Going private for required c-section in London with BUPA

[Sparklies]

Hi all,

I've searched all over the Internet and especially Mumsnet for answers to this but it's just so confusing! My DH has phoned BUPA and a few hospitals and they're just as confusing too.

We have the highest level of BUPA through DH's insurance, and after having two horrific postnatal experiences with NHS hospitals in London, I am desperate to avoid a repeat. I'm currently 7 weeks pregnant and need to choose asap where I'll be getting my scans etc at the very least.

I will definitely require a c-section this time around, consultants agree it is a medical necessity, so that's not in question. I'm a huge fan of natural birth so it's a bitter pill to swallow but there is no getting out of it (my cervix is trashed from a cervical stitch tearing through, and I will be getting a permanent transabdominal stitch at 13 weeks).

We can't afford a lot out of our pockets (read: probably nothing!) so we need to have most if not all of it covered by BUPA. I am very happy to have antenatal care on the NHS and the c-section itself.. it's just the fear of the shared ward afterwards whilst being incapacitated. Having spent 17 nights on NHS antenatal/maternity wards over the last few years, including a c-section, I'm under no illusions.

The Landsell at St. Thomas' is £695 a night and BUPA will only cover £100 of that it seems, so that's ruled out. BUPA say they have arrangements with St. Marys, Queen Charlotte's and the Portland. The way things are looking it seems you can only have the private experience so long as you pay for all the antenatal stuff too - is this correct? That can't be right, surely?

Of course in an ideal world it would be okay to be guaranteed a reasonably-priced (under £100/night) private room, but of course there are no guarantees. Are there any hospitals which are more likely to have private rooms more available than others?

I'd love to hear from others who invoked private health insurance (especially BUPA) for their medically necessary c-sections and what it involved, including the costs and what was covered and what wasn't.

Thank you!! :-)

Hi Sparklies

I have had 2 elective c-sections covered by BUPA at the Portland.

I had a very large fibroid removed before having children and due to the location or the scar on my uterus was not recommended a natural delivery. My previous job when I had my DS and DD had a BUPA plan and it covered the c-section due to medical necessity.

Here's how it went for me:

• I had all my antenatal with the NHS so Midwife check ups etc, including seeing Consultants a few times due to my medical history
• BUPA covered one consultation before the c-section, the c-section itself, hospital fees and anaesatist (can never spell that word!) and one follow up consultation.

I did actually pay for a couple more appointments with my consultant beforehand as I wanted to and I did that self paying - they usually have one rate for healthcare plans and a slightly cheaper rate for self paying.

My consultant was the one who originally did my surgery for fibroids (again on BUPA) which was very reassuring as he knew my history.

I couldn't recommend it more, both births were a fantastic experience and the care was amazing, though I suppose you'd expect that.

A couple of things on BUPA - check they pay ALL the fees of the Consultant and anaestatist as they do not always cover the full charge. Mine told me this was silly as a large part of their charge is taken up by the insurance they need to buy but can't avoid. I was lucky as my company chose at the time to top up all fees like this so my total cost was something like £150 of excess and the few private consultants I paid (maybe £200 a go?) and that's it. The bills I saw being paid by BUPA came in somewhere near £8,000 in the end!

What else - we visited the private suite in St Thomas's and it looked very nice but not guaranteed so far as I could tell until the day if you get a private room or not which put me off.

I did agonise a bit about whether I should actually be in an NHS hospital with the emergency care which is second to none after various stories at the time in the press. In the end I decided I felt much more comfortable being under the care of the consultant who knew me and I felt was competent and they explained what would happen about a transfer in a real emergency.

If you want any other info then let me know but my experiences have been fabulous.

I am pregnant with my third but having complications right now - really hoping I get through this and if I do I hope I can find a way to get it covered again but my new healthcare doesn't cover it :(

Good luck!

Thank you so much, that is super helpful!

I'm not expected to be high risk as my issues are to do with cervical incompetence which doesn't affect the baby so long as they're born at term of course! Given there's a SCBU at the Portland I'm happy with that - it's better than the homebirths I was planning but didn't get with my previous two children!

