Cost of having a baby

I had twins in Holles Street two and a half years ago and went private. When I initially discovered I was pregnant I booked in with the Community Midwives but once I found out it was twins they could no longer take me and I went back to the consultant I had my two previous kids with.

There is a twin clinic one morning a week in Holles Street and expectant twin mums attend, both public and private. Dr. Stephen Carroll is the consultant assigned to twin/multiple births in Holles Street.

You will be scanned more frequently than with a single pregnancy to check babies' sizes, fluid level etc. and will have more appointments with your doctor. My consultant charged the same for a twin pregnancy as for a single but I had three times as many visits with him.

I didn't have a c-section, but the consultant did miss the birth of the first baby arriving one minute after she arrived, but I didn't get a discount!! Midwives more than capable of delivery but whether you're public or private the doctor on call in the hospital will attend a multiple birth.

Hope this is of some help but if you need anymore information, please pm me.
 
PHP: 
What health region are you in kiwijob?
dublin

Forgive my ignorance but which of the following is correct:

I pay €3.5k for the consultants services but this has
nothing to do with my bed? I could be in a public bed
or a semi-private civered by our VHI coverage.

or do i pay 3.5k and get a private room and a semi-private
room if that is all that is available and maybe even
a public bed if no SP rooms are available?

so if VHI cover me for a SP room and do I then pay a
seperate fee for the consultant? does the consultant
charge for his services on a private, SP basis with the
option of his services on a public basis?
 
Irish Fire said:
Slightly wrong there if there is a problem with the baby, the baby will be transfered to Holles St. but you will not.... and also from experience We used Mt Carmel first and then Holles St (because of the treatment etc.. there were several reasons) and found Holles St. FAR better that Mt Carrmel.
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Strange I was told it by Dr in Holles St. Maybe I misunderstood. I have mixed experiences in Holles St. Good and Bad. The building is well past its sell by thats for sure. That said we know it so well at this point, we'll be going back there.
 
If you opt for private care, VHI will cover your hospital stay, blood tests, scans (but you have to pay for the first one or two yourself) and part (very small) of your consultants fees. The €3,500 will cover the rest of the fees that the consultant charges.
 
debs said:
If you opt for private care, VHI will cover your hospital stay, blood tests, scans (but you have to pay for the first one or two yourself) and part (very small) of your consultants fees. The €3,500 will cover the rest of the fees that the consultant charges.
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I don't get why you have to pay any of it. Just another way to get money out of you IMO.
 
You don't have to pay any of it - you can opt to go public. I chose to go to a consultant that I knew and trusted and who had attended the births of my other children.
 
debs said:
You don't have to pay any of it - you can opt to go public. I chose to go to a consultant that I knew and trusted and who had attended the births of my other children.
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Maybe I should have been more specific. If you pay the VHI for a specific level of care, why do you still have to pay out additional fees, however small. Its not like these are optional services or products. These are things you have to get, there no avoiding them. Its always like this with the VHI. Everything is covered except....
 
"I pay €3.5k for the consultants services but this has
nothing to do with my bed? I could be in a public bed
or a semi-private civered by our VHI coverage."

This is the case. The fee you have been quoted is the consultant fee for antenatal care only. This has got nothing to do with what ward you end up in.

What do you get for this ?
All antenatal visits to the consultant in their private rooms - More comfort, and usually shorter waiting times. The consultants also have small
scanners in their rooms. The consultant attends the birth ( assuming they
get to the hospital on time, if you have a very short labour).

As a public patients, you have no continuity of care during you pregnancy, and you dont know what doctor will attend the birth ( if any) but
the standard of care from the midwives is exactly the same.

If you are a private patient of the consultant, you will also get charged a fee for the consultant to attend the birth,and fees for scans and
blood tests, VHI/Bupa/VIVAS pay all of these.
Assuming you have VHI/Bupa/VIVAS, they will refund all or most of the cost of a SP/Private bed. In the big public Dublin Maternity hospitals, you are not guaranteed a private bed even if you have booked one.

A private bed is about 300 a night VHI/Bupa/VIVA pay for 3 nights, if the birth is routine. If you have a section or medical complications, they pay all the hospital charges.

