity route. I don?t know anyone who has ?gone private? once they discovered the costs/logistics.
Alot will depend on where in the country you move to. Mostly the NHS maternity care here is excellent but there are a couple of dodgier places out there so do some research. Word of mouth is good, and Dr Foster website might be helpful? At least you can rule out any obviously inferior ones in your area. Most midwife ante-natal care is good and for the birth alot of it is down to luck on the day of course. You could always consider a private midwife or a doula this time round. They are not just for home births. They can come to hospital with you and be your support during labour, although they are not allowed to ?do? anything medical due to insurance I think . But at least they would be known to you and wouldn?t go off shift at a crucial time. That could be an answer. I think you get more routine antenatal appointments/longer appointments with a private midwife too and they come to your home.

For what its worth ? I had pre-eclampsia in my 1st pregnancy (2006) too and was monitored very closely in my 2nd pregnancy but it did not recur and doesn?t seem to have so far in this 3rd pregnancy. I?ve been told that it is unusual to get it again, sometimes it does if you have changed partner. Your body knows the genes from your 1st childs father already so is unlikely to react to them again apparently.
I also had an awful 1st birth due to staff shortages at the hospital and so really did my homework when choosing hospital for 2nd birth. As well as the standard maternity ward show rounds at the weekends, you can also arrange to speak to a supervisor of midwives who will give you the low down. I did this and learnt alot of interesting relevant information that helped me make up my mind where to deliver 2nd time around. It is best to have your eyes open, as you have, but you can?t go too far wrong, in general the care is good here.

Hope all that is of some help! Good luck with the relocating if you do.

Hi Ally - I am also British and lived in Oz for many years. In my experience the NHS really doesn't provide the level of service that you get with medicare in Australia. Here, for example, you don't really get much choice as to which GP you can see - you have to register with a local practice and see them for everything. I remember in Australia being able to go along to any surgery anywhere as long as I had my medicare card.

My experience here is also that private health care is more expensive than in Australia ... although this may not apply to pregnancy.

I have to stress that my only experience of pregnancy is here in the UK and I am sure someone will come along with statistics soon to disprove my statements but this is just my impression. You probably want to do a bit more research.

One thing DH and I reflect on when comparing public services between the two is the sheer numbers of people over here. I honestly think services are far more stretched over here and a lot of the facilities (eg. hospitals), are a lot older than the equivalents in Australia. Having said that, in general the standards of people and equipment are still second to none and your previous history might mean you get more 1:1 time.

Oops - cross post with waltonsmountain who sums things up pretty well.

Certainly location is crucial and I have a similar experience regarding NHS staff shortages during my first labour.

To the OP: A lot depends where you live. I live in London and there is a big choice of hospital both private (v expensive though, and generally not covered by medical insurance) and NHS. Theoretically anyway you can choose where to go.

In smaller towns the choices will be more limited - perhaps just one hospital and no private option.

NHS maternity services might be good on paper, but I moved countries to have my second, enough said.

You get very limited choices (yes, even in London) and you might have to argue every.step.of.the.way. for things that you are actually entitled to. Not to mention the almost non-existant postnatal care/dirty hospitals/unhelpful midwives (not always the case but you'll hear it a lot). OUR NHS my arse.

I often felt helpless, ignored and "voiceless". I was not a mother-to-be, but a name on a maternity record book.

Stay put.