BUPA say they only cover £595 (or something) of consultant fees, and I have a funny feeling most consultants charge more than that. That's definitely something we'll have to look into. My husband rang the Portland today and they said they can't give us a price list as they're just updating it and the new new one will be out next week - typical!

That was very generous of your company to pay the top-up fees.. I wonder if my husband's would do the same? Possibly not as I'm not directly employed by them but nothing to lose I guess.

I'm very sorry to hear you're having complications with your pregnancy - I really hope everything works out! Good luck finding a solution to your delivery issues as well. It's such a minefield!

Good luck Sparklies, glad I could help. And as I said definitely don't worry, all my antenatal scans and care were NHS and I basically just opted at the last minute to go private for the c-section (but I did discuss it with the midwives and consultants too though so I just told them from the start it was an option and I was thinking about what to do). I wanted to make sure I did everything by the NHS book properly in case anything went wrong earlier and I ended up in an emergency situation as you never know what will happen.
I'm afraid the Consultants fees will easily be way over £595 but look into it and see what you find on the price list. You can always make a case to get these paid - don't get what you don't ask for and you've nothing to lose by trying :)

That's very reassuring to hear. I think I will book in locally with the hospital here so I can have my antenatal care nearby. The community midwives are mostly okay and the scan equipment is fine. Once my stitch is fitted I will basically have a "normal" pregnancy and won't need decent consultant care (which I do not trust my local hospital to give)

There's almost no way short of a dire emergency I will actually want to deliver at my local hospital though (I hold them responsible for the problems I now have and my postnatal experience there was horrendous) but it buys me time to check things out further whilst still getting scans and things on time! I'll mention it to the midwives however as I might get a helpful one if I'm lucky! ;-)

Do you know where I would find a price list? Do they send one out when you enquire at the Portland or do you have to do some digging around yourself?

Thanks again!!

I think prices will be set for hospital fees so wait for them to send them to you but other fees will depend on your consultant - you need to do some research on which ones BUPA will cover you for so they are probably a good place to start - can your DH call up and ask BUPA for recemmendations? I think the Portland website may list their consultants too. Mine was an easier choice as I'd already been under his care and I knew he was covered (his name is Mr Davis by the way and he is lovely but I've no idea what he specialises in, they all seem to have different areas). I got given the prices through him but didn't pay so much attention as I knew that part was fully covered.
Good luck!

The fees for a private room at the hospital where I'm going are under a £100 per night. Not that I'm recommending it (MayDay in Croydon - yikes!), but surely there can't be such a huge discrepancy in room charges. Worth shopping around at some of the hospitals slightly out of the centre if that's feasible for you?

Thanks again! Yep, will get DH to talk to BUPA and see what they say. The Portland does list consultants (one is one I am already seeing for my stitch surgery so there's a possibility there if I can find out how much he charges!) so that's useful. Plenty more phone calls to make I think!!

pinkdelight - At my local hospital (Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich) four years ago it was only £60 a room.. but as always no guarantees. I think most places are around £100 but there's always the odd one that's way up! If I could definitely get a private room I'd be fine going to somewhere like Kings like I did last time - it was just the ward that put me off so much and in particular the night shift staff. Mind you, I did spend nine nights there in total so it's not surprising I'm a bit jaded by it! They don't have private rooms though unless something bad has happened.. not the way I'd like to get a private room :-(

Thanks though, and thanks for the anti-recommendation too.. always good to know where to avoid!

I had my son on insurance at the Portland (not Bupa, we were with Aviva and they were fantastic) and I'm considering the Portland again for the birth of my twins, but this time we have a different insurer, AXA PPP, who so far, have sucked big ones.

Like everyone else said, you need to get BUPA to confirm your policy limits and the arrangements they have with the hospitals you're interested in. The prices the hospitals quote to the insurers is far less than the figures they quote to an individual, by the way.

I challenged the £600 limit on the consultant's fee for c section, and AXA said they thought this figure represented a median figure for c section, which is frankly utterly ridiculous. They even went to the trouble of calling me with the names of 2 consultants who had billed them for £600 for c section and yet when I called the surgeons themselves, both consultants' secretaries laughed out loud - they charge in the region of £2-£3k and that's not for a package of care, that's for scrubbing up and getting into theatre.

