Queen Mary Hospital

MisB

MisB

Registered User
A family friend here is a doctor and has many good things to say about Queen Mary. I would let her deliver my baby if that was her specialty! I am currently seeing a private doctor and would like to see a doctor that delivers at Queen Mary. Please share Recent experiences with doctors and delivery Thank you so much!! :thanks
 
MisB - as far as I'm aware it is not possible to see one particular doctor at Queen Mary (unless you pay to go in their private facility). When you are admitted you will be seen by a number of different doctors who are on duty on the day. I had my baby at QMH in September and would say that the care is of a good standard although the food is terrible and I would advise staying at home as long as possible as my experience of the "pre-delivery" ward wasn't particular good - you won't be sent through to the delivery suite until you are in advanced labour and no pain relief is administered until you go through to the delivery suite. I would also add that the care is very "functional" ie the nurses and midwives are very good but their approach isn't necessarily warm and caring.
 
I wrote this in response to someone's questions a week or two ago. My daughter was born there on October 24, less than a month ago...


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I'll try to answer all your questions - I know that everyone's experience at QMH is a bit different, but I'll let you know my experience anyway!!

I was pretty much in the same situation as you were - I lived in Hong Kong a bit over a year when I found out I was pregnant, and my insurance would only cover a minor part of the cost if I wanted to deliver at a private hospital. That's 100% the reason why I decided to deliver at QMH.

So for your questions:

1. Was your husband allowed in with you?

He was allowed in for the delivery - but in the "labour ward", he's only allowed during visiting hrs which are from 12-1pm and 6pm-8pm daily. (Labour ward is where you are if you're less than 3cm dilated, or in my case, I was there for a day before my baby was born because my waters broke but my contractions didn't start by themself - I needed to be induced the next morning). Also after the baby is born, the husband is only allowed in during visiting hours. Although when you're in the labour ward and also after the baby is born, you're allowed to leave the ward and spend time with your husband outside of the ward if you like.

2. If my mom is visiting from the US - will she be allowed in the delivery room?

They say that only one person is allowed in the delivery room - although I have heard of cases where they made exceptions. I didn't want anyone other than my husband there though so for me, it wasn't an issue and I didn't even try to see if I could get another person in with me.

3. How's the doctors? - Did you see only one doctor?

I saw multiple doctors at my prenatal check ups. When I was in the hospital, there were a couple who I saw over and over again - but it's not like when you're in a private hospital and you have the one doctor for all your check ups and delivery and everything. In the public hospital, you just see whoever is there at the time. I found most of the doctors pretty good though. They would answer my questions and respect my wishes and all that.

4. How's the nurses?

Mostly pretty good as well - again, some were better/nicer than others. I think the younger ones generally were better/more caring - the older ones were more abrupt/business like... Some of them were really awesome though!!

5. Do the doctors and nurses speak English well?

95% of them speak near perfect English - I think there was only one nurse who kept talking to me in Chinese. Most of them have near native English though because they've gotta do all their studying in English when they go to university and all. They were really good with answering questions too. There was only ONE time where I felt like they weren't good, and that was when they were trying to rush me to be induced - they were in a hurry and didn't stop to explain to me as well as I would have liked them to.

6. Was you baby with you at all times? or can you have your baby if needed?

In most situations, yes. QMH was VERY supportive of rooming in, and most of the babies there did room in. I did find though that if there is any complications, they are very quick to put the child in the Special Care ward for monitoring. That happened with my baby - because my waters broke 38 hrs before she was born, she was in the special care ward for monitoring for 24 hrs. It was pretty tough on me because I wasn't expecting it - but I found QMH to be very "cautious" with those kinds of situations. In some ways it's good, because it probably is safer for the baby... but it was harder for me - and it was harder for breastfeeding too...

7. How's QM re: breastfeeding?

They were pretty good. They were supportive of letting me breastfeed in the delivery room right after she was born - even though she had to go to the Special Care ward. When she was in the Special Care ward, it was harder to breastfeed her and there was very little support for it - but once she was in the regular ward, they were quite helpful and supportive of it. My daughter now is 100% breastfed and putting on weight and feeding great too!!



So - overall, I think I'm glad I gave birth at QMH - I had a positive experience - although it did have some bumps along the way, mostly because things were different to my expectations, just with her having to go to the special care ward... but if I had to do it over again, in the same situation, I would go to QMH again. I don't think it's worth the thousands of dollars out of pocket to go to a private hospital. If I had the insurance though, I would try a private hospital for my next child - but only if it was 100% covered!! If it wasn't, I'd go back to QMH...
 
