Moving from US to London - Need Advice!

[MissingMO]

My husbands company is moving us to London in early November. After trying to get pregnant for 7 years, we were finally successful on a FET cycle, currently I am 6 weeks and had our first scan yesterday. My little nugget already had a heartbeat and we are so excited! The problem, of course, is that we are making a major life change and we are concerned about how to find a doctor and hospital that we are comfortable with from half a world away. That is where I hope I can get some advice from you ladies in the UK. Who are your favorite Dr's and why? Also, which hospitals are the best and why? Thanks you in advance!

 

[Stargazer77]

You don't get much choice in the UK. You get who you are given and its usually the surgery closest to you.

If you are paying for private health care....it still tends to be the same consultants.....they work majority NHS and one or two private clinics a week. Only difference is they are more polite when you go private

 

[kat2504]

Congratulations!
I don't know about how it works in London, I'm in a rural area with only the one hospital and am having NHS treatment.
Will you be entitled to NHS treatment? Or will this be covered by private health insurance? If it will be covered by insurance then check your policy conditions carefully and expect to pay out for extras on top. For people with loadsamoney/private cover, the Portland Hospital in London is the most famous private maternity facility although I am sure there are others.
However, if your husband will be a UK tax and NI payer, you may be entitled to free health care but I don't know what the laws are. In that case you register with a local doctor, you make an appointment to see a midwife and they refer you to your local hospital if you need consultant care. Most routine care is provided in the community by midwives, it is totally different to the US where everyone seems to see an obgyn for everything.

 

[kat2504]

https://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074374

This seems to suggest you will be able to get free NHS care. I know you hear some stories about how overstretched and understaffed hospitals are, but many thousands of babies are delivered on the NHS every year without a problem. It is a fantastic facility that we are lucky to have as you get the care you need regardless of how much money you have.
If you don't have the sort of insurance that would cover an international private delivery already, then unfortunately most policies that people take out here for healthcare do not cover routine maternity care.

 

[MissingMO]

We will have private insurance through DH company, but he told me last night that pregnancy wasn't covered and would need to go through NHS. I have heard of midwives, but honestly, don't know anyone here in the US who has used one. What exactly are their roles during pregnancy?

 

[kat2504]

Their role is to provide routine antenatal care and to deliver the baby in a normal delivery with no complications. They even provide home births if you want one and you are low risk. For a first baby you can expect 10 midwife appointments throughout your pregnancy. They deal with routine blood and urine testing, blood pressure, health advice, listening to the heartbeat, measuring the bump etc. They will refer you to the hospital if you have complications that need further monitoring from a doctor.
You will have two normal ultrasound scans - one at 12 weeks (dating and downs screening) and one at 20 weeks. However there are loads and loads of private ultrasound clinics in the UK which do extra scans and 3d as these are becoming very popular here.

As soon as you arrive in the country and are moved in, get registered at a GP immediately and tell them you are pregnant after fertility treatment and need a quick referral to the midwife. By November you should be in your 2nd trimester surely so you will probably have had some monitoring in the US before you leave.
After the 12 weeks scan here, the next appointment for most people is 16 weeks with the midwife.
In most areas you can choose the hospital where you want to give birth and can even change your mind/make your decision later on in pregnancy. Most of us live in places with only the one hospital nearby but you might have more choice in London, so you can find out when you can visit the maternity ward to get a feel for which you are happiest with.

 

[kat2504]

Sorry I also forgot to mention that midwifes have followed a 3 year university course whilst training in hospital at the same time so they are well qualified professionals. This frees up the obstetricians to deal with the women who have complications and need more specialist treatment.

https://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/Antenatalhome.aspx

This link is from the NHS website to give you an idea of what to expect. As you have had fertility treatment you may get some extra care on top of the basic amount depending on your medical history.

 

[MissingMO]

Great link kat2504! Thank you for all the great information!

 

[boyal]

In UK everything is thru NHS where you don't have any choice like in US.
You will be assigned to a nearest hospital of your residence.
They say its free and you get service as per your luck. As you had fertility treatment I suppose you need to have proper attention for any issues and medication.
You never get chance to see consultant unless they they mark your preganancy as critical. So all the appointments are midwives only.

I don't think NHS is that quick for example if you go thru blood test you will get results after a week.
It works fine and everything looks good in UK in case of normal pregnancy with minimal complications. But it is entirely different in case of complications where you will get frustrated with the delays especially in London hospitals.
if you are happy to go thru private clinics then you get better attention and care during critical situations which will cost 15 to 20 k GBP. In private , Portland hospital is good choice in London. Given a chance better you can get assistance for delivery in US itself at your hospital choice.
I hope I am not giving you disappointing opinion but it is the situation in UK.

 

[MrsLMC]

Just to reliterate the comments here, you don't really get a choice in the UK.

Check out NHS direct website. This will give you a list of Doctors in your area with customer reviews. When you sign up for a doctors you won't necessary be allocated a GP, just who is avaliable when you go in. You doctor will refer you to a mid wife, this could be at your doctors, at a birthing centre or at a hospital.

The midwife will talk through your birthing options with you. For me where I live I have a choice of three places to give birth (well four if I count home birth). I have made the decision to choose the small birthing center near where I live, but I could get transfered to a hospital if anything goes wrong, need pain killers or it is full.

 

[MissingMO]

I'm disappointed that there isn't much choice in the UK. I will have to look into seeing how much private care would cost. We have invested so much in this pregnancy already (with IVF and FET and drug costs) that I am willing to pay more to ensure this baby is given the best chance it has. I appreciate all the information!

