Cost of having a baby
- Thread starter kiwijbob
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That is because a CS is operation, so the VHI cover the full cost of the birth. If you have any problems when will ship you to Hollis St.
Towger
aircobra19
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Maybe I'm mistaken but I think the michaelm is talking about the fact that somes hospital like Mt Carmel have a higher % of a CS than others. Not Holles St.
A colleague of mine warned me that solicitors/their partners have a higher chance of having a caesarean birth because if there is any chance at all that there is the remotest possibility of harm to mum or baby that they will ship you off pronto to the op table so you won't sue them. I don't believe it though. Well I only half believe it. I didnt have a CS either time, TG.
Save your €3.5K for something else. You will need it once the baby is born!!
The medical care is exactly the same whether you choose public, semi-private or private, private patients do not see a better / different doctor!
If you choose the private route you will still spend half the day in the waiting room waiting to see your doctor at your check-ups as they are just so busy these days.
The only difference is the accomodation afterwards and a lot of the time the hospitals are so busy that public and semi-private patients get lumped in together anyway.
You will in all likelyhood only stay in for one night anyway.
In my opinion it can sometimes be a snobbery issue, with people not wanting to admit that they are going public for fear that neighbours and friends will think that they are either too mean or cannot afford private care!
The medical care is exactly the same whether you choose public, semi-private or private, private patients do not see a better / different doctor!
If you choose the private route you will still spend half the day in the waiting room waiting to see your doctor at your check-ups as they are just so busy these days.
The only difference is the accomodation afterwards and a lot of the time the hospitals are so busy that public and semi-private patients get lumped in together anyway.
You will in all likelyhood only stay in for one night anyway.
In my opinion it can sometimes be a snobbery issue, with people not wanting to admit that they are going public for fear that neighbours and friends will think that they are either too mean or cannot afford private care!
I went private on my first birth. Waiting times for the consultant were horrendus. Consultant wasn't around for the birth (although another one showed up just as babs was born - in time to catch my husband when fainting!). Consultant preferred to talk Golf with husband during visits than talk about expected baby. Visits were otherwise exceedingly short. Got private room on second night of stay - found I was left in the room on my own - felt very isolated.
Went semi-private second time and now on third (and last!!!) pregnancy. Found the money spent on the consultant and bed 1st time round an utter waste. On SP only spent E500 - FOR EVERYTHING - everything else covered by basic BUPA membership. Found no less quality in care at all. Was happier being in a ward with 4 people - sharing experiences, also it meant if I had a shower or went to the loo a girl in the next room would look out for my babs.
3rd time around now also SP and now the SP team have a mini scanner in their room so can see babs at each visit.
To be honest, I'd suggest that you don't waste your cash on consultant fees. Put it into an education account!
Regarding care and attention I've learned that the best way to ensure you get attention is to put your foot down and ask the questions you want to ask (even if it means bringing in a notebook so you don't forget your questions during your checkups). Don't let them push you out until you are satisfied with answers. Otherwise the visits are very routine - and afterall so is birth!!!
CONGRATS and good luck!
Went semi-private second time and now on third (and last!!!) pregnancy. Found the money spent on the consultant and bed 1st time round an utter waste. On SP only spent E500 - FOR EVERYTHING - everything else covered by basic BUPA membership. Found no less quality in care at all. Was happier being in a ward with 4 people - sharing experiences, also it meant if I had a shower or went to the loo a girl in the next room would look out for my babs.
3rd time around now also SP and now the SP team have a mini scanner in their room so can see babs at each visit.
To be honest, I'd suggest that you don't waste your cash on consultant fees. Put it into an education account!
Regarding care and attention I've learned that the best way to ensure you get attention is to put your foot down and ask the questions you want to ask (even if it means bringing in a notebook so you don't forget your questions during your checkups). Don't let them push you out until you are satisfied with answers. Otherwise the visits are very routine - and afterall so is birth!!!
CONGRATS and good luck!
To attend a consultant privately at the Rotunda, a deposit of €500 (which equated to 20%) is payable on the first visit, but the balance was not payable until after the baby was delivered - the bill was posted out about 2 weeks after delivery.
The option to pay in instalments during the pregnancy is also offered there. This might be of benefit when making an annual MED1 claim, if the baby is not due in the current tax year.
Very few mums get out after one night, particularly for first baby or after a section. There are other differences too. Without private or semi-private, you won't have continuity of care from the same doctor. You may well see a different doctor on every visit. With semi-private or private, you will at least have the security of seeing the same consultant and having the opportunity to build up a bit of trust in the relationship. Also, in case of emergency, the on-call doctors at the hospital will consult with your consultant by phone, so you will have that additional degree of supervision on your case.
Having gone through a very difficult pregnancy with my wife (several emergency dashes into Holles St, 20 nights in Holles St before the birth over 3-4 different stays, delivery by emergency section), I feel we got great value from our relationship with our consultant and I wouldn't hesitate to do the same if we go again. There may well be less value in a routine pregnancy, but I guess you never can tell up front how things are going to work out.
