Has anyone gone through pregnancy privately?

[sarahjsdddd]

Just looking for any advice or experience on this, either a private midwife or total private care? Thank you!

Is there a reason why you want to go private?

@SunnySideUp2020

Is there a reason why you want to go private?

Yes, my previous birth was awful and my experience so far this time has not been good either

If I was to go private I would pick a private wing within an NHS hospital rather than a stand alone private hospital

Hi OP I'm doing this - baby due in Feb. What did you want to know?

Depends where you are in the country - some places (large cities) will have the facilities to offer total care privately. Other places you can hire privately midwives and deliver at home, but if you need hospital care it would be the NHS hospital even if it was a 'private' room.

I think you need to tease out which aspects were awful, which good, so you can think about what type of private care you want. So for example if the Consultant Obstetrician was awful and everything else fine, just for a different consultant this time around.

If you're going for the full private care package with hospital delivery, you're looking at £8-10k. Considerably less if a private midwife delivering you at home, although there will be costs for scans, bloods etc

Also might be worth asking for a de-brief from the hospital where you delivered before as this can be a very helpful way of thinking through what type of care you want in the future

@onedaysoonish

Hi OP I'm doing this - baby due in Feb. What did you want to know?

Hi! I was just wondering about the different types of private care you can have - if you can have absolutely everything (including things like the ananomly scan) privately and avoid the nhs all together or if they have to be involved in some aspects. Also whether you can pay for it monthly, or if it's just a big bill at the end, or if you can go through insurance? And how have you found the private care? :) My last pregnancy in the last 10 weeks the midwives had no idea what position my son was in and suspected breech but did not send me for a scan, I ended up going to stay with family elsewhere for the birth where I had a scan Immediately. The first four hours of Labour once I had got to hospital I was made to sit on the floor, I didn't get anything even water or food for 20 hours whilst there which I believe slowed down my labour. My birth was low risk so I was allowed in the birth pool but they told me I was too relaxed and I had to get out. I ended up in Labour for almost 40 hours then I had to have an epidural episiotomy and forceps delivery as I was too exhausted to carry on, my baby also was distressed with meconium in my waters and his heart rate dropped. I'm extremely needle phobic and ended up with so many. I then experienced racist remarks from another patient on the Labour ward so asked to go home early This pregnancy I have a complication with a mass near my Fallopian tube, and have had very bad one sided pains, I have asked my midwife gp gynaecologist and obstetrician for an early scan and no one was interested in the pain I was in or concerns. Basically I would just like to pay extra for better care :)

One thing I definitely would like is a private room after the birth which I know you can have in an nhs hospital too x

You still haven’t said where you are.

I would sound a note of caution on the figure of £8-10k - hospitals publish their fees but they don't include the fees of the consultant obstetrician and anaesthetist. I don't know the cost for midwife led care but for consultant led care its £20k+ although that's London and everything is more expensive in London! But for that you have an appointment and scan every three weeks, any issue you go straight through on the phone to a midwife who usually tells you to come in and they check you out immediately, it's generally very relaxed because the consultant has quite a bit of time to spend with you each time you go in, private room after the baby is born. I'm a FTM so have nothing to compare to but I think you basically just get a lot more attention - and obviously your consultant who you have seen for the nine months delivers your baby so there is continuity of care.

You can pay for a private room in the hospital in my city but you need to state where you live for better advice

@GroundAlmonds

You still haven’t said where you are.

Sorry meant to say Northamptonshire

Can’t help then, but someone will.

Best friend did private.

Queen Charlotte’s in Shepherd’s Bush.

£20 grand. Some horrible midwives (she told me), and a horrible room (I visited). She’ll still tell you it was the best money she ever spent. You’re still entitled to NHS scans in tandem, and NHS treatment if something goes wrong with you and the baby. You don’t get that at the Portland.

Don’t choose your obstetrician for charm or bedside manner - choose experience.

I have done it all privately, the NHS doesn't even know I'm pregnant. I will register with an NHS GP and let them know after the baby is here - I'm not sure if having health visitors is a requirement or not. But you also can get midwives to visit you at home post birth privately. My anomaly scan was done by a consultant who specialises in fetal medicine. I would agree with a PP that it's sensible to go to a private wing of an NHS hospital - if anything goes wrong there is a proper neonatal ICU right there, otherwise you have something like the Portland which (as I understand it) is super fancy but if something goes wrong they may not have the facilities in house to deal with it and you or your baby may need to be transferred to another hospital.

I have it on insurance - I don't think most health insurance covers maternity but do check your policy! Often they say you have to have had insurance for at least 12 months to qualify.

Hi OP,
I've done part of my care privately. So sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with your previous birth.

I chose to take a maternity package with a private doctor in London, which included three or four scans with a Harley Street clinic, as well as the Harmony test, the regular NHS-style anomaly bloods, regular blood work and regular check ups through the pregnancy up to 34 weeks. I supplemented this with some Skype calls with my GP - for example they prescribed me omeprazole for acid reflux and iron tablets.

Then you have the option to transfer to private maternity care, or into the NHS. I transferred into the NHS at around 28 weeks as I was worried I was leaving it too long, but my private package continued. There was no issue with transferring - it was quite easy. I would like to pay for a private room for the birth, but it's 'first come first served' if you're not a fully private patient at the hospital I'm registered at, so there are no guarantees for that.

We also opted to have a doula, who won't be there for the birth because of Coronavirus, but who I know will be in a position to advise my partner if things come up, or if we need to make decisions. She's 'on call' in the lead up to our birth, and during it. In a non-C-19 time she would be at the birth.

