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Original poster

Portland & a consultant - how much?!

44 replies

WaitingForLittleR · 17/08/2011 19:17

Hi mums,

This is our first pregnancy and we have little to no idea what we're doing - but have found Mumsnet hugely useful already so have signed up and I'm really hoping you can help me out here! My expensive work insurance will cover 10k for a normal pregnancy, incl any doctor or hospital we want. Which sounded fabulous, and we were planning to go to the Portland as I know other people at work go there.

However, the Portland say we need to go consultant led as it is our first. We've just got a quote back from one consultant for £7500 - not including scans, blood tests, hospital fees or anaesthetist fees. Another didn't sound much better. The Portland seems to start at £5400, not including induced labour, emergency c sections etc... and now we're wondering how feasible it is to have a consultant led pregnancy in a private hospital for

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schmalex · 17/08/2011 20:18

I am going to the Lansdell Suite at St Thomas' Hospital (not a private hospital but a private unit within an NHS hospital). Consultant fees are about £4k and hospital fee is £3k + £690 per extra night. Can't remember the cost of blood tests, etc, but I think in total should be under £10k

Beesok · 17/08/2011 21:48

Consultant fees vary but at Portland start at around £6k, the hospital fees are really high though - doubt you can get a "normal" birth there for less than £12k and if you have complications or C-section the cost go up substantially

Lindo Wing is also good but currently being refurbished until Oct, my friend is giving birth there and I think it's costing her just under £10k

citymonkey · 17/08/2011 22:04

I am consultant led at the Kensington Wing (private wing in Chelsea & West), also my first baby, though I believe the same consultant will also deliver at the Portland. His fees are £7500 not including blood tests / hospital charges which I think will be around another £6k altogether. I don't think you will get it for under £10k at either The Portland or the KW. And the hospital charges are usually more if you require a CS (though my consultant charges the same however I deliver). I think at the Portland if you need SCBU that is charged separately, whereas at the KW it goes onto the NHS. I chose the KW because of the emergency / SCBU facilities for me and baby, amongst other reasons.

I am surprised at The Portland saying you have to be consultant led for your first with no other reason - am sure when I looked into giving birth there you could go midwife led as long as you were low risk (which is the same as at Kensington Wing), which I was.

LondonLady30 · 17/08/2011 22:14

I'm very early on in my first pregnancy and going to the Lansdell (if all works out and we have a cling on that is!) I am doing all blood tests and scans on the NHS then just paying for delivery (£2500) and Consultant fees (£4000).

IssyStark · 17/08/2011 22:15

You could look at having an independent midwife for that money.

www.independentmidwives.org.uk/

banana87 · 17/08/2011 22:55

Bullocks. I went midwife led with my first at the Portland. They are trying to take you for a ride. Tell them you KNOW you can go midwife led and that is what you want. Costs about £10k total (thats what we paid 2 years ago).

Sunshinecurl · 18/08/2011 00:18

You will find it impossible to get a consultant-led delivery at the Portland for less than around £12-17k all in. You pay the consultant separately and the Portland their fee for the facilities in essence ie the bed, the delivery suite etc.

aethelfleda · 18/08/2011 19:17

Our local hospital (Kingston) and the local private one (New Victoria) publicised a selection of package rates for pregnancy-basically the rates drop the further along you go before going private. I'd suggest asking what all-in packages are available as they include a lot of costs and should help you decide what to go for. You'll have to weigh up if you really need/want private care all the way through, and if you're low risk maybe nhs care would be perfectly OK and then transfer to a private package at eg 35 weeks or something?

Original poster
WaitingForLittleR · 23/08/2011 22:04

Thanks everyone for your responses - they really helped! We emailed a lot of the consultants at the portland and prices varied from about 5500 to 7500, including nothing but consultant fees. We also told the Portland that we knew people had gone midwife led for their first (thanks banana87) and they said the rules had changed just this year, after too many midwife led first timers needed a consultant :(

we're now looking into the other hospitals that you guys have mentioned, and I've booked an early scan at the Fetal Medicine Centre as I want to get that done anyway to put our minds at rest.

schmalex and LondonLady30, could you tell me/IM me your consultant's names?

thanks again!

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wobblypig · 23/08/2011 22:10

I only had planned c-s and 5 night stay at Portland -no health insurance policy .Cost 15K all in. They bill in dribs and drabs which is quite annoying. Fee does include 6 week baby check.

Original poster
WaitingForLittleR · 23/08/2011 22:13

PS IssyStark - the Independent Midwife thing interests me, but as this is my first and I'm a worrier I'd rather be in a hospital. Thanks for giving me another option though Smile

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Original poster
WaitingForLittleR · 23/08/2011 23:42

wobblypig - did that even include the consultant? Cannot believe how expensive they are :(

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Sunshinecurl · 24/08/2011 06:53

That fee won't include the consultant in my experience - their fees will be separate. For a 4 day stay, I have been quoted £13k with consultant fees in the region of £6k. ELCS is £3-4k more expensive than VB - the latter is approx £10k.

wobblypig · 26/08/2011 23:29

It did include the consultant and the anaesthetist fee but we only went for the c-s and stay not any ante-natal care .

