Going private

[theTramp]

I wondered if any Mumsnetters had gone private with pregnancy care, either consultant or MW or both? If so what's your experience? Is the cost worthwhile relative to NHS? Do you get more time & attention?

Local hospital and area is clearly over stretched and over worked in terms of resources. I'm only 9+ weeks but already frustrated by lack of available appointment dates, bad admin and so on. However MW, nurses and sonographers I've seen thus far have been fantastic.

All thoughts welcomed

Hi,

I am going private as my company medical insurance covers me. I hadn't realised this until around 13 wks so I had already had booking in appt and had scan on NHS. NHS experience was not so bad but I would say you get more time and attention on the private route. My second booking in appt was a thorough 2 hours compared with 20 minutes on the NHS! I've had more regular appts, organised by the consultants secretary when convenient for me, saw consultant once a month, then fortnightly and weekly from here (36wks), regular wee/bp/blood testing, regular listening to babys heartbeat and checking position and growth. See the same nurse every visit too...and I had low lying placenta from 20wk scan and was able to get a scan at 29 wks at short notice to check it had moved so I could go on hols with no worries....

I feel more relaxed about labour knowing my consultant, or a colleague, will deliver my baby, he knows me and my history and will be in close contact advising midwife if any complications. I have his mobile number and he has always been insistent that I call him any time of day with any problem.

Obv I have limited NHS experience to compare with but having compared notes with NCT friends who are NHS, the time and attention you get going privately seems far superior. Would I pay for that alone to go private?? No, probably not, at least not out of my own pocket! I suspect the deciding factor will be how the labour goes and the support and reassurance I feel I get from my consultant - for me that is where the real value for money will be.

Hope that helps...and congrats!

I am going private as a result of inadequate&frustrating care I got from NHS at St. Mary's. My BUPA insurance does NOT cover anything so I exercised my share options to pay for all of it myself. I switched to private at around 8 weeks (was bleeding and reported this in my booking appointment to NHS midwife only to be told to go to A&E instead of being examined right there and then!). After a switch to private, I was hoping to save money by having a 12-week scan on NHS - but alas! I managed to get a result from them only 1.5 months later (after several phone calls to complain). Luckily, as i was worried about it, just in case I did get the 12-week scan repeated within two days at Fetal Medicine Centre so I did know the result w/out having to wait for the NHS one....Private care experience has been very different. I am booked to deliver at Lansdell Suite in St.Thomas Hospital. My consultant is really good and attentive and when on a couple of ocassions I needed his advice, he was available on his mobile immediately and his secretary is always very helpful. Seeing him regularly, first once a month and then twice a month and always getting care and attention I need; my questions get answered and my concerns addressed and never dismissed. I had an extensive discussion with him on the method of birth and he has been very supportive and clear explaining risks, etc. I am going for ELCS (my initial choice) but he said that if i wanted to have VB, they would be supportive, too. My husband or my mum will be able to stay with me and DC in the hospital room and you get about 1 MW per two post-natal rooms, which sounds good. They also told me they have a BF-advising MW on the private ward available at all times. The staff has been really nice so far and you do get much more time and attention on private but of course it is a question of whether you can afford it/want to spend the money and what is important for you. My pregnancy so far has been healthy and uncomplicated but even so, I am glad i am on private. I wanted to be able to trust the medical staff, to know i would get attention when needed, have choice with birth options, and get a decent ante- and post-natal care. On the latter I am yet to see - due to give birth in 4 wks but so far I think it's been worth it.

I've had two private scans so far and one NHS. We're moving to the US tomorrow where all care will be private (yippee!), but if my scan experiences are anything to go by, then it's worth every penny.

The first pricate scan was at 8wks, so earlier than the NHS provides. Not medically necessary, but great in terms of my sanity (I had major abdominal surgery last year so having a consultant tell me that this wouldn't affect anything/my ability to give birth naturally/increase any risks this early in the pregnancy was great).