 

[erikab922]

Hi MissingMO - I moved from Chicago to the UK and at first I was sure that everything NHS-related would be sub-par to the care I got in the States and my initial instinct was to look around for private care, but honestly the care I've gotten on the NHS has been superb. I've found that even though everything doesn't look as pretty as the high-tech settings we are used to in the States the NHS is just as professional - in many cases where back home I would have been poked and prodded and charged through the nose for procedures that led to nothing, I've gotten a lot of common sense medical advice here and have felt much more in charge of my healthcare, which you'd think would be the total opposite. As long as you don't go into your GP surgery (that's what they call the doctor's office) being a loud American 'I want this! I want that! This isn't what it's like back home!' and you just speak to them rationally and with a bit of knowledge about your situation, they will listen to you and do whatever they can to get you the care that you want.

Hope that helps a little!

ps - I live in West Yorkshire and had a choice of 5 hospitals plus home birth, and a choice of several GP surgeries so I've found there is good choice. Find out which surgeries are near to you and look them up on the NHS website. Some surgeries have their own websites which list all of the doctors, their qualifications and each doctor's areas of interest. It's easy to change surgery if you want to - the first one I chose made it really difficult to get an appointment so I went to speak to the practice manager of the next-closest surgery and they were brilliant. I just filled out a form and then I was a patient at the new surgery.

 

[kat2504]

Fully paid private care will cost you in the region of 10 -15 thousand pounds depending on the type of birth you end up having.
Honestly, hundreds of thousands of babies are born every year over here, including to women who have had IVF. You will get given the treatment that you need at the time you need it. In the, hopefully unlikely, case that your baby is born early, the best NICU facilities are actually in the NHS hospitals.
Private obstetricians generally also work for the NHS so you would be seeing the same person but paying for the same care.

Here is a guideline breakdown of costs for self funding private care in a London hospital
https://www.theportlandhospital.com/downloads/maternity/ConsultantLedPrices2011.pdf
That is just for delivery and does not cover consultant fees during your pregnancy.

Seriously, just about every woman in this country goes through the NHS. Some have better stories than others of course. But I can't fault the care I am receiving after having two earlier miscarriages. Not choosing my consultant hasn't made her any the less professional. If you are in London there is more patient choice of places to give birth than in a small town with one hospital.

 

[MrsJRB]

700,000 babies are born in the UK every year and the government spends £2.5 billion pounds a year on maternity services. The majority of women have a positive experience but there are league tables you can check for the hospitals in your area.

 

[Maisie231]

I live in London and have only ever had excellent care from the NHS hospitals and GP's (hoping this will continue whilst pregnant and when having my baby!) I booked in with a midwife through my usual GP, and was told to expect between 10-20 appointments with my midwife throughout my pregnancy. I have a choice of hospitals (including the excellent UCL University Hospital) but have elected to go with my local hospital in Bromley. There is plenty of information available about the choices available to you, and really, I believe private health care for a hopefully low risk pregnancy would be simply a waste of money. The UK has the best universal healthcare service in the world- you will be in safe hands. All the best when you move over here- it's a great city, and I'm sure you'll love it.x

 

[Tabbyfourpaws]

As far as I was aware, you can choose any NHS hospital/ centre to give birth. We were given around 7 options and really you can go anywhere if you are happy to travel. You can research the best one and have your baby there! I'm travelling 50 mins to my hospital. I like it because it's brand new, loads of facilities/private rooms if you like and hubby/partner can stay over nights - even if you are on a ward. You can find some real gems! The NHS was amazing for me last pregnancy.

 

[bumpbear]

Hi MissingMO.

When you move to London, you will need to register with your local GP and will be referred to a midwife and maternity services. You will be given the choice of a few hospitals in your area so it is important to know which part of London you will be living in so that you can start looking in to which hospital takes your fancy. Do you yet have any clue where you are going to settle and perhaps we can be of help?

I have recently moved from London to New York and must say that although I am reportedly receiving the best standard of care here, it is no different to the standard I would have received in London on the NHS, except of course I am paying through the teeth for it here. (I only found out I would have to pay another deductible in January because the coverage year resets - so I will be paying $5,000 just to have a baby! It would have been substantially more if I'd chosen an out of network doctor. wtf!)

You'll also find that there is a much more natural approach to maternity and childbirth in the UK - far less medical intervention. It might be hard for you to adjust to that if you prefer the clinical medical approach. I've certainly found it difficult making the opposite adjustment.

 

[Pretty Please]

HI there,

Where you hoping to live in London?

If you go private things are different.

However NHS your GP is generally the one that is the most local to you. Generally specking you get a different GP every time you go to surgery however if you are willing to wait you can see the same doctor each time.

I went private for immune treatment Lister hospital and Portland which was several thousand which was great as you are seen in days and you have options about times etc. (NHS not all treatments are available hence sometimes worth paying private) Where NHS appointments you are given a time and date and if you cant make it this can be weeks to change appointment.

Hospitals - I applied online which is the closest to me. Its Chelsea and Westminster which is a central London hospital. The care was outstanding on my first child and as I was high risk I saw a consultant every week to monitor me as I had several issues.

It really depends if you go private (you can decide where and choose the hospital) or NHS (which is generally local to where you live and you are given the times and little flexibility).

Also, generally all the NHS consultants do private work so you see the same people depends if you want to spend the cash or go free on NHS (if you are able to)

 

[MissingMO]

Thanks everyone! You are making me feel so much better now My husbands company will be moving their offices to Islington in December, so that is where we will be centralizing our search for housing. We go in mid-October to get acquainted with the area.
I am certainly not a high-strung person, but this is my FIRST EVER BFP after 7 years of ttc and it is really easy for me to get worried about a health system I'm know zilch about! You ladies have put me at ease! Thank You for all the information.