I think the problem here is that you got a crap consultant!
I take it that
paying the consultant his 3.5k in the coombe, we're going to be
having twins (fingers crossed) and I'm sure we have a very strong
chance of s CS birth so the consultant should be able to plan to be
there. If it were one baby then I'd consider public treatment but
for our first experience and the fact that it's twins we will have to go
for continuity of care option. thanks all
is the main reason I'll be
paying the consultant his 3.5k in the coombe, we're going to be
having twins (fingers crossed) and I'm sure we have a very strong
chance of s CS birth so the consultant should be able to plan to be
there. If it were one baby then I'd consider public treatment but
for our first experience and the fact that it's twins we will have to go
for continuity of care option. thanks all
We've had two kids privately in the coombe. Both pregnancies had complications and one birth had complications leading to an emergency section. The consultant charged a fair whack for his work - 2K first one, 3.5K 2 years later. This fee covered all the ante-natal visits and the delivery - a deputy consultant is nominated if yours can't attend. In our case, we saw the consultant quite a lot - at least once a month where he scanned the foetus to check on health and progress etc. (note that there is some debate on the safety of ultrasound scanning ) I must say that we were disappointed that the fee didn't eliminate long queues to see the consultant ie. an appointment for 5pm could mean actually seeing the guy at 7 etc. We also paid another ultrasound specialist for the 24 week scan - this is a detailed exam of the foetus and not just a check cranial size & heartrate.
We could probably have got this care through public or semi-private, but without the continuity of care. Don't underrate this, it means that if questions arise they are referred to a single person familiar with both mother and baby during the 9 months - not one of a team scrabbling through notes. Although consultants are assigned to public and semi-p duties, you will mostly be seeing more junior doctors in p and s-p - how else does a consultant get the experience.
We had many episodes during each pregnancy requiring overnight hospitalisation for monitoring etc. Consultants in hospital have many patients and hence a lot of competition for their attention and time, having your own consultant guarantees faster responses to emergency situations. Maternity hospitals are reallly run by the midwives and they will oversee and manage the delivery, a consultant is only called when a) its all over or b) if there's a question or problem. However, if you're p/s-p, then the doctor on call would attend ie. somebody with less experience than the consultant.
I also noticed that private patients seemed to be unfairly prioritised over p and s-p. Could've been due to the difficult pregnancy and history but we always seemed to get seen quicker, get beds quicker and on the first delivery, definitely got the epidural first before more needy cases. We did get private rooms after both deliveries, but understood that this was luck.
The consultants fee is expensive for what seems like 13x10 minutes over 9 months, but to us (and our babies) it was more than worth it - we could easily have lost both babies, the care and attention during the pregnancy helped manage the stress of it all.
al
We could probably have got this care through public or semi-private, but without the continuity of care. Don't underrate this, it means that if questions arise they are referred to a single person familiar with both mother and baby during the 9 months - not one of a team scrabbling through notes. Although consultants are assigned to public and semi-p duties, you will mostly be seeing more junior doctors in p and s-p - how else does a consultant get the experience.
We had many episodes during each pregnancy requiring overnight hospitalisation for monitoring etc. Consultants in hospital have many patients and hence a lot of competition for their attention and time, having your own consultant guarantees faster responses to emergency situations. Maternity hospitals are reallly run by the midwives and they will oversee and manage the delivery, a consultant is only called when a) its all over or b) if there's a question or problem. However, if you're p/s-p, then the doctor on call would attend ie. somebody with less experience than the consultant.
I also noticed that private patients seemed to be unfairly prioritised over p and s-p. Could've been due to the difficult pregnancy and history but we always seemed to get seen quicker, get beds quicker and on the first delivery, definitely got the epidural first before more needy cases. We did get private rooms after both deliveries, but understood that this was luck.
The consultants fee is expensive for what seems like 13x10 minutes over 9 months, but to us (and our babies) it was more than worth it - we could easily have lost both babies, the care and attention during the pregnancy helped manage the stress of it all.
al
Reflecting on this question I might say that given an entirely routine pregnancy etc I'd go for s-p or public but given that multiples are slightly out of the ordinary and need more checks perhaps private might be the way to go.
Rainy Day - no, I don't think I got a particularly 'crap' consultant. Hearing from other women and friends who went private their experiences were very similar.
Rainy Day - no, I don't think I got a particularly 'crap' consultant. Hearing from other women and friends who went private their experiences were very similar.
K
kellysayers
Guest
[
but am I correct in thinking the only differences are:
privatecare @ €3.5k = private room on your own
semi -privatecare @ €500 = semi private room with 4 beds
public @?? = public ward
private only means you will get a room if one is available. There is no guarntee you will see your consultant. If there is a golf game on or if he is on hols forget it. We had the choice of private or public and went public. I had a very rough pregnancy and the care I got was second to none. We used the money we saved to get the cord stem cells saved. My friend went private had a bad time in labour and the baby was delivered by c section by the same doc i had as her consultant as "not on Duty" that day. She ended up in a six bed ward as well. she was actually glad about this bit cause she was a first time mum and wanted reassurance - she got it from all the other women in the ward.