So cost for c-s ; GA ( converted from epidural to GA in the middle due to complciations and that was an additional £750 ) anaesthetists fees about 2K and Consultant fee plus 5 day 4 night stay was 15K. The quotes are more expensive if you say you are using an insurance company not self-funding.

Unreasonablyfedup · 27/08/2011 00:13

I am really surprised people would pay so much for private care in pregnancy and delivery. It would never have occurred to me, mainly because a good friend, who specialised in maternal medical negligence cases, told me that there are many more cases of things going wrong in the private hospitals than on the NHS. Also, if there is a real problem in a private hospital they nearly always have to transfer you to an NHS unit anyway.

Before you ask, I don't have any stats on this - but it was enough to convince me.

TheMitfordsMaid · 27/08/2011 00:19

I agree with the last poster. The NHS care I received was outstanding.

apple99 · 27/08/2011 07:37

Unreasonablyfedup I had heard the same thing you said about more negligence cases in private maternity than NHS. I have had 2 babies now and both times received excellent NHS care, I suppose it depends where you lives and what facilities are available to you, we are lucky to have a very good fairly new maternity unit close to where we live.

cherrysodalover · 27/08/2011 20:53

Wow-it's cheap over there.40,ooo $ for my last c section in the US.Someone is making a lot of profit here then!

wobblypig · 27/08/2011 21:45

The NHS care I recieved at St George's London was appalling for my first baby; my baby was neglected for days. I was still adamant that I was staying we the NHS right up until I was overdue with my second baby.
I turned up for monitoring and a sweep and was treated so bady included having abdomen examined in front of a nmber of other ladies and ther husbands. It was then at 40 + 8 that we rang the Portland. It was all a staffing and space issue which is why I felt the private sector could do better in my case.

I work int he NHS and when medical expertise is the important factor I would alwyas be treated by the NHS; when comfort and expediancy is required I turn to the private sector.

ajmama · 27/08/2011 22:05

Im having my second DC at the Portland later this year and fees have really gone up since I had my first 6 years ago. Insurance costs for Obstetricians have gone up and this is reflected in their fees and hospital costs have gone up. With a "Loyalty Package" discount I will not have any change out of around £17,000. Worth every single penny though. I didnt know that the midwives were no longer taking first time mums - what a shame.

LondonLady30 · 27/08/2011 22:58

WaitingforlittleR I'm going with Dr Eugene Oten Ntim. He has an amazing reputation but so does Dr Kumar Kunde.

It's a very personal decision on where to have your baby I feel. I'm really glad to hear so many gals here saying they have had good experiences on the NHS. I've also had some great experiences with other medical issues on the NHS. But it is a postcode lottery. And my reasons for paying ( not that I feel I want to justify but more as it might help others decide either way and to open a debate) are that a birth plan stands much more chance of being a reality when you go private- you pay all that cash to ensure that your birth pool is there, your consultant plus two midwives are there, the drugs you want will be available, an anesthnatist will be available if you want, your room will be ready for you, and if you need an emergency c s your consultant can whip you open there and then. ;)

In short, as it's my first time it's great to know my plans ( as far as possible of course!) will be stuck to. We're not loaded but am saving up for it as for me it's the option I feel most comfortable with. Who knows next time I might not feel the need. But will keep you all posted ;)

LondonLady30 · 27/08/2011 23:02

Oh and I meant to add that at the lansdell, if there were any emergency, all the a&e you need is on site in the wider hospital. So it's not the case there that if something goes wrong you're far from specialist services.

NoobyNoob · 28/08/2011 08:33

Sorry, not read all the posts, but can I ask why you don't just use the NHS?

Unreasonablyfedup · 28/08/2011 12:25

Obviously it's each to their own. But looking at the prices above it seems like an awful lot of money to pay for a bit more comfort. Given that the greatest risk to a birth plan is nature itself - your baby may decide to come when "your" consultant is either on holidays or at his NHS hospital/off shift, the birth pool might be in use by someone who got their first, etc etc. I even know some people whose babies came so fast they didn't even make it to the hospital and got delivered by paramedics! I can't really see the point in terms of delivery as you might not get the deal you paid for! although I suppose is does depend on the hospital. I had DD1 at UCH and given it's a teaching hospital, and I believe it's one of the best (if not the best) for problem births and neonatal care it would have seemed daft to go anywhere else.

I would have liked to have had a private room for recovery, if that had been possible. But as an emergency section I doubt it would have been an option anyway.

Unreasonablyfedup · 28/08/2011 12:34

And that is aside from the additional risks of course. I suspect much less of a concern if you are in private wing of an NHS hospital, but nothing would have persuaded me to have DD1 at the Portland!