Baby on Way - Public or Private?

Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

tyrell said:
Dont want to alarm you first baby went public wife had a very hard time and damaged her very badly internally.
Went private on baby two and three only for we went private with our own gyno I would have lost both baby number 3 and wife.
I know if we were public for number 3 they wouldnt have been able to pre empt the problems.

Again dont want to alarm you thankfully these types of problems are few and far between and the majority of births run smoothly.

Best of Luck
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Why would they not have been able to to pre empt the problem.
Surely the staff in a public hospital are as as qualified as the staff in a private hospital.

In my opinion you are being alarmist.
It is one personal opinion of one incident and your subjective view point of how a public hospital would have dealt with the same crisis.

Are you suggesting that second rate care is offered to the mothers and babies in a public hospital or that the staff are less competent to deleiver babies and so cuase damage to mothers?
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Are you suggesting that second rate care is offered to the mothers and babies in a public hospital
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I don't know if tyrell is suggesting that, but I'd be inclined to think it myself. My reasons would be- 1. too few staff, with too little time 2. general hygiene levels are poorer ( recent reports) 3. as a public patient in a public hospital you may never see the consultant at birth at all, and care will be left to more junior and therefore necessarily less experienced staff 4. more pain relief and options and time to explain said options are available to private patients and 5. the option of a private or semi-private room which cannot be underestimated. I would not suggest however that the staff are less competent than their private equivalents, but that care of public patients will be handled perhaps by more junior staff than otherwise.

I would also have to agree that if you can afford private care, you should opt for it, especially on a first baby because it will make the experience more pleasant if nothing else.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Vanilla said:
5. the option of a private or semi-private room which cannot be underestimated.
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That is the fallacy though - there is absolutely no guarantee of a private or semi private room , if the maternity rooms are full plan E in the VHI can't give you a room that is not available. We went private for all of our births mainly because we wanted a room to ourselves - on one of the three occasions there wasn't one available.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Wife got a private room in Holles st in August. But last year Holles St was capped

This year they wont be
[broken link removed]
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

That is the fallacy though - there is absolutely no guarantee of a private or semi private room
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Not a fallacy depending on the hospital. I.e. a private hospital. Only a possibility if its a public hospital.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Vanilla I couldn't disagree more with you, what are you basing these assumptions on?

In many cases you don't need a consultant with you when giving birth, many just pop their heads in to justify their fees.

If there is need for a consultant one will be called for a public patient just like a private one.

All the pain relief options are available to public patients also.
The midwives simply are the ones to tell you your options.

In point of fact in many cases such as in Cork city where the options were the Erinville, St. Finbarrs, both public and the Bons private if there is a post natal problem with the infant he/she has to be transferred to the Erinville as that is were the expertise in post natal care is.

Why would you have to have a private or semi private room?
And you are in no way guaranteed one anyway.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

As I said, I would be inclined to think it- I'm not making any assumption. That is based on personal experience. In relation to the pain relief, you might be surprised to learn that not all pain relief options are available in every hospital. For instance you are not guaranteed an epidural in at least one public hospital that I know of. In relation to your question as to why one would want a private or semi-private room I think that that is self explanatory. In a public hospital, unless you are a private patient you have no chance of getting one, but certainly no guarantee if you are a private patient of getting one either ( although I know what chance I'd take) but in certain private hospitals you are guaranteed at least a semi-private room.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Vanilla said:
Not a fallacy depending on the hospital. I.e. a private hospital. Only a possibility if its a public hospital.
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I didn't think you could be guaranteed a private or semi private room in either a public or private hospital - what if the rooms are all full? You can't pre book so where do they put you if they have no rooms available - the only private hospitals I have been in ( not for births ) all had small wards as well as private and semi private rooms.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

I'm certainly not an expert on all of the hospitals in Ireland- and I would suggest again that the OP either have a look at the cuidiu website or order their book which gives details of the differences between the various hospitals in Ireland with interesting intervention rates- but for eg in the Bons in Cork, there is ONLY private and semi private accomodation.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

My sister got a private room in Limerick maternity as a public patient as she warrented it after having an emergency C-section....
Not true of the Bons either they do have wards with 4 beds for pre-natal care.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Mrs Tubbs is on Plan B (option) and she got VHI cover for going private.
We went private mainly due to rumours of

- getting (allegedly) closer monitoring during pregnancy by consultant (Mrs Tubbs had two miscarriages previously).
- Consultant would be there at the birth, in case of any problems.
- Would be in a private room rather than a ward.
- Would be devastated if we didn't go private and something went wrong and full of what ifs...

As it turns out, the consultant we had got to know and trust over the 8 months or so wasn't there on the night as he had been working 20 hours previously.

The closer monitoring by consultant was in his own rooms where he had a really poor ultrasound machine (we expected 3D in colour and surround sound!). We couldn't make out one end of the baby from the other. Hospital one was much better.

After birth Mrs Tubbs was put in a room (semi private) with 2 other mothers as no private rooms available which was quite noisy and hard when trying to establish breast feeding with people coming and going all the time. (Were moved into one the day after).

In private room, although the peace and quiet was worth half the money we paid anyway, Mrs Tubbs felt left out by the staff.

The room wasn't cleaned in 3 days (no paper towels or toilet roll) and had to constantly ring buzzer for any assistance that was required. Mrs Tubbs felt like she got an inferior service from the midwives than if out on the ward (not sure whether she did or not).

