Going public hospital after 1st great exp with private - pros & cons in public?

[bunnymum]

I'm not pregnant yet (lol) but DH and I just had a total makeover of our family budget and we find out that we do not want to continue our private health care insurance at all (it's part of the budget that we cut off), that means if we ever ttc bub #2 we cannot afford to go to a private obgyn and private hospital.

If you've had a good experience with private hospital before then decide to go public for the next one - how did you find it to your liking? I had a good exp with the birth of my first one and i didn't feel traumatised at all, i had a great team of midviwes and a great obgyn who looked after me.

To be honest, sometimes I think the in-house service in the private hospital such as the room, foods, etc is the only thing that sets it apart from public hospitals... i guess in terms of healthcare quality, they're still comparable right? I believe most of hospitals in Australia have excellent healthcare quality and standard.
I try not to worry to much about 'room-service' stuff in private hospitals... but is there anyone here who dislikes public hospital after going to private before?

[sajimum]

Subscribing as we may be in this situation too!

[cuddlz]

Subscribing as we may be in this situation too!

Ditto, I'm pregnant and going public so would love to hear all the pros

[Skullduggery]

Well I can help point out one obvious pro - public is FREEEEE!!! Saves you thousands! :-)

[CazHazKidz]

I went private for both of my babies, and next time will be going public by choice, even though we will still have PHC. It just costs so goddam much, and really I haven't received any extra care that I'd write home about that I wouldn't have received at a public hospital

[Missemzy]

I went public with both my girls. I got private room with both of them. Got all the same treatment. Only bad experience was with DD1 I had to wait 3hrs to see the dr at the hospital for the one appointment with him over the whole pregnancy. And with DD2 was a short quick 2min wait to see the dr at the hospital.

I did shared care so that means I just went to the gp instead of having to go into the hospital for all appointments. Made it easier on me especially with my second pregnancy.

You also obviously dont have your own doctor of choice there you have the dr on duty at the time. But that for me was never a issue. Because I had all my records recorded in my pregnancy book.

Umm it's all free. So yay bonus..private room for free, dr appointments for free.

[Degrassi]

I think the biggest con with public is that the chances of having a shared room are very high. Not so bad if you are in for just a couple of days, but things can happen resulting in a longer stay. Shared rooms are the pits in my opinion. Also your exposure to undesirable people is also much higher in a public facility.

As for the level of care, I ended up in the public hospital as a private patient (due to pregnancy complications resulting in the birth of a premmie), and I received impecable care in the public hospital. I was there for 3 1/2 weeks all up, thankfully in a private room for all but the first 3 nights (I was given priority being a private patient).

If I decide to have another baby, I'd probably still try and go private but only because I want my pregnancy managed by an Ob due to my complications last time.

[Missemzy]

Moosie The public hospital have a complete different wing to the general public. The two different hospitals I stayed at had high security measures in place to keep the dodgies away from new mothers and babies.

Even when I left my room and went for a walk I never came across a " undesirable" person. All the mothers were in their rooms, looking after their newborns or resting.

I got a high level of care in the public system. Had midwives always coming in checking up on me, seeing if I needed anything. Or if I rang the buzzer there were there straight away.

Most hospitals now have private rooms for women and their babies. Its only ever if its a busy time women get stuck in an over flow ward (PRIVATE OR NOT!!) Even then as women leave you get moved into your own room.

[1CrazyMoose]

subscribing. We are moving to a remote area away from a private hospital. I birth very well and have easy pregnancies so think public will be ok. I had both ds and dd in private though so i am unsure how public will stack up.

[grumpysmurf]

I've been both public and private and sadly the level of medical care was nowhere near the same sorry.

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