Change doc after booking hospital bed?

A

ayzeng

Registered User
Hi,

I'm in my 7th week and will be going for my first check up. However I'd like to see a couple of OBs before I decide on my doctor. Since you need to book a hospital bed by the starting of week 9, especially for popular places like Matilda, can I book the hospital with this first doctor I see but may change doc later? Does the hospital booking change if I switched doctors later? I'm a little confused about this process. Thanks for your help!
 
Hi Olympicmom. I changed doctors at 28 weeks and I was told it is easier to change doctors once you have actually secured a bed somewhere. The bed will be in your name, not your ob's, so I think it is pretty straight forward. If you elect to change Obs though, you (or your new Ob) will have to notify the hospital just so their records are updated. For me I did nothing but notify my old Ob that I had decided to change (our of courtesy), and my new Ob phoned the hospital to advise them accordingly. Just so you know, my booking was with Matilda so not sure if this is the case for all hospitals. Good luck.
 
Thanks a lot AussieMum! This makes sense to me, but wanted to confirm that the bed will be under my name, not under ob's. Really appreciate the quick response.
 
I actually have a follow up question. Do different doctors have different leverages on booking hospital beds? Or as long as they deliver at that hospital, then my chance of booking a hospital bed is the same with all the docs? Just wondering if the less popular doctors have the same ability to help me to book a hospital bed. Thanks again!
 
I have asked the same question to Matilda when I had a tour there at my week 6. They told me I am free to change doctors if I got a space in Matilda because the booking belongs to me. Changing doctors won't affect my confirmed booking. Another thing is the blood test for the hospital booking which costs me HK$3500 in my case. You should do the blood test with the doctor who is going to submit your application to Matilda. If you change your doctor before this procedure you will need to pay for another blood test with the new doctor. So you could actually see more doctors AFTER your application is submitted, or after you received the booking confirmation from Matilda.

I've made a reservation through my OB at week 8 and got the confirmation from Matilda two days ago which is my week 10. I am very happy everything went smoothly so far.
 
smile-ss said:
Another thing is the blood test for the hospital booking which costs me HK$3500 in my case. You should do the blood test with the doctor who is going to submit your application to Matilda. If you change your doctor before this procedure you will need to pay for another blood test with the new doctor. So you could actually see more doctors AFTER your application is submitted, or after you received the booking confirmation from Matilda.
Click to expand...

Hi. She's right. I changed our doctor after the clinic submitted the application and I received confirmation from Matilda. Matilda had no issues the change.
 
Does anyone know the following?

"Do different doctors have different leverages on booking hospital beds? Or as long as they deliver at that hospital, then my chance of booking a hospital bed is the same with all the docs? Just wondering if the less popular doctors have the same ability to help me to book a hospital bed."

Thanks again!
 
re some obs having more leverage than others, i would say "officially no, unofficially yes". the ones that do the most deliveries there can pull in more favours/ juggle things for you to get you in.

Lucy Lord and Grace Cheung do about 33% of all deliveries at Matilda so they're quite a good place to start. I had Lucy- thought she was excellent.

Patrick Chan also does a lot up there but cant comment on him as never met him.
 
I think it's almost the case of if you're a resident doctor at Matilda, you're 'most likely' going to get your patient a bed. But there are limitations. If the hospital is full, it doesn't matter who your doctor is (even with a reserved spot) as you'd still get turn away. I heard that Matilda turned away 3 mothers last month to Queen Mary (Don't know if it's true). The month before they had to open a second wing and use an operating theatre as a birthing suite.
 
QM- you heard right about last month's space issues at Matilda. However, i think in those circumstances it's even more important to have an obs who is

a) well known at matilda
b) "assertive" :-)

When M are "full" are turning some people away, you want to be the patient who gets squeezed in.
 
(This happened to me in practice:)

Dr Lucy Lord contra Dr Mike Rogers
- or why I changed doctors -

Dr Lucy Lord

I heard that Dr Lucy Lord was very professional, so I went to her first.
In the 4th month, it turned out that I had to go into hospital. During that time, she seemed very genuinely concerned and helpful.
Later on, in her office, it came out that she is always extremely busy and obviously tired; she never even said ?goodbye? when we left her office.
My 3-year-old child has the good sense to know who she can trust and who is to be avoided - and she got very distressed in Dr Lord?s office. She said ?Can?t you see that there is a little baby in there? Be careful with my mommy!? - which is a very important sign for me.
Her staff behaved arrogantly with me (hmmm, lets say in a rather Anglo-Saxon way).
When Dr Lord got annoyed with me for not showing up at the discussed date (after getting out of hospital, one day before Christmas) she started scaring me while she was doing the ultrasound checkup, about what could happen to me and my baby, and refused to take my birth plan, saying ?I would lose it anyway, bring it back next time?.
The database in her office is definitely messed up; her staff didn?t even know that I had been in hospital.
When I wrote a letter saying that, on reflection, I?d rather go to another doctor, and asked them to transfer my file to his office, I never got an answer.
All in all, there was a point when I decided that, despite her professionalism, I don?t want this woman to touch my child.

Dr Mike Rogers

Very kind and relaxed; he has endless patience to answer all my questions. As a senior professor, he went into details that he said not all new mothers want to know, but he seemed very happy to satisfy my interests and curiosity. The prior stress that I had always felt in Dr Lord?s clinic disappeared in a flash. His nurse is extremely kind, thoughtful and helpful. Even my older child felt relaxed in their presence (again, a very important sign).
Since I delivered my first child with his predecessor Dr Dawkins, he happened to have my birth plan in his folder, and he went through it and agreed: basically, I wanted to do everything as natural as possible, and only if there is any medical reason to interfere will he do his job.
In Matilda, everybody seemed to respect him a lot, and since he lives close by, it was the easiest thing to have him around safely all night.
In the delivery room he only said ?I know what?s your take on painkillers, but if you need one, do not hesitate to ask. Don?t worry, I will not mention it again.? And they left me in peace, the way I asked.

Well, I almost venerate Dr Dawkins, but I have to say even he turned on the big lights when I was finally pushing out my first baby - Dr Rogers, however, conducted the birth in almost complete darkness. Everything was quick and safe; I felt great. They helped me to breastfeed my baby in practically the first second, on the bed.
Dr Rogers? warm, calm, professional attitude helped me to celebrate my second child?s arrival just the way I did with my first baby.
Thank you, Dr Rogers!
 
OlympicMom said:
Does anyone know the following?

"Do different doctors have different leverages on booking hospital beds? Or as long as they deliver at that hospital, then my chance of booking a hospital bed is the same with all the docs? Just wondering if the less popular doctors have the same ability to help me to book a hospital bed."

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Yes - would definitely say so...also, if you want a certain pedi to do the baby check at birth - that is also very much dependent on your pedi's "connection" with the hospital. doctors will have certain preferences, and i must say, those preferences are most likely where their chances of getting you a bed is highest. e.g. Dr Ghosh is resident at Matilda, you will most likely get a place to deliver there with no problem. my Dr delivers MOST at Adventist, so it was easy to get a room there, etc.

Good luck with everything!
 
Just a reminder that not every doctor has rights at every hospital. So if you have booked Matilda, then you have to change to a doctor who also has rights at Matilda.
 
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