Hi

Just like you, I only return from Canada in late July 2008. I was seeing a private OB but due to my medical condition I was 1st refered to QM as a private patient and the doctor whom I saw was great but the cost was only slightly lower than private hospital (i need a c-section) and I was concern about after care, so when I got my HKID my private OB advised me to register as a public patient after in QM, my medical condition was a little complicated but during my pre-natal check up its was was agonizing the doctors keep giving me different opinion and also they mixed up my blood test result and ultra sound.

I think I do agree that QM is a good public hospital, but I was very confused and uncomfortable with all the different opinion, so in the end I still end up delivering in a priavte hospital.
 
I think everyone who's posted here has given a fair summation of QMH. The only thing I'd say is that in my experience you don't have to be in such an advanced stage of labour before you go into the labour suite - just 3cm dilated. Everyone seems to share the same bad experience of the "side-ward" where husbands aren't allowed and where they won't administer pain relief and, because of that, I would strongly recommend hiring a Doula who can examine you and avoid you going too early, so that when you do go; you can go straight into the labour suite and bypass the nasty side-ward. I'll definitely do that next time - I know Annerley Midwives provide this service.
 
ookiinome - I find that comment pretty funny. I've been an inpatient at QMH more times than I care to count. There are certainly vastly more 'local' women than mainlanders.

And I would certainly love to hear about which specific behaviours from the 'mainlanders' you find objectionable? And as to how you can tell just by looking/listening who is 'local' and who isn't............
 
spoke super loud, smelly, push pp around....just found them super rude....
no matter what, if yr budget allows, an experience in a private hospital on the hk side is more enjoyable! thou u might find paying 100k for the 4D3N is ridiculous but i appreciate the individual care & attention

i did visit a friend who deliver in Union hospital (the private one in NT)...where is flocked with well-off mainlanders & she complained that she woke up by the visitors in 8am! cos they speak so loud & treat the ward as their home...

maybe i m biased to them but honestly i seldom hv pleasant experience with them...except those who are educated overseas
 
ookiinome said:
spoke super loud, smelly, push pp around....just found them super rude....
no matter what, if yr budget allows, an experience in a private hospital on the hk side is more enjoyable! thou u might find paying 100k for the 4D3N is ridiculous but i appreciate the individual care & attention

i did visit a friend who deliver in Union hospital (the private one in NT)...where is flocked with well-off mainlanders & she complained that she woke up by the visitors in 8am! cos they speak so loud & treat the ward as their home...

maybe i m biased to them but honestly i seldom hv pleasant experience with them...except those who are educated overseas
Click to expand...

Its so true, when i was having my check up in tsak yuk, they speak really loud too. I mentioned before that in QM they mixed up all my test report, so in the end i chose to give birth in matilda because i trust my private ob more & it was ok for me to risk the fact that QM is better equipped for emergency than matilda.

The after care in matilda was fantastic, though i was in a standard room i had the room to myself for 3 days:haha:
 
Actually, when I gave birth in QMH, it was the 'local' women who broke all the rules in terms of visitors. The French woman didn't like the food, and said so. The Indian lady had curry brought in one day, and many people complained.

I guess it's a HOSPITAL, not a private hotel. Very few in H can afford private hospitals, and to actively discourage their use due to complete prejudice and racism is pretty funny.

BTW - the last time I was an inpatient was about three weeks ago, Spent three days there. Only one mandarin speaker I could hear, ad she was no louder than the other two dozen Chinese /Japanese/Australian/Indian women in the ward.
 
I'm with HappyV and have to TOTALLY disagree with ookiinome... actually... I think your comments ookiinome are WAY OUT OF LINE... calling mainlanders "smelly"... I'm sure you didn't smell like roses after pushing out your baby?!

I'm due to make my second trip to QMH in the coming weeks and found my first experience just last year fine. I was in the "general" area, slept great and was treated by some of the best and most qualified medical experts in HK.

As for blowing upwards of HK$100K for a few days in the hospital... what a waste! I would rather use that money to travel the world with my child - building memories s/he will remember.

One final note... maybe a bit of "overseas education" would help you build some tolerance towards others as well as improve YOUR English skills.

I'm just saying....
 
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