best choices for high-risk pregnancy in uk?

[inevitablefish]

I've just found out I'm pregnant and I'm likely to have a high-risk pregnancy. I also unfortunately live in a country with very poor medical care. I'm freaking out a little bit as you can imagine, and am strongly considering coming to the UK for the duration of my pregnancy (if everything goes well and this one keeps, fingers crossed) due to the fact that it's much much closer to where I live now than my home country (the US) is. I have good private health insurance. I'm looking for advice on how to find a practice, as well as tips on specific MFM specialists or other doctors that people on this forum would recommend.

I have the advantage of not currently being tied to any particular city or region, so I could go anywhere. However I would assume that there is a high concentration of specialists in London.

Thanks in advance for any advice or insights you can provide.

I really hope everything goes well with your pregnancy. I suppose some people might feel slightly reluctant to share advice given that out NHS is already a very stretched service that is built to serve the needs of people who actively live and work here rather than those who choose to come without contributing and make use of the service. I may be wrong and you may be hoping to come as a few paying international patient, in which case hopefully someone with some experience will come along and advise about that. As I say, good luck and I don’t blame you for trying to do what is best for you and your baby, but I just want to point out that it isn’t a ‘free’ service but something that those of us who work here pay a significant contribution for in our taxes each month.

I think the poster is asking for private healthcare recommendations autumn. They state they have good private health insurance!

I have no advice, apologies, but good luck. I hope someone will come along shortly with good recommendations.

Yes, I am looking for private options as a fee-paying international patient. As I mentioned, I have insurance that would pay for care. I would certainly not take advantage of free NHS services, and I assume I wouldn't be eligible anyway! Thanks for the kindness, @catinthehat12.

Sorry, my mistake. I think I am touchy this morning after a poor night’s sleep. Apologies.
If it were me, I would probably go to any of the larger cities that have dedicated women’s and children’s hospitals with NICU services, they are likely to be slightly cheaper places to live temporarily than London. I would also look for specialisms for the particular high-risk need that I had - eg diabetes, multiple miscarriage, HIV or whatever your concern. If there is a hospital running a specialist clinic or service for that, I’d go there.
Again, good luck and apologies for being tetchy.

I can't comment on the MFM issue but If going privately I would recommend either St Thomas or Queen Charlotte as the highest concentration of specialist. They also have NICUs (which I assume you'd have to pay for rather than NHS) that can take extremely premature babies.

But I am surprised that you can't get that kind of care in the USA?

Milton Keynes Hospital’s Labour Ward is fantastic. They have actually learned from the failures that happened their 5-10 years ago and my high risk pregnancy and difficult birth was handled really, really well. I’m not white either but found I was listened to much better there than some of the other hospitals I visited. It wasn’t my first choice but I had a great birth there.

John Radcliffe in Oxford is amazing for high risk pregnancies too. They, unfortunately, weren’t able to accept me as I was already well into my consultant plan by then but if it’s early days then you can get around it by visiting local midwifes / getting a transfer.

Thanks so much for the advice so far! I definitely could get this care in the US and I'm exploring that option as well, but I'm strongly considering the UK for a few reasons: (1) I don't have a home base in the US right now so would face logistical issues moving back there too, (2) don't have a regular doctor in the US either, (3) my insurance coverage is somewhat better outside the US since it's an expatriate plan, (4) my job requires close coordination with people in Europe and being 5-7 hours behind makes it much harder, (5) there are tax implications to going back.

I will have a look at John Radcliffe, thanks a lot.

I'm just so curious where you are currently based. I recently moved back to the Netherlands after living in the UK for a long time (I'm Dutch) and if I could I would immediately move back for this pregnancy. The system in the Netherlands is kind of geared to insurance paid health care so that may work for you and I have to say the midwife care before and after birth is really excellent. In the UK I would pick wherever the Royals go x

I would go for either the Chelsea and Westminster or St Thomas's in London. The Portland is the only fully private maternity hospital but they don't have all the facilities the large NHS hospitals have. Both of the ones I mentioned have private facilities within an NHS hospital, great NICUs and a choice of top consultants.

As far as I know, the only fully private maternity hospital is the Portland in London. They even have an on-site NICU unit. As PPs have mentioned, there will be access to private maternity care within some NHS hospitals, but I’m not sure how the two go together to give you continuity of care. If money or insurance was no object I’d be tempted by the Portland (even as someone who is entitled to NHS care) but depending on where you live, it might be miserable to move to London!

There are plenty of places in Europe with better care than the UK.
Depending on the rarity and severity of your complications and the aftercare for the baby a private hospital may not be able to care for you.
I‘d suggest looking at SJD hospital in Barcelona.

There are plenty of places in Europe with better care than the UK

Totally agree with this. The UK is FAR from your only option.

I guess there may be language barriers choosing somewhere else in Europe whereas at least in the UK the OP can be confident that her and her medical team can communicate with ease.

the royals use the private lindo wing at st mary's paddington.
have a look at that OP.
where would you live, is money no object, are you alone.
good luck.

I looked at St Mary's Paddington but it doesn't have the highest level of NICU. Depending on why you're high risk, I would look for a consultant with a particular specialism in that condition and go for them.

Loads of medical staff on the continent speak very good English, doctors in particular.

Thanks to all for the helpful replies! The main reason I'm considering the UK is visa reasons Americans get six months and I think it's very easy to extend if necessary. In Schengen I am limited to three months and I've already used up a bunch. Lastly, I've found it much harder to do basic research on facilities and doctors in Europe maybe they are not catering to int'l patients as much. @Matilda128 I'm really interested in your reply because I've also considered the Netherlands -- it's my top choice other the possible visa issue. If you don't mind, I'd love to hear which centers or doctors you would recommend or how you think I could go about researching this.

When I read back my message I was wondering if I was clear enough that I would move back to the UK if I could. Dutch Health Care is really good but it's very much no nonsense and no faff. I think the midwife system is amazing. They are so accessible, very well educated and they have their own echo equipment so they often just easily scan you when in doubt. You also get a specially trained 'nurse' coming to your house after birth to help with the day to day care of your baby. My concern here is that in comparison to the rest of 'Western' countries they actually have a quite high stillbirth rate. They don't know exactly why. Initially I thought it was because home births are quite common here (you actually have to pay around 600 on top of your insurance to give birth in hospital without a clinical indication) but research suggests otherwise. It therefore could possibly be the antenatal care for premature babies. From what I have read in countries such as the US and the UK they are able to help tiny tiny babies (record is 21 weeks). In the Netherlands this expertise is simply not there. I read somewhere that they will medically do anything if a baby is 26 weeks plus and from 24 if this is the parents wish. There are calls to change this practice and it may be currently getting better but would you take the risk?
What is really really so brilliant about British hospitals is Great Ormond Street which you could access from anywhere in the UK if needed.
If you want to know more about the Netherlands and temporarily settling here then I would look up an expat organisations (plenty online) and email directly to them. Good luck! (And I still like to know where you are currently based )

Really difficult to say as you haven’t said what your condition is but the hospitals that treat a lot of international patients have a fair amount on information in English. If you need treatment you can’t get where you are, they arrange a visa for you. www.sjdhospitalbarcelona.org/en/international-patient
With rare and severe complications or intensive care you’ll end up with the NHS anyway even if you start out private, and you might have read how that’s been going recently.