Baby was jaundiced and the midwives only knew this because Mrs Tubbs was visited by our original consultant who went to tell the midwives to do tests (he also tore a strip off them for not noticing).

Even the bloody TV was coin operated ! (it was only RTE/N2 etc...)

Despite all that, we are planning no. 2 and still unsure and in 'discussion' whether to go private or public this time.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Well I don't know about pre-natal care, but I would suggest that even a ward with 4 people is twice as good as a ward with 8 or more...

I suppose a lot depends on the individual and indeed on the other individuals on the ward. I know when my mother was terminally ill she was in and out of hospitals all over the country, and despite being a private patient, at times was placed in semi private rooms. She often said that she preferred semi private as at least there was a bit of chat and craic with the other patients when visiting hours were over. Although of course towards the latter stages of her illness, she was so terribly ill that the noise and intrusion that comes with other people in a ward or semi private room would have been intolerable.

My own opinion based on my experience is that, especially on a first baby, it would be infinitely preferable to have a private room. But, to each, their own.
 
Public ..public..public!For heavens sakes they have a duty to care ...save the money so you can buy mummy and baby lovely things afterwards...or take them away on holiday! Honestly,my sister had twin girls (wasn't an easy pregnancy as there were some complications) and went public and got the most fantastic and professional care in the world. Save your penny's for later,you pay enough tax!;)
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Bamhan said:
Are you suggesting that second rate care is offered to the mothers and babies in a public hospital or that the staff are less competent to deleiver babies and so cause damage to mothers?
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Vanilla said:
I don't know if tyrell is suggesting that, but I'd be inclined to think it myself.
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Currently there are two public and one private maternity hospital here in Cork. Any doctors (and doctor's wives for that matter) that I know of have gone to one of the public hospitals, rather than the private hospital, to have their babies. Even the midwives in the private hospital go public to the public hospitals to have their babies. The public hospitals have better, more modern, equipment - the private hospital has better food and matching curtains.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

Going private does not mean that your consultant appointments will be on time. The excuse of 'he's got delayed at a delivery' was wheeled out more than once - we had delays of 1-2 hours.

My wife went through a very difficult pregnancy with repeated scares of losing the baby - We found it comforting to be dealing with the same consultant all the way through the pregnancy. Interesting that the consultant charges a fixed fee, regardless of the nature of support required. I guess he makes his money on the many standard pregnancies but he probably lost his shirt on 'difficult' cases like ours, given the number of visits involved.

I'd always recommend a major public hospital, regardless of whether you go public or private. We came across several other 'difficult cases' who had been referred from Mt Carmel to Holles St and found themselves in the public wards in Holles St. The care provided by the midwives in Holles St was generally excellent.
 
Re: Baby on Way - Public or Private??

RainyDay said:
The care provided by the midwives in Holles St was generally excellent.
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Thats comforting to know - had booking in appointment yesterday at 1pm and were out by 3. Can`t fault the care or the service at the moment!
Thanks for all the replies, is great to get opinions from both sides of the fence..
 
I had two DDs semi-p in the Rotunda. On the first child I was in a semi-p ward, on second child I ended up in public. It very much depends on the people you end up with on the ward, I found public better and quieter. There was also better nursing care on the public ward, as there were so many more mothers there they were always around, this was not the case in semi-p. I have heard it's even harder to get hold of the nurses at all in private. For the delivery, you had the same care for public and semi-p, can't comment on private, but if the baby comes fast I would imagine you would get the same care as anyone else as there wouldn't be time to get your consultant. (Un)fortunately September is a very busy month with all the Christmas babies!!

Best of luck with the pregnancy, I was very happy with the care I got, and was lucky enough to end up with two perfect girls at the end of it.
 
My sister went private the 1st time in Holles St., and felt she'd have gotten better care (or attention) in the public, as there were more patients in the public, and she was hidden away in a private room.
Or maybe it was that she felt it was easier to catch the doctors attention in the public if she had issues, can't quite remember. But she wasn't happy with private, so no.2 & 3 were public babies.
 
Nelly did not mean to be snooty.
THE STAFF IN ALL THE HOSPITALS ARE GREAT PEOPLE,BUT THEY ARE UNDER A LOT OF PRESSURE.
I WAS LUCKY THAT WE COULD AFFORD PRIVATE CARE AND THEREFORE OUR OUTCOME WAS HAPPY.
ITS JUST ON THE BIRTH OF OUR FIRST BABY IN PUBLIC CARE THE STAFF WERE UNDER SO MUCH PRESSURE THAT NIGHT I FEEL THE COMPLICATIONS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.
 
If you decide to go private you are private all the way. If you have a straight forward birth you will have a bill of a couple of thousand. What if its not straightforward? How much does a c section cost (more common for private patients)? What if you have a problem pregnancy and need to be admitted to hospital for a prolonged period before delivery? I had 2 babies in ireland (one overseas) both public, first in holles st, bad experience but i dont think it was because i was public, second in a regional hospital, much better. In the regional hospitals because they usually have only one consultant who is responsible for you anyway even if you are public the standard of care is exactly the same. Although the consultant is presumably nicer to you if you are paying him and you get to see him at his nice offices rather than in the hospital. Hope it all goes well and you don't have any problems
 
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