Public Patient vs Semi Private in the Coombe

LegacyUser

Hi,
I'm looking to pick the brains of anyone who has been either public or semiprivate in the coombe. We can't afford Private.

Basically I've found the cost difference but what sort of differences is there in the number of scans, who you see etc?

And would you change if you were to do it?

olaola

I went for the Domino scheme in the Coombe, wouldn't change it - no queues, great to see the same midwives, thought it was fantastic. Without a doubt would do the Domino again. I had a booking scan at 12 weeks and an anomaly scan at 20 weeks.

Penny Dreadful

I'm semi private in the Coombe at the moment - due October 7th.

I opted for semi private because I refuse point blank to give €5k + to a consultant that I most likely won't require and no absolute guarantee of a private room for me and the baby afterwards. The doctors, nurses and midwives are all the same regardless of public or private.

Semi private cost me €750.00 plus the cost of each scan with a max total of €200 (or so, I can't remember the exact figures right now).
I had a scan at my booking appointment (12+6) which was lovely and cost €80.00
I have an appointment for my anomoly scan this Friday (20+6) and it will cost €100 (or so).
I had my first appointment with the consultant (who wasn't there in the end because she went into labour early so I saw her Reg- who I liked a lot and am happy for him to be a constant figure in my care through the pregnancy) 2 weeks after the booking appointment and it was very good. I was waiting because of the early labour situation with the consultant but I didn't mind. When I got in to see the Reg he gave me all the time in the world, there was no rushing or being made to feel like he was in a hurry or such like. I also had a mini scan at that appointment.

My insurance covers me for a private room too (should one be available of course - fingers crossed!) which was really the thing that mattered the most to me.

I'm doing shared care with the hospital and my GP which is working out very well for me. My pregnancy is fine though- apart from a rough initial 14 weeks (nausea, exhaustion and weight loss as a result) I'm flying along now and in great health. Maybe if I was unwell or had an underlying health condition I might have preferred fully private.

lashofeye

I went public on my first and will be doing the same this time. My sil went semi ( we gave birth 6 weeks apart) and I was admitted for a weeks the same time she was in labour !!!!
My experience was brilliant. I did the domino scheme where you have your appointment with the midwife ( they deliver your baby unless there are serious complications) .i went to Naas for my apps.
I don't see why you pay €1000 plus for the same care unless you really want a private room.

fall

I did semi private first time in Holles street. I am doing domino in the coombe this time because I fall into their catchment area. Semi p, I saw the same consultant at all my appointments but you don't see them at the birth unless major complications. This made me feel exactly like what lash of eye said, I had paid a grand for nothing hugely different. I was in semi p ward with 6 beds but with domino scheme you can go home early so I don't plan on being in the coombe long enough to care about the ward all going well.

January

fall wrote: »

I did semi private first time in Holles street. I am doing domino in the coombe this time because I fall into their catchment area. Semi p, I saw the same consultant at all my appointments but you don't see them at the birth unless major complications. This made me feel exactly like what lash of eye said, I had paid a grand for nothing hugely different. I was in semi p ward with 6 beds but with domino scheme you can go home early so I don't plan on being in the coombe long enough to care about the ward all going well.

The wards in the Coombe are small anyway, I think the biggest has 8 beds...

Penny Dreadful

lashofeye wrote: »

I went public on my first and will be doing the same this time. My sil went semi ( we gave birth 6 weeks apart) and I was admitted for a weeks the same time she was in labour !!!!
My experience was brilliant. I did the domino scheme where you have your appointment with the midwife ( they deliver your baby unless there are serious complications) .i went to Naas for my apps.
I don't see why you pay €1000 plus for the same care unless you really want a private room.

The option (or chance) of a private room mattered to me. I know I may well not get it but for the price of €750 (before Med1) I was willing to take that chance. If I'd paid thousands (and it is thousands, a min payment of €5k with a max of €7k I think) and still missed out on the private room I'd be disgusted.
Also I can go home as soon as I want if I'm allowed by the doctor. If I get a room of my own I don't think I will be staying any less than the 3 days though. This is my first baby and if I'm in the hospital at least visitors as going to be relatively restricted where as if I'm at home there will be loads or else I'll have to tell them to back off which comes with its own problems.
Also I'd forked out thousands in health insurance over the years and felt that they should have to pay for something for me somewhere along the way. Thankfully I'm a horribly healthy person who has had little cause to ever call on my insurance but this way they're getting billed for something.
If I was public I don't think I'd have the same amount of scans that I am getting as a semi private patient. One of them would be free (the first I think) but after that if I wanted any more I'd have to pay for them myself so I'd only be saving €80 or so.

