no private cover-private patient at Nambour General

[jojoboxa]

hi all
I am 10 weeks pregnant (due on April 3 2007) and have been seeing a great GP in Caloundra for shared care for my pregnancy.I have however been considering private care or the most cost effective way to receive continuous care from this point on.
I have been reading through threads on birth costs, private vs public etc but have not come across many people who have opted for the intermediate option (i.e. private patient in public hospital) who DON"T have private Health Cover.
I have NO private health cover and am considering going as a private patient to Nambour General with James Orford as my private OB as he is an attending there.

I have been quoted costs for shared and private accomodation, obs fees, once off management fee,birth/delivery costs both normal, c-section and complicated as well as anaesthetist and paediatrician fees for c-section. I know I also need to factor in costs for more nuchal scan, blood tests before birth and ultrasound.

I have 1 million questions after reading the threads:

1.Are there any other costs that I should be aware of that may come up while I am in hospital that will add to my out of pocket expenses? Do i have to pay extra for epidural/pain relief? What else?What do accomodation costs cover as private patient in a public hospital.
2. Will I have access to a shower or large bath for pain relief and relaxation at nambour General?
3. Any feedback on James Orford at Nambour would be appreciated

I would love to hear from anyone who has been a private patient at Nambour general or knows anything about it and how they found it as opposed to public care.

I am particularly interested in hearing from private patients with no health cover and final costs they incurred.

I have heard 99.9% great things about public care at Nambour but very little about private care there and how it differs.

Hoping someone, anyone can help...

thanks

jojo

[biscotti]

Hi jojo and congrats on your pregnancy.

I can't really help as I have private cover, except to say, consider Selangor?? I just had my baby there and the level of care was excellent. It is really very similiar to a birth centre in that they encourage active labours, water birth etc. A friend just had a bub at Nambour and she was not overly thrilled by her stay at all and they made her get out of the bath to have her baby. She found being on the ward very noisy and uncomfortable - when she came to visit me, I practically had to push her out the door to leave :laughing:
James has an excellent reputation (he covered for my Ob while he was on holidays and is very nice).
Anyway, best of luck. I hope someone will come along to help you more than I can.
noosamum :)

[MrsMiggins]

Hi jojo!!

I will also be attending NGH, but as a public patient.

I had my first DD there last October (also as a public patient) & I have to say overall I found them to be wonderful. I was under Dr Gregora and I was very happy with his team's level of care. I'm sorry to say I'm not familiar with James Orford, although I have heard of him.

NGH does have a bath you can labour in, but as it is one of the very few public hospitals in QLD allowed to have one, they are very strict on the eligibilty requirements to use it. When you have your midwife history appointment you'll get your share-care book that has all that info in it. I had my appointment yesterday!

I'm pretty sure they have showers, but as I had an elective c/s last time, I can't be 100% sure. I would suggest however doing the Birth Suite tour. You can do this whenever suits you - the tour times are Wed 10.30am, 7.30pm & Sun 1pm. You don't need to book, just show up, but they do recommend you call before visiting as sometimes if they are really busy, the tours are cancelled (Birth Suite ph no is 5470 6810).

Being a private patient does not guarantee you a private room at NGH. They are allocated on a needs basis only (I think from memory there are only 2 private rooms??).

I am not sure of the other out of pocket expenses. The only one I know about is that you have to pay a hire fee to use the TV above your bed! ;)

At your history appointment with the midwives, you will need to fill in a form to state whether you are being admitted as a public or a private patient & there is a lot of info on that (obviously no specific costs, but it does let you know the types of charges you can be up for).

Just as a side note also, you can get your scans done at Xray & Imaging Caloundra (just down from Maccas) and they will bulk bill. I just booked my scan today for the 11th October & had no problem at all booking in.

(PS: Can I ask which GP you are seeing? I am seeing Dr Adu at CBBS)

Good luck with it all!!

[oleander]

Hi JoJo. I had health cover which unfortunately lapsed :mad: (fault of the idiot ex husband!!!) anyway I found out a couple of weeks ago but decided I wanted to have my private doctor deliver my baby. I have been quoted $800 general checkup fees throughout pregnancy which I paid as I went, $1,300 for my Ob. to deliver the baby either vaginal or c/section (if there are complications it costs more), plus I have to pay $265 per day to stay as a private patient in a public hospital. If I wanted to stay in the private hospital without cover it was $800 per day:eek: (would rather go on a luxury holiday than pay that). So Im looking at $3,500 all up based on a 5 day hospital stay and an uncomplicated birth :fingerscrossed: I am due to have a c/section on 10th October (21 days to go - :smiliedance: ) I will be able to update you more once I get the bills I guess!

