Hobart Private Hospital - Reviews?

[amme]

Hi Tassie Mummas!:wave:

I'm just thinking into the future her a bit so please bear with me.....

I was wondering if any of you have been in Hobart Private Hospital as opposed to goint to Calvary and what your oppinion of it was?

I have heard good and bad things about both and would prefer not to go to Calvary (personal reasons) but will if Hobart Private isnt much chop.

Thanks Lovleys!:kiss:

[Kaileysmum]

Personally I never been there, but my step mum had my little sis there 2 years ago and she was very happy with them. Hope that helped a little.

[Hokey Pokey]

A friend of mine had her bub at Calvery a few weeks ago and she said it was good I think??

I'm going to the public KYM scheme, they have been brilliant to me!:thumbsup:

[CodSop]

I had my ds at Hobart Private and it was awesome i really loved it i never even encountered 1 bad midwife which i thought was unusual. I am booked in to have my second baby there in july! I really loved it but like you i have heard good and bad about both.:smiliedance:

[FizzMama]

Ooh, not Calvary! Spare yourself!!!!

[SammieSnail]

A friend of mine had her bub at Calvery a few weeks ago and she said it was good I think??

I'm going to the public KYM scheme, they have been brilliant to me!

Yep Kristy, Calvary was great :thumbsup:
The rooms were great - clean, comfy and welcoming, DH could stay (on a fold-up bed) we were both fed yummy food, the staff - from the midwives to the cleaners were warm, friendly and professional, Kevin's clothes, linen and nappies were provided....would definitely go again...

I can't say whether the birthing experience was good at Calvary because I actually gave birth at the Royal Hobart Hospital due to bubs speedy arrival :o :laughing:

We were going to go with the Hobart Private Hospital but my OB won't go there due to the distance from her 'rooms' and something about insurance.....can't remember exactly.

Good luck which-ever you choose, I hope you get the experience you are after :hugs:

[amme]

Thanks everyone:)
Its so hard to choose!
What do you mean FizzMama?

[Hokey Pokey]

My SIL and another friend had their bubs there and they liked it!
My best friends mum also works there and says it is good!
Have you gone and checked them all out? We went and had a look at the Hobart Private... they were very welcoming! :)

[FizzMama]

I didn't find Calvary lived up to my expectations. My major issue is some very strong concerns about the way my daughter's birth was handled, which I won't go into here.

While I wasn't expecting a five star experience, I did hope for a certain level of hygiene and help which was not provided. These are some minor points about the hospital which might not have worried me so much had the medical care been adequate:
- delivery suites are kept so cold DP had to wear a winter coat inside, for the entire duration
- towels are the size of postage stamps - not good in delivery suite
- bath only by special request if you race into the hospital at the first sign of a contraction, otherwise only showers available
- midwives are not permanent, not committed, bored, cynical, overworked, on working holidays from interstate or called in at busy periods. Any request is considered an inconvenience. When they do offer to help, they usually don't follow through. For example, a midwife offered to bring a birthing ball into the delivery suite, but never did.
- toilet in delivery suite is set up high so your feet dangle. No footstool provided. I'm 5'9", so imagine this would be worse for other people.
- postnatal rooms are extremely small and dark. One single bed provided for the mother. Sleeping arrangements for the father are a fold out armchair.
- While linen and baby clothing is supposedly provided, the supplies run out and no more are available. There is nobody to ask for help in replacing these. It's usually quicker to phone home and get supplies delivered than get a Calvary staff member to find a clean jumpsuit for your baby.
- Bedsheets are not changed every day, a particular concern when you are gushing blood
- You are advised to take 3-4 showers a day, but you are only given one small towel. See note above about gushing blood.
- The day after a 38-hour rotation forceps delivery, I requested some ice packs for pain relief. I was sent to fetch these myself from down the end of the hall, despite bruising, heavy bleeding and 30+ stitches.
- Calvary do not offer postnatal debriefing
- No postnatal physiotherapy provided
- lactation consultant does not return phone calls once you are home from hospital
- Booking in can only be done on a special day of the week, by appointment, one month in advance. You have to fill in a form with your name, address, medical & payment details just to make the appointment. At the appointment, they fill in an almost identical form with your name, address, medical & payment details, but it takes an extremely boring half an hour with a patronising staff member to do this. In spite of the duplication of forms, they are still completely unable to get your name, address, medical & payment details right, and persist in sending personal medical correspondence to the wrong address even after you have advised them of their error several times in writing.