I hope this explains it. People have very strong opinions on this topic,
and you will hear horror stories and great stories from public and private patients.
You can only decide foryourself.

Good luck with your decision and the pregnancy, not forgetting the next 40 years of parenthood.
 
aircobra19 said:
Strange I was told it by Dr in Holles St. Maybe I misunderstood. I have mixed experiences in Holles St. Good and Bad. The building is well past its sell by thats for sure. That said we know it so well at this point, we'll be going back there.
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We were told this by Mount Carmel
 
I went semi private. SP in the rotunda is now €600 - claimable against med 1. I pay that amount and vhi/bupa deal with the rest.
Private should mean private room but I know a few people who paid private and ended up in public for the first night ()first come first served - not many that I know of got private room for entire stay. So if that 's the main reason for choosing private it may not work out the way you expect.

With semi-p you usually attend a team of consultants, visit will be with one of the team and when you deliver whatever consultant is on duty will be the one to help out if necesary - not needed for me, midwives did it all.
With regard to Mt Carmel, I have a friend who went there on her first but said she couldn't justify the expense again (approx 8k?) and had her other 2 in the coombe, went private and got a mix between semi-p and p rooms.

I was quite happy with the care I got semi-p and would do the same again.
 
Don't forget the end result - the baby/babies will be the same whether you are public, semi private or private.
 
We have gone Private, Semi-Private, and Public(combined care/Coombe Clinic/Early Home) on various occasions. Each has its merits. If we were in your position (twins) we would definitely go Private in a Public maternity hospital (to consider a home birth would be insane in my view). When carrying twins there is an increased possibility of complication so continuity of care with a specific Consultant would be worth the premium IMHO; the MED1 will take the sting out of the cost and your PHI should cover pretty much everything else. Whether you end up in a private or semi room matters very little and the mid-wives are brilliant regardless of which route you take.
 
michaelm said:
the MED1 will take the sting out of the cost and your PHI should cover pretty much everything else.
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A low rate taxpayer will get back 20% of the cost, 41% for a top rate taxpayer. PHI is only an option for those who have it, so it does not effect everybody.
 
kiwijbob said:
I pay €3.5k for the consultants services but this has
nothing to do with my bed? I could be in a public bed
or a semi-private civered by our VHI coverage.
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In the Limerick maternity I believe this is the case, the VHI entitled us to a semiprivate or private room, we paid something like €2000 to a consultant who had his own rooms in town for scans and checkups etc.

If the hospital is too busy you end up in a public ward anyway, I think we spent one night in a public ward.
 
Joe1234 said:
A low rate taxpayer will get back 20% of the cost, 41% for a top rate taxpayer. PHI is only an option for those who have it, so it does not effect everybody.
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Can't argue with that. kiwijbob has stated that they are on VHI Plan B + Options and this leads me to assume that they also pay tax at the higher rate.
 
I agree, how can private medical providers, consider not covering the cost of outpatients care for maternity. The average bill here in midlands is approx €2000, BUPA will only reimburse €400 of it, they also cover 3 days in public hospital on private ward for a normal delivery, and include €830 for other expenses in the hospital, blood tests, epidural etc.

The most shocking thing i discovered is that most consultants want at least 3/4 of payment on or just after first visit

I was advised though, that for first child that if possible to go private.

My mum threw a hissy fit about the suggestion of public for her first grandchild, something to do with her consultant saving at least my brother if not herself also when she had a prolapsed cord, nearly 30 years ago
 
michaelm said:
kiwijbob has stated that they are on VHI Plan B + Options and this leads me to assume that they also pay tax at the higher rate.
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I wish! I am on VHI B option and wish I was earning enough to pay tax at the higher rate!
 
deem said:
My mum threw a hissy fit about the suggestion of public for her first grandchild, something to do with her consultant saving at least my brother if not herself also when she had a prolapsed cord, nearly 30 years ago
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Medical science has come a long way in 30 years.
 
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My wife was in Holles St for a total of 20 days before our girl's birth, and she roomed with quite a few mums expecting twins who had been shipped in from Mt Carmel when their cases were deemed too tricky for Mt Carmel to deal with. The care wife & child got in Holles St was top notch.
 
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