ameee

Not sure why you would want to be in hospital for as long as you can, three days will seem a long time stuck in hospital. Surely it would be much more comfortable in your own home with your own bed and food not to mention the more time in hospital the more exposure to infect and germs for you and baby. I think it would be a lot easier for you to lay out ground rules for your family regarding visiting for the first few days. Most people who have had children will understand the need to give you space to bond and find some routine in the beginning

lashofeye

I think I has 5 in one ward and 6 in the other ward nothing major there. My sil has semi private room with 5 people.

fall

I think the chances of getting a private room when semi private are minuscule. If the doctor sends you for the scan then you don't pay for it. So if you warrant having a lot of scans you get them regardless as far as I know.
I know what you mean about spending thousands on health insurance. I have kept my health insurance even when there were times I could barely afford it. However I just feel the domino scheme is for me.

lashofeye

Sorry op my message may have come across as being rude. My apologies. I wsnt directing anything at you. I was trying to point out that the care is the same wether public or semi private. In my opinion anyways. Each to their own

fall

Also just noticed about the amount of scans, I am getting a 12 and a twenty week too. That is fairly standard regardless of public or semi.

Chattastrophe!

I'd say I must have gotten maybe 10-15 mini-scans, as well as 5-6 "big" scans while I was pregnant. This was a fairly normal pregnancy, and through the public system (Holles St.) I have good health insurance but chose not to use it. Definitely wouldn't be paying crazy fees just for the sake of scans ... having said that, I know it depends on what hospital you're attending, some are better than others for scans etc.

Penny Dreadful

ameee wrote: »

Not sure why you would want to be in hospital for as long as you can, three days will seem a long time stuck in hospital. Surely it would be much more comfortable in your own home with your own bed and food not to mention the more time in hospital the more exposure to infect and germs for you and baby. I think it would be a lot easier for you to lay out ground rules for your family regarding visiting for the first few days. Most people who have had children will understand the need to give you space to bond and find some routine in the beginning

I would be more comfortable in some ways yes, but its my first baby and while I'm used to being around small children, I've never had to attempt breast feeding and would appreciate any help I may get while in hospital on that front.
Staying put for the few days (in a room of my own) was actually suggested by my mother (who had 6 of us) as she said it will control visitors and you can't be tempted to do housework or other mad things. She is a wise woman my mother who knows me very well.
My husband's family live far enough away and have odd ideas about not being "real" visitors and could well just arrive. If they did you couldn't say "No Entry" and turn them away could you.

fall wrote: »

I think the chances of getting a private room when semi private are minuscule. If the doctor sends you for the scan then you don't pay for it. So if you warrant having a lot of scans you get them regardless as far as I know.
I know what you mean about spending thousands on health insurance. I have kept my health insurance even when there were times I could barely afford it. However I just feel the domino scheme is for me.

The funny thing about this is when I was sending off my room request form the lady I spoke to said that this October is quiet enough (compared to other months) and that there was a good enough chance that I'd get a room. She also said that many people have dropped their private health insurance and so the public wards are filling up quicker than the private ones.

Time will tell and to be honest my room, private or not, won't really matter at the end of the day. A good outcome for myself and the baby is all that matters.

calendarqueen

I thought that if you were public in the Coombe there was no way they would give you a private room, even if your insurance covered it?

Hopefully I'm wrong about that though??

I'm going public, on the DOmino Scheme and I'd LOVE a private room if I had the chance. My insurance will cover it.

I did toy with the idea of the going Semi-private as I just couldn't justify the expense of full private, when it seems you can end up getting very little for your money. The fact that public care is so good is a great thing, and the Domino Scheme seems fantastic.

Penny Dreadful

calendarqueen wrote: »

I thought that if you were public in the Coombe there was no way they would give you a private room, even if your insurance covered it?

Hopefully I'm wrong about that though??

I'm going public, on the DOmino Scheme and I'd LOVE a private room if I had the chance. My insurance will cover it.

I did toy with the idea of the going Semi-private as I just couldn't justify the expense of full private, when it seems you can end up getting very little for your money. The fact that public care is so good is a great thing, and the Domino Scheme seems fantastic.

Domino is great - if I have a second baby then I may well opt for it then. As this is my first I just felt more comfortable about things opting for the shared care instead.
Public care is great and I think the fact that you're getting the same people taking care of you whether you're public or private is brilliant.
For me the choice came down to the accomodation and I was willing to take the gamble on €750 to have the option if it presents itself.
If a public ward is totally jammers and there are semi private rooms available what can happen (and I work in a hospital where this happens)is that public patients may be moved into one of the semi private beds and a semi private patient whose insurance doesn't cover them for a private room in a public hospital, will be moved into the private room. It is done for infection control purposes, safety of numbers, etc.
My insurance covers me for a private room in any public hospital regardless of whether I opt to be classed as a semi private or private patient.

