Maternity insurance for future complications

[EPfds]

I need some advice: I lost a baby on the NHS, which provided appalling, almost non-existent care throughout my pregnancy, which resulted in a premature birth and neonatal death of my baby.
I want to go private with future pregnancies since I’ve lost all trust in NHS mat services and know I will need specialist consultant oversight/treatment throughout the pregnancy, much of which will be preventative, so not what the NHS normally does: waiting until a problem happens and trying to fix it after things went wrong.
I can’t afford paying thousands for private consultants and am now wondering whether I can take out private health insurance that would cover such maternity care.
I’ve tried looking up quotes but they all only included acute medical treatments in the case of illness, not covering a pre-existing condition such as an incompetent cervix that needs to be measured weekly, or a preventative cervical stitch.

If anyone has taken out such an insurance or knows more about this I’d be most grateful.

@SilverGlassHare

I actually got referred to consultant care prior to getting pregnant, due to a pre-existing condition, which meant I saw the consultant very soon after I did manage to conceive. I was told to go through the GP again for the same procedure if I wanted to get pregnant again. Could you talk to your GP about doing this?

That’s very reassuring to hear, I didn’t know this was possible. I will try that route, thank you!

@EPfds Firstly, so sorry for your loss.
there is a FB group called Incompetent Cervix U.K. if you join that, there lots of women on there, many having sadly been through a similar experience to you with in terms of poor nhs care, esp as first time mothers. Women in that group share advice and experiences and detail how they received the subsequent care they needed to bring home their rainbow baby. It’s a great support group. There are some key consultants who you can contact to get some pre pregnancy advice, details shared in the group. Yes, Thomas’s are one - but there are others (as have been mention by above pp)
Wishing you all the best OP

Hi, I am really sorry about losing your baby and it’s understandable why you are so hesitant to go with the same care through NHS again.

I just wanted to offer my experience, but want to caveat that with obviously I don’t know if you will get the same treatment should you get pregnant again. Pregnancy is enough a nerve wrecking experience already without all the health concerns and unknown level of care you’ll receive.

I had a pre term birth at 18 weeks. I had a low lying placenta which led me to bleed on and off for weeks and then I had my son who died neonatally.

It took us a while to want to try again due to the fear of it happening again and all the unknowns- no one could tell us why this happened but thought it was due to low lying placenta or incompetent cervix.

What has made all the difference in the world and feels like we’ve had private care is our bereavement midwife. They not only support you after you lose your baby but for subsequent pregnancies too.

We called her as soon as we found out we were expecting and she has been a huge help in coordinating drs/consultants/midwifes/ scans etc & /helping us understand medical situations etc. I started having cervical measurement scans at 14 weeks and my cervix started off at 28mm and went down to 24mm at week 21 and 21mm at week 23. Bereavement midwife came to any appointment we asked her to be at. This was especially helpful as she advocated when we wanted her to- her day held more weight- and she would pop in ahead to the room and explain our history so we didn’t have to go through the re-telling at every single appointment. At week 23 I had a stitch. As soon as we were told my cervix was shortening we asked to see or talk to a consultant if possible and she went and found one who did stitches and we had a chat with him which we found very helpful.

She was also extremely helpful for things like: I was having cramps at 15 weeks and went into A&E. on the way there I called her and said I will be offered a speculum check but I had this dozens of times in my previous pregnancy and my cervix was always closed and it won’t show me if my cervix is shortening or funnelling. She understood my concerns and called up the MAU in that hospital and tried to find a dr who was able to do a cervical scan. She then called me back and asked me to go to another hospital where she had arranged for a consultant to do a cervical scan - all turned out ok. Cervix was closed, had a long chat with the consultant afterwards and turned out to be a urine infection.

She helped organise when we had to go to register our sons birth and death and there was an issue with the form the dr had signed.

I’ve had breakdowns over the thought of losing this baby and she has been on the phone to me to see how she can help. I am currently 28 weeks and so much more relaxed.

Whilst that has been my experience, I agree re community midwives - having a different one each time etc but if you decide to go through NHS again, perhaps you can stipulate your want continuity of care due to your previous experience. Asking for a bereavement midwife would help with that too but I know they don’t offer that in every hospital yet.

It really is a nerve wrecking decision and experience to go through but I hope you are able to do what is right for you and that this pregnancy is a different experience. X

@EPfds