We couldn't afford to do the whole thing privately - it's prohibitively expensive to give birth privately. However, I'm really happy with the choice I made to do some of the care privately. The scans and tests were fantastic. My reason for going privately is that I have OCD and find the Coronavirus threat really stressful. This way I felt able to go to smaller clinics with less people around, though I'm finding the last few weeks within the NHS particularly hard, especially with the news being what it is this week. I know other people are less worried than I am, but I felt that this way I could cope a bit better. I'm also a 'high risk' pregnancy purely because I'm 40.

Whether you go private or not, I would definitely not go back to that hospital that treated you like that. Best of luck with your pregnancy, whatever you choose - and I hope you get better care this time xx

If you choose your ob they will have rights at a hospital. I went private in London- it was much better than NHS.

From your update I think it would be good idea to talk through your last pregnancy & delivery with a midwife, as I think there maybe a mismatch of expectations - sorry if that's comes across as clumsy. For example you say you were made to get out of the birthing pool as your were too relaxed. What midwives can't manage is a woman sleeping in the birthing pool - it's just too dangerous, so if they thought you were nodding off I can understand why they would ask you to get out. That's going to happen wherever you give birth - NHS. or private.

I don't know Northamptonshire very well - your best bet would be to ask around for local recommendations as to which consultant, private midwife etc.

@DPotter

From your update I think it would be good idea to talk through your last pregnancy & delivery with a midwife, as I think there maybe a mismatch of expectations - sorry if that's comes across as clumsy. For example you say you were made to get out of the birthing pool as your were too relaxed. What midwives can't manage is a woman sleeping in the birthing pool - it's just too dangerous, so if they thought you were nodding off I can understand why they would ask you to get out. That's going to happen wherever you give birth - NHS. or private.

I don't know Northamptonshire very well - your best bet would be to ask around for local recommendations as to which consultant, private midwife etc.

Thank you for your reply! I definitely wasn't relaxed enough to fall asleep at all, she meant I was too relaxed that it was stopping progression of labour, but I personally feel it was dehydration and no food causing it (I was expecting a long labour thoigh as it was my first) My midwife this time said I can have a debrief or discuss it with someone but I haven't heard anything since that x

You will need to contact them and ask for an appointment to de-brief. Would still be worth it even if you've arranged private care as will clear the air and settle a lot of your concerns

Have you thought about doing birth reflections? Its where you go through your notes from your birth with a midwife and they explain what happened, why which decisions were made etc. I have friends who have had traumatic births and it has really helped them overcome their trauma and fear ahead of their second birth. Going privately will not ensure your birth or labour is less traumatic but you can decide how and when your child is born which maybe is what you want. You could also refer to a different hospital if you don't want to go back to where you went before.

@onedaysoonish

I have done it all privately, the NHS doesn't even know I'm pregnant. I will register with an NHS GP and let them know after the baby is here - I'm not sure if having health visitors is a requirement or not. But you also can get midwives to visit you at home post birth privately. My anomaly scan was done by a consultant who specialises in fetal medicine. I would agree with a PP that it's sensible to go to a private wing of an NHS hospital - if anything goes wrong there is a proper neonatal ICU right there, otherwise you have something like the Portland which (as I understand it) is super fancy but if something goes wrong they may not have the facilities in house to deal with it and you or your baby may need to be transferred to another hospital.

I have it on insurance - I don't think most health insurance covers maternity but do check your policy! Often they say you have to have had insurance for at least 12 months to qualify.

Hi @onedaysoonish, thank you for the info! How did you manage to get it through insurance? From what I've seen they all say they don't view pregnancy as a medical condition so can't be covered :( I do have medical insurance already too, which I had more than 12 months

The medical insurance depends upon your insurer and the type of policy you have. Mostly in the UK pregnancy isn't covered - although some companies who offer medical insurance as part of their package will have cover for it. It will say very clearly on your policy or contact your insurer to check. You do not want to commit to private care only to find you're not covered.

Insurers don't cover it as it's expensive and there's NHS provision -it's that simple.

Thanks all for replies. My insurance definitely doesn't cover pregnancy only if I have complications (my Fallopian tube mass may be classified as that not sure yet). I may think about a private midwife at least for the birth, and I definitely want a private room after. I want to have a c section as I am not going through all of that again like last time. Looks like it's going to be pricey but it will be worth it, again I am having a terrible experience with the nhs this time around. I've already had to go private for the mass and it took 6 gp appointments of begging to send me for a scan for it. Thanks for all the advice x

Unless things have loosened up the in health insurance world (and I doubt that very much) problems with fallopian tubes will not swing private cover for delivery, although they may well pay for the scans for it.

You will need to check the arrangements locally but I'm not sure a private midwife will be able to deliver you in an NHS hospital - delighted if someone can contradict me on that. They can deliver ante natal care and deliver you at home but I vaguely remember insurance reasons are used to prevent them delivering you in an NHS hospital. As I say very happy to be contradicted there.

Push for the debrief. Ask for local recommendations

Hi @sarahjsdddd I'm so sorry to hear about your first birth experience and your current experience so far.

If your insurance covers maternity they will state that clearly - and probably state if they cover elective c sections or c sections only on the advice of a consultant. In mine there is a whole section on maternity.

I looked in my booking pack to investigate payment options - obviously I can only tell you what mine (London) says - but the hospital wanted a deposit on booking of more than the advertised package price (for the reason that the package price only includes one night stay and the average stay is greater so they want to hold a deposit covering 100% of the cost of an average delivery and stay), the consultant wanted a 50% deposit - balance to be paid after birth. Anaesthetists fees to be invoiced after birth. Not sure what other hospitals will ask for - don't know if it's standard practice or not I'm afraid.