I wrote a letter raising the more serious medical issues concerning my labour and the resultant ongoing health problems. The hospital sent a response to acknowledge its receipt, saying that it would be investigated further and they would get back to me. They didn't. Three months later when I accessed my medical records, they suddenly volunteered to meet with me to discuss these, presumably fearing a lawsuit due to negligence.

Ultimately, given the high fees paid by my health insurance fund on my behalf, I did not receive the level of care I expected. I would strongly advise anyone planning to birth at Calvary to consider other options instead.

[Hokey Pokey]

Wow that really shocks me! Have never heard anything like that :eek: Sorry you had such a bad experience.

[amme]

Thanks for your story FizzMama. You only ever hear the good storys when you ask about Calvary. I am so sorry you had such an awfull experience. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about it :hugs:

How did everyone deal with parking at the Hobart Private?

[Hokey Pokey]

I suppose you just use the argyle carpark :confused:

[amme]

I guess that it would have to be one of the public carparks like that one or the marketplace one.

Humm.... i wish that i could claim parking as an expense through medibank private:detective:

Oh well, i guess worse things could happen than having to pay a fortune for parking.

[Hokey Pokey]

Not sure tho if you go private maybe they do something diff?

[CodSop]

:no: not argyle use the market place one we did and hubby was parked there all night and it only cost $6 for 2 days and the night which i didnt think was to bad!!! we were in hospital for 6 days and parking only cost about $15 to $20!!!

[SammieSnail]

WOW FizzMama :eek:
I'm sorry your experience was so shocking. :hugs:
May I ask when this occured? As many of the problems you described were not going on while we were there. This concerns me.....as what you said makes the hospital sound disgraceful. Our experiences are complete polar extremes.

I have been an in-patient at the Calvary on another occasion which was also extremely positive.

I hope you don't mind if I add my comments to what you have said.



While I wasn't expecting a five star experience, I did hope for a certain level of hygiene and help which was not provided.

In what was was the level of hygiene not to your expectations?



- towels are the size of postage stamps - not good in delivery suite

The towels are actually standard size, the same as the RHH towels.


- midwives are not permanent, not committed, bored, cynical, overworked, on working holidays from interstate or called in at busy periods. Any request is considered an inconvenience. When they do offer to help, they usually don't follow through. For example, a midwife offered to bring a birthing ball into the delivery suite, but never did.

The midwives were nothing but warm and friendly towards us. No request was too big or small.



- postnatal rooms are extremely small and dark. One single bed provided for the mother. Sleeping arrangements for the father are a fold out armchair.


The postnatal rooms have 3 seperate lights (4 including the bathroom). The rooms are neither small nor large, quite adeqate and roughly the same size as the RHH.



- While linen and baby clothing is supposedly provided, the supplies run out and no more are available. There is nobody to ask for help in replacing these. It's usually quicker to phone home and get supplies delivered than get a Calvary staff member to find a clean jumpsuit for your baby.

Each room is provided with buzzers (general use and emergency) it is quite clearly explained regularly by each of the midwives that you must simply press the buzzer for assistance.



- Bedsheets are not changed every day, a particular concern when you are gushing blood

Bedsheets ARE changed everyday by the cleaners which clean your room EVERYDAY. At any time a midwife would be more than happy to bring you fresh bedsheets, AND change your bed for you.



- You are advised to take 3-4 showers a day, but you are only given one small towel. See note above about gushing blood.


Each room is provided with 2 regular towels and 2 floor towels which are replaced daily by the cleaners. If more towels are required the midwives are more than happy to provide them.



- Calvary do not offer postnatal debriefing

They offered me postnatal debriefing even though I did not give birth there (RHH did not offer support of ANY kind).

[Hokey Pokey]

Sam, RHH probably offer cos they knew you were being transferred to another hospital???

[FizzMama]

Hi SammieSnail,

I'm glad you had a more positive experience there than I did! I was there in April 2006.

>In what was was the level of hygiene not to your expectations?

Failure to change sheets, no provision of chux mats for protecting sheets, lack of anywhere to put dirty laundry, failure to replace bath towels.

>The towels are actually standard size, the same as the RHH towels.

I couldn't get them to meet around my middle - and I am far from fat, even when I was 10 months pregnant.

