Help**Private room after delivery in Manchester/Wilmslow

[Anniebibo192]

Hi everyone, please help.

I am new to the forum and also a new mom. I am now 5w+5 and looking at different options for my pregnancy care. The main things I am after is more scans than the standard 2 offered by NHS and private room on the day of +after delivery.

The scans are not really a problem as I have a number of private clinics locally who can provide that. Private room seems harder to get from my observation on here and what I see on all the hospital website. I am registered with Macclesfield hospital for now and due for my first telephone appointment at the end of May so it’s impossible to ask them directly until then.

Does anyone here know whether there is a way for me to book a guaranteed private room after delivery in Macc hospital or even other ones nearby? I am aware of the extra cost.

I have been thinking of going to London but when you add the cost of travel and accommodation 1+2 weeks it make it much more expensive than original package of 5k-8k. Also thinking of either going to Belfast (my husband’s family live there) where there are reasonable consultant led packages covering the whole pregnancy care journey up to birth that hopefully include private rooms. To be honest I’m not fuss on consultant led service when I’m or my baby is healthy. All I need to a recovery room for my own, without sharing with anyone😞

Thanks

Are you planning on having a C section?
If you have a vaginal birth it’s likely you’d be out on the same day.
I know in my NHS trust you can’t book a private room. If there is a medical reason or religious reason why you would need to be alone they would try and honour that. Although post natal wards can be incredibly busy. We are all equal when it comes to childbirth, no matter how much money we have.
That isn’t said in malice, so I hope you don’t read it that way.
(Although if the Tories get their way, we will all be paying for beds soon.) x

I do understand where you’re coming from. I had my DC privately, as it gave me options around scheduling appointments and then privacy and continuity of care during/after labour. I’m not sure about your local hospitals, but I know you mentioned possible travelling to London, so I thought I’d share my experience, as my youngest was born in the private wing of a London NHS hospital. The total cost for an ELCS with 3 nights stay (no complications) was £22k. That includes everything from scan at 6 weeks, Harmony test, consultant appointments throughout, scan at every appointment, and then all of the delivery and hospital care. The experience was excellent.

If we have another baby, I would probably stick with NHS midwife appointments (it’s a 2-hour round trip for me into London and I don’t need a scan every time), but with private ELCS with same consultant and same hospital stay. That cost would be approx £16k.

If you’re able to have a natural birth, then the midwife led package was £8k including first 24 hours in hospital. Additional nights cost £1k a night. The issue from a budgeting perspective is if there are complications, as an EMCS automatically bumps up the cost by £5k, plus additional nights in hospital etc.

My best friend recently gave birth in same hospital on the NHS side. She had a straightforward natural birth and went home the same day. She said that the care during labour was great, but wouldn’t consider staying on a ward for any longer than a few hours.

Good luck with your pregnancy OP.

Thanks Helena,

It’s too early to say which route I am going down but hopefully the natural birth. Good to know that I’d be the same day. Guess I’ll just need to see how it goes, fingers crossed that things will run smoothly and straightforward so I don’t need to stay overnight because what I hate is no family members next to me at night ( I heard they are not allowed in the ward overnight 😞) thanks for the response anyway! :)

Sorry it’s hard to reply on the phone, hence I messed your names up. The above should be for Bemorepacific.

@Helena79 wow 22k that’s expensive, but when the finance allows we all want the best for our babies. Thanks for all the information, I will definitely consider all the options and choose what best for us. Really appreciate it! X

Why do you want a private room? Just curious.
Whenni had my son we were moved to our own room but we had been in 8 days and our son had been in NICU so as part of transitional care, we and five other couples had our own room and a supporting nursery nurse to help us before going home.

Hi, I'm from Wilmslow, 38 weeks pregnant and was due to go to Macclesfield but bounced to Wythenshawe because of Covid. There was 2 tiers of private room options at Macc, although no guarantee if other mothers have booked, it's first come first served and you can't prebook. I was due for a tour beginning of April but obviously lockdown happened and that was cancelled so I can't report.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed the birthing suites are available at Wythenshaw and not too over subscribed because of Macclesfield shutting their doors.