Private or Public Ob Brisbane?

[happysammy]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can tell me what their experiences are with private or public, i am pregnant with my first child and am currently booked in with an ob at the North West Private hospital. Can anyone tell me what the pro's and con's are about public or private??
I would really love to hear from someone as i really have no idea.......as this is all knew to me.

[busylizzy]

I went public with my first baby in Dec 2004 and had the most traumatic experience:( . I guess it all depends on the ob & m/w you get but in the public system it's all the luck of the draw. This time (I'm five weeks pregnant) I'm going private - I don't care how much it costs, it's worth it!!!

I am also looking at having my baby at north west private hospital this time, I've heard it's meant to be good. What OB are you going with? Let me know if they're any good.

[PMS]

Hi. I went private with both my bubs. I just really wanted to be cared for by the same Ob with every visit so that I didn't get one doc telling me something and another doc telling me something completely different.
I much preferred the one on one care. And I much preferred staying in a private hospital. Fortunately my health cover covered everything but my scans and Ob visits but they were covered by medicare. I cant compare this to public care as I haven't experienced it. If you have any particular questions you want answered feel free to email or PM me. I will be happy to try and answer them.

Cheers, PMS

[SAVINA]

i would love to have another baby this would be my 4th im wondering how expensive is it to go private! im curious as im not really happy with going to the logan hospital again!

[littlepickle]

I could be wrong here but I think it may be cheaper to just have the hospital cover for private insurance rather than the full hospital and extras. I guess you would have to check ith the different private funds. I have medibank smart plus and it costs just under $170 per onh for me and DH and bub is automatically covered when he or she is born. I have to pay the gap fee for the ob but roughly half is reimbursed by medicare. Other than that everything in the hospital is apparently covered including ob

[Supermum]

I went private at NorthWest for my first and then the Royal for number two.

There's actually a happy medium between Private and Public.

I went through the Royal using the Private Specialist Suites as a private patient. Everything was bulk billed, I had my own Ob (Carol Portmann) - every consultation also bulk-billed and my own room. The only thing it cost us was the excess of $200. As the Obstetricians at the centre are employed by the Hospital, there's no medical indemnity fee to worry about.

Personally I preferred the public experience but that could also be because I was giving birth to number two, more relaxed and had already been indoctrinated into the joys of labour and all it entails!

[KathrynB]

Hi, I just had my first baby in Dec 05 at North West and found it really good. Most of the midwives were lovely and supportive.

My Ob/Gyn is Dr Tuicolo who I have been seeing for the past 2 1/2 years. I found Dr Tuicolo to be excellent. He is calm, friendly, listens to what you want and weighs it up as to what is best for you and bub. He also includes your partner, joking with them etc, asking them how they feel about things. Dr Tuicolo is very popular with the midwives because of his professional approach - which is not common with some of the Obs from what I have heard.

I think no matter what hospital you choose, you can't wait to get home. I found I didn't get any rest in hospital because someone is always coming in whether it be nurses, tea ladies, photograpers, physio, Dr's etc.

North West do Maternity Ward tours twice a month which you may find beneficial to know what goes on. I would also highly recommend the Ante Natal classes there - I found them to be interesting and informative.

Best of luck to you