I wasnt told anything about the epidural fees. I assumed that is covered by medicare? I could be wrong though.

[skyejax]

i had both my babies here in wa. i went to a public hosp. with dd it was 2dys before xmas so they had shut the public ward and put us all in the private ward (there was only 6 of us), ,they had to reopen public ward and get in more staff on boxing day though as 10 women gave birththat day and that night birth suite was chockers.
anyway i had a private dr cause the public one was busy and my labour wasnt progressing and she had just finished delivering and offered to take me on...i ended up with em c/s, i also had private room (i wasnt charged a thing though as i was meant to b public so medicare covered the lot). 2nd time round was all public and the only difference btwn the two i found was that i had to share my room second time round.
just thought i'd share my story, even though i am not from your area.
good luck with the remainder of your preg and for the birth.
mary

[SammiJane]

Hi
Its great to see some people from the sunny coast and that are going to NGH. I havent had a baby there is a few years now (10years). Back then i didnt have a problem with them at all, I do remember showers but also have been told it has changed alot since then.
Mrsmiggins at what stage do you have to book into the hospital for your first checkup/history appointment. I cant remember LOL. Baby No 3 is due in late April

[MrsMiggins]

Hi drew&nicksmum!

When I had my first antenatal appointment with my GP, she wrote a letter to the hospital and they sent me a letter a few weeks later confirming my appointment. I'm not sure if this is how it works everywhere, but this is how it went last time as well.

In my new share-care book, it says the midwife booking-in/history visit is done between 12-16 weeks. I was 16.5 weeks, so I don't think it's set in stone!

Good luck with bub #3!!

[bel_aiden]

they say you have your checkup befor 16 weeks.. they didnt fit me in til i was bout 19.5 weeks.. musta been a busy time of year:rolleyes:

[SammiJane]

Thanks for the reply MrsMiggins.
I spoke to my doc yesterday and he has given me all the stuff that the hospital needs and has told me to book in soon as they are always busy.
Not really sure when i should ring, I'm only just over 9 weeks.

Good luck with #2

[cjw]

hi Jojo,

I am due on the 19th of February 2007 I am approx 20 weeks and I am seeing Dr James Orford. I have found him to be really professional and willing to answer any questions no matter how stupid they may be!

I cannot help you with NGH as i am booked in to go to Selangor.

[babypisces]

Hi,

I am from Caloundra and also seeing James Orford and due on the 16th of March 07. So far I have found James to be original in that he told me there are three trimesters, weary, cheery and teary:D and he is very straight talking but professional and caring. I was with an OBS down in Brisbane who was the presidnet of the AMA and he recommended him to me so he must be good.
I am having my baby at Selangor, however I have had a few friends here who have had babies at NGH and the new Caboolture. I have to say I thought Caboolture was lovely, two to a room and very clean and they let my best friend stay in there as long as she wanted ;) . Nambour general was refurbished and my freinds was looked after.

I am from the UK and have found a big divide here between public and private. I have a similar story in that I wanted to attend antenatal classes publicly, so I don't need to pay and more so in Caloundra, so I don't need to travel as I do already 3 hours a day. When I phoned to find out if I could book in they stated I couldn't as I wasn't birthing at Nambour General and they have to look after there patients first, but I am still a public person. However in Brisbane where my freind is, the free antenatel classes are open to anyone going public or private. I gave up and booked into Settle Petal instead.

C

[mummasbubbas]

Hi I am wondering what costs you have come up with so far as we are considering doing exactly what you are doing however with a different OB.

I had my 2 DD in Selangor Private and felt extremely spoilt and extremely happy with the level of care, however that was when we HAD private health. Now we don't have private health and we are considering ttc #3 sometime in the middle of this year. So I guess the I am wondering what the costs that you will have incurred by the time you have your baby (the most, so that I am prepared) or if you have found anything out since you posted? As I have a time factor on my hands I can get back into private health and just take the hospital cover and it will cost about $2000.00 and I get the same doctor who deliver my other two girls and the same hospital. BUT if we deliver prematurely we won't be able to use the private health cover as we won't have been in the fund for our 12mths waiting. So I considered the 'intermediate cover' but am in process of trying to work it all out. Another thread that I read was that it will cost another lady $3500 all up. So that would probably be more expensive if I have time on my hands.

By the way James Orford was my girlfriends OB and she loved him. James Moir delivered both of my girls and James Orford was one of the rotating drs for James Moir if he was away.

Any info would be much appreciated.