Private Patient at Queen Mary

[mrs momo]

I am planning to have my baby at Queen Mary and considering to go in as a private patient. I want to know if the treatment by the nurses will be different or will it be the same as what I would get if I went in as a public patient. I am a first time mum and it scares me that the baby will be in the room with me at all times and that I will have to do everything myself. I want someone to look after the baby like when I am sleeping and I want a nurse to bathe the baby instead of me. However I don't want to go to a private hospital because in case of emergencies they always send you to Queen Mary anyway.

 

[HappyV]

I don't think the nurses will treat you any differently because you are a private patient - in my experience most of the nurses are great - just a few could do with an attitude re-adjustment!
The baby can stay in the nursery if you want to sleep (and they will feed him/her if they are formula fed) , and they bath the baby for you during your stay. You can basically do as much or as little as you want to with the baby - and you can ask for help whenever you need it. A lot of mums need help lifting the baby in the first couple of days etc etc.
I would guess that even with a private room, you are not going to get the quality of 'bedside' care thatyou would get at a private hospital - but are right in thinking that QMH is the safest place to be in terms of medical/clinical care.

 

[ICmom]

Unless you are anticipating a medical complication, why not plan on delivering at a private hospital? I think you will get more of the sort of special attention you'd like with a first baby. And if there is a complication, you will be sped off to QMH.If you can afford the private hospitals and have no expected complications, I'd go with private. Also, there is a thread with prices listed for QMH private ward, etc.

 

[Slee]

I read on the Matilda web site one time that 1 in 500 babies are transferred. If there is a problem, your OB would usually know about it beforehand so you'd go straight to QMH anyway if needed. I had a very straightforward vaginal birth at QMH and definitely didn't get the impression that we could hand our daughter over to anyone else to get a break, instead only if I wanted a shower.

 

[hermoine]

I had two c-sections in Adventist. Everything went smoothly when I delivered the first baby, and everything went very well with the deliver of my second baby until the second day when my baby had apnoea spells ie didn't breathe at times, and my baby was transferred to Queen Mary neonatal intensive care.....where he was given the best care anyone, any parents, any babies can ever ever hope for, and he recovered with flying colours later on as well. I will never forget the pain and anxiousness I felt while I wait helplessly in Adventist. Don't get me wrong, the doctors at Adventist were good, and the hospital was superb. But I think private hospitals in HK are meant for straightforward deliveries only. When there is complication (especially on the babies), these hospitals just don't have the manpower and equipment to handle (in my baby's case, the electronic monitors in QM was just so much more advance than those of Adventist). If I have another baby, I will definately choose to deliver at QM where I know my baby will be in the best and safest care within the Hong Kong island.