Private in a private hospital Vs in a public hospital...

Private in private hospital is far more expensive than if you go private in a public hospital. If you go private in a public hospital, your insurance covers your accommodation, but you pay your consultant's fees. For example, here is the list of charges for Private care in the National Maternity Hospital:

Private room per night ……………€1017.00
VHI/Quinn Healthcare will cover 3 nights for normal delivery
VHI/Quinn Healthcare will cover 5 nights for caesarean section

Epidural Anaesthesia ……………… €298.00 (Covered by Insurance)

Caesarean Section…………………. €333.00 (Covered by Insurance)

Pathology ………………………….. €105.00 (Covered by VHI Insurance only)
Quinn Healthcare Fee €105 / Q.H. Benefit €54.56 (Patient to pay €50.44)
Aviva Fee €105/Aviva Benefit €54.56 (Patient to pay €50.44)

Paediatrician – In Patient ………….. €97.00 (Covered by Insurance)

Special Care Baby Unit nightly …… €889.00
(For this claim to be covered in full your baby needs to be included on your policy)

Ultrasound Scan (each) …………… €110.00 to €140.00(Payable by Patient)

Paediatrician ………………………. €100.00 (Payable by Patient)

Normal Delivery €298………………. (Covered by Insurance)

Caesarean Section €445……………... (Covered by Insurance)


Private Consultants Fee
Normal Delivery: varies from €4000 to €5000
Caesarean Section: varies from €4200 to €5500

I wanted to go to Mount Carmel because I was born there and it's literally a ten minute drive away from my house, and I liked the idea of having a private room, but when I enquired about the prices it was just far too expensive.

When you go private in a private hospital like Mt C, what you get from your insurance is called a 'grant in aid' which is basically an allowance towards your hospital fees. They don't cover any more than that. In my case the grant in aid was €3450.

When I contacted Mount Carmel about prices the info I was given was as follows:

Shared Care Package (where your pre-natal visits are split between your GP and your consultant)
Hospital fee: €4837 - including 2 nights accommodation, 3 scans, bloods, hospital delivery fee and 6 week check for baby.

Consultant's fee: €1250 - covers 5 visits.

So if you have a grant in aid, you deduct that from the hospital fee, which leaves you with (in my case) €1387 plus consultant's fee, so that's €2637.

Initially we were going to go with it because we didn't think that was hugely expensive for private care, but when I rang the hospital and insurance to double check some of the costs, I discovered that if I had to have an emergency c-section for whatever reason, I'd have to stay for 5 nights in the hospital, and the insurance doesn't cover that, you literally get your grant in aid and that's it! So an additional night's private room is €585 per night, and semi private is €450 per night. Also, if you have a c-section your baby would require overnight care in the nursery which is €177 per night. If something went wrong and your baby had to be cared for in the Special Care unit, it's €600 per night.

So, if the worst happened and I had needed a section and there was something wrong with the baby and they had to go into intensive care, I could have (worst case) had an extra €6510 to pay at the end!! And because that was something we just couldn't afford, and there's no way to guarantee that something won't go wrong during the delivery, we decided to go Semi-Private in NMH instead.

I think as far as standards of care go, they're pretty much the same everywhere. So far I've been happy with the care at NMH, the only downside is the queues (even with semi private) but it's a very busy hospital so that's to be expected.

Honestly, if money hadn't been an object I'd have gone with Mount Carmel, because it's so close to home and I'd have had my own room, and my own loo and the rooms/hospital are lovely. A few friends have had babies there recently and it is very fancy altogether, doesn't have a hospital 'feel' at all. I find hospitals really creepy, medical things just freak me out big time, so the less like a 'hospital' the place looks, the more comfortable I'll be. That's just a personal little quirk though, IMO, going to a fully private hospital won't make a difference to the birth, it's just the accommodation afterwards is fancier You also get a private room for your labour, as well as delivery, whereas if you go to a public hospital you can be put on a labour ward, which is where there are a few of you in the same ward. The thought of that is worrying me in case I get put in a room with someone screaming bloody murder! You deliver in private though, and if the birth goes normally and the baby is fine there's a scheme where you can go home earlier, so the accommodation isn't that important. Realistically I'd say you'll be so distracted by your lovely baby you probably won't be pushed about the surroundings at all!

If you go semi private in a public hospital, you'll still have fees to pay if you don't have insurance. For example, everything that has "covered by insurance" beside it on this price list, you would be liable for:

Semi-Private Charges for Maternity Care from 1st January 2011

Semi-private room per night ……. €889.00
VHI/Quinn Healthcare will cover 3 nights for normal delivery
VHI/Quinn Healthcare will cover 5 nights for caesarean section

Epidural Anaesthesia ……………… €289.00 (Covered by Insurance)

Caesarean Section………………….. €323.00 (Covered by Insurance)

Pathology ………………………….. €105.00 (Covered by VHI Insurance only)
Quinn Healthcare Fee €105.00/Q.H. Benefit €54.563 (Patient to pay €50.44)
Aviva Fee €105.00 /Aviva Benefit €54.56 (Patient to pay €50.44)

Paediatrician – In Patient ………….. €97.00 (Covered by Insurance)

Special Care Unit nightly …………. €889.00
(For this claim to be covered in full your baby needs to be included on your Policy)

Paediatrician ………………………. €100.00 (Payable by Patient)

Semi-private Consultants Fee:

Antenatal visits /…………………... €900.00 (Payable by Patient)
Normal Delivery ………………….. €298.00 (Covered by Insurance)
Caesarean Section ………………… €445.00 (Covered by Insurance)

I fleeced the above list from Holles street's website . If I hadn't got health cover I'd be going public because it's free. If you don't have cover and go semi private, you have to pay for everything. Granted, it's cheaper than private, but not by a whole lot.