Anyway, after endless pushing and shoving, we got an increase on the policy limit, so that all the charges were covered, as a one off. We still haven't decided where we'll end up but at least it's confirmed what will and won't be paid for - you need to have this in black and white before you get going because otherise you're liable for the costs.

With my son I transferred to the Portland at 36 weeks, and it was covered because I had placenta previa. All my antenatal was done at my local hospital, and if I'd gone into labour, I would have gone there rather than trying to get into London in time. (We're up near Cambridge.)

The other thing to check is whether your child is instantly added to the policy at birth and if there are any policy limits and exclusions. Our policy said that children of assisted conception were excluded which would mean that if I'd delivered at the Portland, we'd be liable for the costs, which for my son worked out at £4k a night. Again we've agued about this and it's been overturned, but it's certainly worth checking how this will work for you with BUPA.

I don't know where you are in London but certainly Watford will let you just book a private room in the Knutsford Suite after an NHS delivery.

Hope that helps - I'll be looking out for your updates! Good luck!

I had DD at the Portland and highly highly recommend them. I did not have a CS but we do have BUPA (next to highest level) and they would not cover any of it, other than if I had an Emergency CS. If your insurance is covering all of it anyway then I would go for it!

Thank you BagofHolly - that's really, really useful! Like you I snorted when BUPA told us £600 or whatever it was, yeah right. Might have to try your tactic with them and see if it works.. nothing to lose after all :-) I think the Portland charges £750 for epidurals and BUPA only covers a few hundred for that as well. Nightmare.

Will definitely check to see if this one can be added as soon as he/she is born, I hope so!

We're right the way down near Woolwich in SE London so Watford is rather ruled out unfortunately as I've heard good things about it too. Even Queen Charlotte's is too far realistically :-(

Ugh, I hate having to sort all this out before even the end of the first trimester, but I guess because the good consultants get booked so quickly there's not much choice! Plus I am foreseeing an epic battle..! I'm 7.5 weeks today and I've had two good scans (yay spotting and cramping) very recently a week apart so fingers crossed this one is a keeper.

Thanks banana87 for the recommendation too - always good to hear :-)

I dont have anything great to add, only to say after my hell-fest with the NHS with my last birth I would sell my soul to the devil to have a private birth c-section or otherwise.
My BUPA doesnt cover me for anything related to childbirth or contraception
They are remarkably out of touch and recently when I needed a referral, gave me the names of 2 dead consultants to contact

I hope you get the birth you want at a hospital of your choice dont let anyone talk you out of it

Wow Sparklies, I had to do a double take when I read your message - it could have been me posting!

I am 6 weeks (see my no symptom thread!) but will need a c-section. I too would prefer a natural birth (had my own independent midwife last time) but not to be. I too live in SE London, QE is also my local hospital.

I had such a horrific post-natal experience last time (St T's) that I had counselling for several months and finally got around to lodging a formal complaint. I have moved on from that but am at the stage that - since my BUPA insurance will cover a private section - I am looking into it, just for the post natal care and avoiding a shared ward.

I spoke to the BUPA C-section team last week and quizzed them for a very long time trying to weigh up the best option. I like the surgeons at St T's but the Landsdell suite is only 6 beds and is v. popular (I couldn't get in last time, and that was with my husband going there every 20 minutes begging for two days).

BUPA told me that two Portland consultants charge the BUPA rate and they have a fixed fee arrangement with Portland for the accomodation.

I think my plan is to go NHS for all my care up until 30 weeks then go for BUPA paid consultant visit and then scheudled c-section at the Portland (keeping up the NHS care for the last bit too).

The final thing to bear in mind is that - according to BUPA - at the Portland you will need to pay around £800 - 1000 for peadiatric checks and similar which will not be covered (even though my child will be automatically covered at birth by my BUPA policy).

Not sure if I have really helped but I will let you know if I find out anything else relevant to our situation!

