Thinking of having baby in 'Mount Carmel', Dublin. Any experiences?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I had a lot of complications on both my pregnancies & the costs for Mt Carmel were very high (around €15-16k each). The "normal" cost for Mt Carmel is AFAIK €4500 for a private room for birth plus 3 nights stay. You will also have your gynaes fees on top of that (circa €3000).
 
It is not about who is next to you (although, come on, people having sex after giving birth...that doesn't appeal to me, call me weird if you like...); It's about being looked after, specially if it is the first one, that you are more scared...

Now 15K???? That is far too much and €3000 for the fees???? I might get the ferry home then! What a rip off.

Like the dentists. I was quoted 6000 to get a tooth done and it costed me 1200 in Spain. How can they justify these prices????

:-(
 
One thing that must be remembered about all provate hospitals is that outside of hours there is no resident doctor- you do have one on call who will travel.

Having myself worked in public and private healthcare for 10 years I would go public. There are more nursing and medical staff available if an emergancy occurs.

Hollis street have a scheme now where you can if you want (and of course the baby is OK), be discharged after a day and I think for a few weeks after a nurse will come to the house to help you. My sister in law (who might I add could have well afoarded Mt. Carmel ) found this to be great as she had trouble brest feeding and needed the help and encouragement for the few weeks after the pregnancy.
 
How about down the country, let's say near Kildare? Is there anywhere good around there??
 
I have met alot of people from Kildare in Holis street (I used to be a nurse).
Does Clane private hospital have a maternity wing??
 
pinkyBear said:
Does Clane private hospital have a maternity wing??
Click to expand...
No.

Kildare women go to The Coombe or Holles St or the Rotunda. I know some who have gone to Mt Carmel as well.


Andy Doof please keep the discussion civilised and rational and desist from making remarks about minorities.
 
Clane has no maternity facilities although one of the gynaes does sometimes see his patients there for regular check-ups.

Adorado - the fee of €15k I quoted was for complicated pregnancies which meant I spent almost 2 weeks in Mt Carmel & had a c-section both times. As I said the normal fee is circa €4500. If you have VHI/Bupa etc I think you can claim back about €2900 of that. You can also claim the tax back on any fees not covered by VHI/Bupa etc (including gynaes) at up to 42% - depending on your tax situation of course - so it may not work out too bad for you.

Also with VHI because I needed a section etc most of the fees were covered by them.
 
Last edited:
re: the cost of Mount Carmel, if you have health insurance that will cover a fair chunk of the cost.
In my own opinion, having a baby ranks pretty high on the 'important' things in life. There are couples out there blowing 15, 20 grand on weddings who baulk at the cost of going private for maternity care.
Forget this idea that it's 'snobbery' that leads women to go private. It's seeing my own sister crying on a camp bed in Holles Street and my best friend waiting hours for appointments that's made my mind up!
 
Adorado,
Its sad that you are terrified and unfortunately, pregnant women only seem to be told horror stories about labour.
Mt Carmel offers a very good service, as it is a private hospital, but it is very expensive. It will cost you at least 5K to have your baby there.

The public hospitals in Ireland are over crowded and therefore not everyone gets perfect care. Sad but true. Lots of women have very positive experiences but some dont.

I think that labour in Ireland is over medicalised with too much intervention when no necessary, but I really realyl dont want a debate on this.

You really need to talk to a sympathetic GP and talk about the options in irleand, consider having you baby as a semi-private patient, if you cant afford private. In semi-private, you have a team of 4 doctors, so you can get some continuity of care for visits, and one of the doctors will be on,
during your labour.

The most important thing is that you learn more about what will happen,
and be able to relax and enjoy your pregnancy,
 
reds said:
re: the cost of Mount Carmel, if you have health It's seeing my own sister crying on a camp bed in Holles Street and my best friend waiting hours for appointments that's made my mind up!
Click to expand...


So perhaps getting VHI/BUPA and going private won't actually be that much in the end...and as it has been said...it is an important thing, I think it could be worth it paying for that extra attention and confort.

I am only scared about the labour bit, as I am sure all new mothers were at the time. However, I have a very positive attitude towards the whole thing and I really look forward!! Because I'm not (originally) from here I probably tendt to compare a bit more.

I may talk to a few midwives I know for some advice too.
 
Do you have health insurance already? If not, you have to be a member for 52 weeks before claiming maternity, worth keeping in mind! Maternity services are one of the few that are available to all for free, which is worth keeping in mind...
 
Not 100% sure but I think there's a domino scheme in a hospital in Kildare, (Clane, Sallins, Prosperous - round there somewhere) Sorry to be so vague, my daughter is now 10 and it was all rather a long time ago!!

One benefit of going to Mt Carmel, (which I considered for my daughter) is that they have a birthing pool and they're very open to non-drug related pain relief - TENs machine, relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy etc. One of the down-sides, as already mentioned is if your baby is prem or you need a section - the cost is phenomenal

Maxine was born by section in Holles St - semi-private -and I honestly couldn't fault the care that we both received. My son was born in the UK in '88 and was another story!

Have you done a birth plan yet? I found this great as it helped alleviate the majority of my fears, (almost 10 years between pregnancies). Make friends with your community midwife - mine was present for my section, along with my husband and having familiar faces around helped a lot too.
 
You pay for everything in Mt. Carmel ... pre natal all blood tests, all ultrasounds etc. This quickly mounts up and is not covered by the VHI. There is no cost for these in a public hospital ... even if you attend as a private patient of a consultant.
IMHO having had my first child in Mt. C and no. 2 in the Coombe, the latter was the better experience ... I felt I was in better, more experienced hands in the Coombe and knew if something did go wrong there were the appropriate staff available to deal with the problem.
 

I think they CAN justify these prices as it is a private hospital. If you cant afford to pay for it or you don't have health insurance then there are three other "public" hospitals you can go to. I personally have health insurance, and will be going to Mount Carmel. as I have no desire to share my personal space with junkies, how'er'ya's, and other undesirables. Its personal choice really..
 
My sister in law had her first baby in Mount Carmel and then her second baby in a public hosp (as semi private patient) and she said honestly she doesn't know why she paid Mt Carmel a fortune when the second baby was delivered in just as good a way, no problems and a great service.
 
I know this is an old thread but I would urge anyone considering mount carmel to look at their c section rates. Nothing short of scandalous. One obstetrician allegedly has a rate of over 90%. None of the hospitals are great in this regard but mount carmel is particularly bad. IMO the whole totally natural process of birth is over medicalised . Ask yourself how many people you know who have had "emergency" caesareans? How many were truly emergencies and how many are actually precautionary or to fit in with a pattern of care?

BTW I delivered my first in the Rotunda (private) and then 3 more in Mount Carmel.

A.
 

I really don't think this post is helpful to the many people who cannot afford to have their baby in Mt Carmel and is a terrible slur on Irish maternity hospitals.
 

Perhaps this has more to do with the fact that mother's routinely elect to have C-sections over natural birth there, nothing to do with over medicalisation.
 
I don't really think its where you have the baby but the care you receive. I wanted a particular obestrician who was recommended to me. At the time he worked out of both Mount Carmel and The Coombe private, I could only get an appointment at the Coombe. I took it and never looked back.

I'm now due my 3rd child in October with the same consultant and he's fantastic , yes his fees are expensive but I don't care I trust his judgement completely and he's worth every penny, in my opinion.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Menu
Log in
Register