As I said earlier, I know its a gamble, I may not get such a room but once myself and the baby are ok then it won't matter.

Madisson

I would definitely go for either piblic or domino. Any midwife or.nurse will tell you that there is a higher chance of your baby being delivered by c section or forceps if you go private. You can opt for private or semi . private and not go with consultant led.

Millem

I did domino on my one and only child so I can't compare it to semi or private. I met pretty much all the domino midwives before and one of them delivered the baby. When they switched shifts the other midwife came up to see me on her break! Honestly I have never met a group of people who love their job more! If I was semi or private would I get a midwife (who I don't know) delivering my baby and if complications arose a consultant comes, who may or may not be my consultant as the one I have paid May be busy? I don't get why I would pay then? Is it really just for a chance of a private room? I would love to know how many private rooms there are in each hospital. I found holles street public everyone seems to get scanned at every visit regardless for how busy they are.

witchity2

I went semi private in the coombe with my first. I was pretty happy with it.

Big scan at 13 weeks, and then at every appointment I seen the same consultant (until I got to 40 weeks which was kinda annoying), who also did a mini scan at each one too.

The ward was fine. there were 6 people in my ward. It was kinda noisy, but then even the private rooms in the coombe are very noisy too. I scarpered on day two to get home and have some sleep and decent food!!

I think i'd only shell out for the consultant if i was a high risk patient.

calendarqueen

I've also heard that if you go private - one of the key advantages is that you will be stiched (if required) by a consultant rather than possibly by an intern who has never stiched someone before!

If you do the Domino Scheme - I presume the midwife stiches you??? (And that they have a fairly good idea of what they are at?)

olaola

calendarqueen wrote: »

If you do the Domino Scheme - I presume the midwife stiches you??? (And that they have a fairly good idea of what they are at?)

I was stitched by an obstetrician, not the domino midwife.

fall

Any intervention is passed to the doctors. If during your pregnancy you develop any thing you are passed on to the consultants even if you are on the domino scheme. Mid wives are allowed to do complication free deliveries.

Millem

calendarqueen wrote: »

I've also heard that if you go private - one of the key advantages is that you will be stiched (if required) by a consultant rather than possibly by an intern who has never stiched someone before!

If you do the Domino Scheme - I presume the midwife stiches you??? (And that they have a fairly good idea of what they are at?)

I was stitched by the domino midwife and had no trouble with them so can only presume she did a good job I don't think I had a bad tear though, I had two stitches!

Chattastrophe!

As far as I can remember, it was one of the student midwives who pulled out the placenta and then stitched me up.

At my six-week check, the GP actually had to ask me was I sure I had an episiotomy? She couldn't see even the slightest trace of a scar!

fall

The variety from person to person is huge. Doctor called in for me and stitched me up.

greenman09

We are going public in the coombe. Combined care with hospital and GP. Due Oct 12th. Haven't had any issues no delays with appts as we had early morning ones. 20 week scan next week. Haven't seen gp since week 7 but I think we make that next week after scan. Herself is doing some kind of research thing with one of the radiographers going exercises class's and stuff and can do it when baby born. Offered her 2 extra scans for doing it. 3d and another extra scan.
As for the room afterwards. Not bothered as be out in 1 or 2 days anyway. Not dissing those that pay but we seem to be getting what we need at no extra cost.

Millem

greenman09 wrote: »

We are going public in the coombe. Combined care with hospital and GP. Due Oct 12th. Haven't had any issues no delays with appts as we had early morning ones. 20 week scan next week. Haven't seen gp since week 7 but I think we make that next week after scan. Herself is doing some kind of research thing with one of the radiographers going exercises class's and stuff and can do it when baby born. Offered her 2 extra scans for doing it. 3d and another extra scan.
As for the room afterwards. Not bothered as be out in 1 or 2 days anyway. Not dissing those that pay but we seem to be getting what we need at no extra cost.

Those research things are great as you get extra big scans! I did one and our scan lasted 30 mins!

lashofeye

I had to have an epiosomoty and the the consultant had to stitch me up !

Penny Dreadful

calendarqueen wrote: »

I've also heard that if you go private - one of the key advantages is that you will be stiched (if required) by a consultant rather than possibly by an intern who has never stiched someone before!

If you do the Domino Scheme - I presume the midwife stiches you??? (And that they have a fairly good idea of what they are at?)

I told the Reg when I saw him that if I need stiches I will only allow either him or the consultant to do it. He noted it in my file and said that wouldn't be a problem.