Good luck ladies - just came across a few new posts and thought I'd scan them.
Yes with both our DC at the Portland we had to pay for paediatric tests which BUPA didn't cover but I don't remember them being that much - my memory is more like well under £500 or so for a Paediatrician to check over the baby and a newborn hearing screen test, but then I didn't sign the bills DH did and was a little sleep deprived :)
Good luck - push for the maximum cover you can, but I would say I think BUPA were fab and I only wish I was with them now instead of PPP who don't cover this :(

mosschops - yep, I think we're in agreement there over escaping the NHS after a c-section! I'm sure some hospitals are fine.. just not any round where I am ;-) BUPA only covers me for medically necessary c-sections, and dealing with miscarriages, nothing else. That's very crap of them to give you some dead consultants.. whoa! I hope you manage to get somewhere better to go too.

pureequeen - That is very, very helpful, thank you! My husband never managed to get that much information out of BUPA.. good to know there are at least some consultants there that don't charge the earth although I'm a bit suspicious as to why they're so cheap Anyway, it sounds like what you have planned is exactly what I need to do too. I'll push further on Monday as I'm guessing the sooner this sort of thing is sorted out, the better!

Interesting about the baby checks afterwards, like whizzymummy says, I thought they were £250 according to some threads elsewhere and not compulsory? Must find out more about that! Having said that, paying up to £1000 is worth it for avoiding the horrors of a badly under-resourced shared ward although my husband doesn't think it's worth it. He has no idea!!

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience at St. Ts. Mine was at Kings - surgery, fine, brilliant in fact. Postnatal ward? I spent 5 nights on antenatal due to pregnancy complications and that was bad enough, but the postnatal ward was just cruel. On top of the miserable, noisy, dark and hot environment, mistakes were made and one or two midwives were so lacking in empathy I thought they were prison guards. Some were lovely, don't get me wrong, but they're not the ones you remember, sadly. I'm sure a lot of it contributed towards my later depression, so like you it's worth every penny to not end up like that again.

Thanks again to everyone - you've all been wonderful!!

Sparklies, I think you've summed up why people want to have a private delivery -- it tends not to be for the delivery itself - a c section is a c section, but for the aftercare. I have heard so many horror stories of people not being looked after properly post surgery! My friend had twins at our local hospital and they were both in SCBU - so apart from recovering from surgery, she had to deal with being separated from them too. The ward bathroom was dirty, she wasn't given any help to get up to SCBU and had to walk (I couldn't walk v far after my section - I don't know how she did it!)
When she came back, she'd missed dinner, and needed more pain relief adn the nurse in charge said she couldn't have any because she'd missed the rounds! SHe had to go to a special room to use the breast pump!

My anaesthetist at the Portland wrote me up for enough drugs to stun a cow, my food was served to me in bed when I wanted it, and I was wheeled up to SCBU whenever I wanted.I had my own bathroom and a very nice lady came and washed me twice a day whilst my sheets were changed. I fainted in the bathroom and SECONDS later 3 nurses were there helping me back to bed. I was brought breast pumps to my bedside, and shown how to express, and given bottles. I didn't need anything other than my nightie - everything else was supplied. And if I needed a rest, they'd take him off me and mind him in the nursery. And THAT's what you're paying for.

BagofHolly - yep - I would happily have a c-section on the NHS in most hospitals except my local one with no qualms. It's just the ward afterwards shudder. Bad enough that the wards are so under-resourced and understaffed but what I can't understand is why some people want to be midwives or nurses when they clearly hate mothers and have no empathy!

That's awful about your friend (and it rings a bell about missing dinner - they're useless with that sort of thing).. there's just no compassion at all.

The Portland sounds lovely. I had a D&C and a few months later a hysteroscopy and lap at the Blackheath Hospital (private) and whoa, what a difference! My first D&C was at Queen Elizabeth and it was horrendous and I felt so badly treated, so the contrast was remarkable. I felt like people actually cared. And a D&C is day surgery.. it must be bliss going private when you're in for a few days! Heck, I might actually get some sleep, ha ha.

Thanks again for all your helpful advice - going to get my husband to give BUPA another call this week and we'll see what happens!