I then had an NHS scan at 12wks which was ok. Short (4-5mins max including putting on/wiping off gel) and sweet and arguably a bit superficial (she noted that there 'was' a heartbeat, not the rate etc) but did the job. My chat with the consultant after though was great: she was running very late but great. My DS risk after this came back as relatively high (due to bloods, not nuchal measurement) so we went private for a reassurance scan.

It cost £180 but I'd have paid double. They saw us 4 hours after I called for an appointment, saw us on time, took 30mins to look at every little part of the baby they could, talked us through everything, gave us time for questions etc. The bloods were also ready by the end of the scan so we got instant results (which were almost 30 times 'better' than the NHS ones). I felt so much more confident after this.

I also had private treatment last year for a serious illness, and if obstetric care is anything like the care I received, then it will be worth it. Personal attention (every single person at the clinic knew DD's name, the catering staff remember I liked fizzy water rather than still etc), being able to call up at any point for advice etc.

If you go private you'll likely see the same medical professionals as you would if you were NHS, but you'll see them more often and have more contact time with them (and, in my experience, their mobile phone numbers).

The NHS will do the job, often remarkably well (not NHS bashing at all - they saved DD's life twice during her birth), but going private offers the 'extra', and in my opinion is worth it for the reassurance this provides.

I hire independent midwives and they are absolutely fantastic. They give me one to one focused care at home and you really get to know them well. They have been worth every penny. When my DD was stillborn they sought out a specialist for me to see for my next pregnancy which uncovered that I had been misdiagnosed the first time, leading to better care in my current pregnancy. The NHS consultant didn't even suggest a referral to a specialist (which I clearly needed) and then I had to fight with him to arrange my own. If my independent midwives had not done this for me, I would currently be being treated by the NHS consultant incorrectly which could have led to another stillbirth. So I owe a lot to my independent midwives. Once you have experienced the focused nature that private healthcare gives you, its hard not to notice the comparatively poor service the NHS routinely provides. Unfortunately, as with most things in life you get what you pay for.

I must point out that I am not knocking the NHS generally because it does provide a fantastic all access service which is very valuable however I feel that if you have the means, private healthcare is really worth it. In my view there is absolutely nothing more important that your own health care - it is something I would always prioritise in terms of spending over and above a fancy car and holidays. In fact I would not even consider getting pregnant unless I had the means to pay for private care.

I had ds (11) and dd (7) completely on the nhs and although there were some issues with standard of care nothing to put me off.
weve since moved and when i had mc a few months ago the standard of care was shocking. Weve looked into full private care but the cost put me off however i have booked in for a private scan (£80) so i dont have to wait another 7 weeks as sanity levels cant cope!

Id say if you can afford it then go private
x

Thank you all that is really helpful.

Not sure if we can afford it but as other half said this is something worth spending cash on. NHS staff have all been fantastic (GPs aside) but resources are so clearly stretched, this is my first baby I'm in high risk category & I just want the reassurance of professionals without having to wait two weeks to see one.

I've a private scan coming soon, I'll be asking them about full care options. Once again, thank you.

I had DD at the Portland, had midwife led care throughout pregnancy and normal delivery. It was fabulous. A lot of money but worth every penny of the approx 11K it cost. We decided to go private due to some bad nhs experiences and was deeply unimpressed with the maternity services offered by the local hospitals.

I'm interested in this too. I am not sure what to do because, as I'm in a high risk category, I will be seen every two weeks throughout my pregnancy on the NHS, by MW and consultant. Which, given it is free, should be great.

However, I was wondering if it is still possible to go private for the actual birth? I will be induced at 38 weeks and so, given I know when and where, I wondered if it would be better to have the slightly nicer, calmer surroundings of a private wing?

Does anyone know if it possible to just have a private delivery without the MW or consultant care leading up to it? I have checked the website of the local private wing at Kingston hospital but can't see how they would split out the charges.