What ever you decide rest assured it will be the right decision for you. Now stop worring and enjoy the pregnancy. Good Luck you will love being a mum.
but am I correct in thinking the only differences are:
privatecare @ €3.5k = private room on your own
semi -privatecare @ €500 = semi private room with 4 beds
public @?? = public ward
private only means you will get a room if one is available. There is no guarntee you will see your consultant. If there is a golf game on or if he is on hols forget it. We had the choice of private or public and went public. I had a very rough pregnancy and the care I got was second to none. We used the money we saved to get the cord stem cells saved. My friend went private had a bad time in labour and the baby was delivered by c section by the same doc i had as her consultant as "not on Duty" that day. She ended up in a six bed ward as well. she was actually glad about this bit cause she was a first time mum and wanted reassurance - she got it from all the other women in the ward.
What ever you decide rest assured it will be the right decision for you. Now stop worring and enjoy the pregnancy. Good Luck you will love being a mum.
I wanted to add to this thread although its an old one.
We were seeing a consultant from Mt Carmel during my wifes pregnancy this year. To cut a long story short, the baby came early at 33 weeks, so baby had to be delivered in Holles street, and they were fantastic.
Now it turns out the consultant we were seeing out at Mt Carmel is being VERY slow to return any of the fees which we had paid in advance. He was explaning to me on the phone last week that he'll only charge us 1,500 euro in our case... this is quite outrageous as we met him a total of 3 times for 10minutes maximum a visit, and still no sign of our refund.
We were seeing a consultant from Mt Carmel during my wifes pregnancy this year. To cut a long story short, the baby came early at 33 weeks, so baby had to be delivered in Holles street, and they were fantastic.
Now it turns out the consultant we were seeing out at Mt Carmel is being VERY slow to return any of the fees which we had paid in advance. He was explaning to me on the phone last week that he'll only charge us 1,500 euro in our case... this is quite outrageous as we met him a total of 3 times for 10minutes maximum a visit, and still no sign of our refund.
G
Guest111
Guest
You'll notice the rather nice silver Porsche parked outside Mount Carmel...
Write to him asking for a detailed invoice and a refund of any outstanding payments to date.
Good Idea, I'll need that anyway for my Med1 claim. I've called them twice a week now for 5 weeks, I get the 'it'll be in the post tonight' story every time.
My wife experienced the Coombe twice, once after a miscarriage and a 2nd time after a car crash. On both occassions,whilst the quality of care as a public patient was excellent, we both found that there was something very impersonal about the hospital, not the staffs fault, overworked and under resourced but something cold and battery hen about the whole approach
Accordingly, when my wife was pregnant the 2nd time, we opted for Kilkenny. (we live in Naas). Logic here was we are both country people and also it dawned on us after the car crash, that we'd get to Kilkenny faster in the rush hour from Naas then any Dublin hospital
We went to Kilkenny as a public patient and I cannot fault them, they were fantastic. My wife was in labour for 15 hours, and even though the consultant handed over to another doctor once his shift was finished, he rang in around 10 pm to see what was happening, when told there were some minor issues, he came back in from home and delivered the baby himself.
Only downsides about being public are the waiting for scans etc and also you end up in a public ward, which can be noisy. My wife was not sleeping 2 days after the birth and asked could she discharge herself and go home. The midwife said she could, but also said there was no rush and if she wanted to stay in a couple of more days she could.
And this was public not private!!!!!!!!
Accordingly, when my wife was pregnant the 2nd time, we opted for Kilkenny. (we live in Naas). Logic here was we are both country people and also it dawned on us after the car crash, that we'd get to Kilkenny faster in the rush hour from Naas then any Dublin hospital
We went to Kilkenny as a public patient and I cannot fault them, they were fantastic. My wife was in labour for 15 hours, and even though the consultant handed over to another doctor once his shift was finished, he rang in around 10 pm to see what was happening, when told there were some minor issues, he came back in from home and delivered the baby himself.
Only downsides about being public are the waiting for scans etc and also you end up in a public ward, which can be noisy. My wife was not sleeping 2 days after the birth and asked could she discharge herself and go home. The midwife said she could, but also said there was no rush and if she wanted to stay in a couple of more days she could.
And this was public not private!!!!!!!!
Horses for courses I suppose but I'd be unconvinced by such logic, because you felt it was impersonal?? From Naas one could be at the Coombe in less than 30 minutes if the need arose (via hard shoulders and bus lanes, indeed the Garda could be called upon for a hospital escort). Also, public patients in Kildare can attend the Coombe Clinic in Naas Hospital and needn't go near the Coombe until the birth, which is dead handy. And again, for Coombe patients living in the Naas area there in an Early Home scheme where mother and baby can go home the day after the birth and a midwife will visit each day for four or five days. We had five in the Coombe and they were great, although the first was a bit scary but probably because it was the first and we weren't au fait with everything that was happening.