>The midwives were nothing but warm and friendly towards us. No request was too big or small.

Perhaps they have changed staff since I was there! Or perhaps they prioritise cases which they feel are more important.


>The postnatal rooms have 3 seperate lights (4 including the bathroom). The rooms are neither small nor large, quite adeqate and roughly the same size as the RHH.

I just visited a friend at the RHH yesterday, and her room was about 3 times the size of the ones at Calvary. Though less beautifully decorated, there was an abundance of natural light streaming in. At Calvary, while electric light was available, there was very little natural light, and patients were not permitted to go outside on the balcony.


>Each room is provided with buzzers (general use and emergency) it is quite clearly explained regularly by each of the midwives that you must simply press the buzzer for assistance.

Yes, I was aware of the buzzer, but found that it usually took 20-30 minutes to get a response. When I requested towels, sheets, or ice packs, I was informed that these were available in the Family Room down the hall and I should go and help myself in future. Unfortunately, the Family Room was not regularly restocked, so these things were not available.
I gave up buzzing, since I was made to feel so needy and pathetic for asking for help. Eventually I worked breastfeeding out on my own.


>Bedsheets ARE changed everyday by the cleaners which clean your room EVERYDAY. At any time a midwife would be more than happy to bring you fresh bedsheets, AND change your bed for you.

The cleaner did come and do my floors every day, and replace one towel and one bathmat. The midwives did not automatically come and change my sheets each day, and did not appear to want to be disturbed for any reason.

>Each room is provided with 2 regular towels and 2 floor towels which are replaced daily by the cleaners. If more towels are required the midwives are more than happy to provide them.

Sounds like you got a cheerier bunch than I did! They did mention more than once that they were extremely busy the week I was unfortunate enough to be there. Perhaps they were too busy to smile.

>They offered me postnatal debriefing even though I did not give birth there (RHH did not offer support of ANY kind).[/quote]

I am glad that in your case, Calvary did offer support, but in mine they certainly didn't.

Furthermore, my physio tells me she has offered repeatedly to provide postnatal support to Calvary patients, but she has been knocked back, though she is the only physio in Tasmania specialising in pelvic floor health.

There were one or two kindly midwives at Calvary, but the overwhelming impression was that most of them didn't want to be there and had more important cases to deal with than me.

Cheers,
FizzMama

[Hokey Pokey]

That is awful hey!

I am really impressed with the RHH, had DD 1 at the Queen Alex in 1999 and they were wonderful there.

[SammieSnail]

Fizzmama thanks for sharing, I am so sorry your experience was so terrible. :hugs:
It is disgusting that care can vary so much from patient to patient within a hospital.


Sam, RHH probably offer cos they knew you were being transferred to another hospital???

Yeah Kristy, probably...I'm just a little sh***ed with how the midwives after the birth behaved after they found out we were actually private patients...

Ahhh well.

Not long till we meet your bubba :smiliedance:

[kristy_lily]

My sister and sister-in-law had all their kids at Calvery and said that they would definatly go back. My other sister and a few of my friends had their baby's at Hobart Private and said that they were great there.
I had both of mine at the Royal and found that they didn't really care and were quite happy to send me home less than 24 hours after having my daughter although I did have a midwife ringing me over the next week as my daughter was born so close to the new year and I couldn't see my local doctor or health nurse. With my son I continually asked for some assistance so I could give him a bath, after 3 days of asking and being ignored I went ahead and done it myself but still would have liked the help. Even when they had to do tests nothing was explained to me, they just took him and did what they had to then brought him back! What about the first time mothers who haven't had any experience with children? Who do they get help from?
My nephew and his girlfriend just had a baby at the Royal and being her first child was expecting to be in there for at least 3-4 days but was sent home the next day (they live 1 1/2 hours drive away from Hobart).
If and when DP and I decide to have any more I've decided that no matter how much it costs I'm going private!

[Hokey Pokey]

Fizzmama thanks for sharing, I am so sorry your experience was so terrible. :hugs:
It is disgusting that care can vary so much from patient to patient within a hospital.



Yeah Kristy, probably...I'm just a little sh***ed with how the midwives after the birth behaved after they found out we were actually private patients...

Ahhh well.

Not long till we meet your bubba :smiliedance:

I knowwwwwwwww 98 dayssssss now and lil Kev will have a GF!! Valentine