1st appointment with Holles Street

Branoic

Hi,

My wife had her first visit with her GP this week, who gave her the booking number for Holles Street.

Wife phoned Holles Street booking office next day and got an appointment for November, around week 19.

Got a letter from Holles Street in the post today confirming the appointment. But there was also a line, "If you have not already done so, please contact the Fetal Assessment Department to arrange a scan. Please be aware that there can be delays of up to two hours in the Fetal Assessment Department, we require you to attend on time for your appointment".

We're confused by this. Is this not what the booking was for in the first place? We've to phone them to make a booking, then phone another department to book the scan to be carried out during our booking?

purplecat

Hi there
Booking ref you got is for booking inAntenatal clinic that you going to attend, if you are attending the Public / SPC clinic you have book your scan separately to appointment in the Clinic. The two areas are separated.
If you attend private the secretary books all your scans etc for you
It sounds like the letter is standard letter that is sent out to all

Hannibal Smith

That's strange they didn't organise it for you. I'm semi private and when I rang to get my Booking Number, they organised a scan for me, as well as my first appointment. Maybe it's because the GP organised it.

Anyhow, your scan will be with FEtal Assessment, it'll be her 20 week scan. And they do seem to run like separate departments alright.

Congratulations and best of luck with the booking

Branoic

Thanks for the replies. As far as I can see we haven't actually been given a booking reference number. When I said the gp gave us a booking number for holles street, I meant a telephone number to call, sorry! We'll ring back today anyway to clear it up.

As an aside,Hannibal what exactly do you get and what do you have to pay for semi-private? We've been searching for definitions and explanations with little joy, coming across things on the citizen information site like "semi-private means you will avail of semi-private care", which doesn't explain a great deal!!

Moonbeam

Look on the Holles St website. The semi private clinic do not take bookings after 12 weeks because they are too busy and even booking at 6 weeks , I was told that I had left it a bit late!!

I did not have to wait more then 5 minutes in the fetal assessment unit so it might just be a just in case warning.

Hannibal Smith

Semi-Private, you pay 900 euro and that pays for all your appointments, scans and, I think, blood tests, the rest is covered by your insurance. You should be able to claim the 900 euro back, or at least some of it on your insurance or on your tax returns. You can pick your consultant and you get to see him every visit and he should be there when your baby is born. Also it means you're entitled to a bed in a semi-private room after the baby's born.

In reality, semi-private is BEDLAM at the moment. The queues are miles long and I'm not entirely sure it's any quicker than the public! I've only seen my consultant once, the second time he was called away on an emergency and the third time he arrived late, again because of an emergency, so I went and saw the other doc instead of hanging around.

Apparently the hospital is extremely busy at the mo and in a general conversation with the secretary in the Semi Private Clinic the other day she told me even private patients were ending up in public wards they were so busy. If you pay semi private or private fees, you get no refund if you end up in a public ward, they say you're entitled to a bed in the ward you pay for, if it's available.

But if moonbeams is saying they're not taking bookings after 12 weeks, get on the phone quick! :eek::D

beanser

I'm going public in Holles Street, if you decide to go public this is what will probably happen.

I don't have my initial letter from Holles Street with me just now, but it sounds exactly the same as yours.

You DO need to ring up and book the scan yourself, just have your expected due date to hand, and they will give you an appointment for what will seem like aaaaages away, but really the time will fly!

This is separate from the booking-in appointment that you have just received the letter about. That appointment may be in a separate clinic away from the hospital, it is just off Pearse Street, easy to get to and in my case, no waiting time! When you go to the booking-in appointment the midwife will take lots of details, give you a big plastic envelope with lots of information leaflets and a giant magazine that has some helpful info in the first section all about Holles Street.

Your wife will be weighed, have blood taken, and she'll need to give a urine sample too. And best of all the midwife will try to hear your baby's heartbeat!!! It can take a while as at that stage in the pregnancy the baby is still only tiny!

The midwife we had for this appointment was really lovely, took loads of time to answer our questions, honestly it was a really good experience ... a million times better than the horrible consultant's visit we had, I won't go into that though :mad: !!

So anyway, once you are finished with the booking-in appointment, the midwife will make your next consultant's appointment which will take place in Holles Street itself, they will send this appointment out to you in the post. The midwife will also tell you when to make an appointment with your GP if you are doing the combined care thing. That is where you take turns between visiting the hospital and your GP, that's what I'm doing and it's going fine.

Every time you have a consultant's appointment you go back to the reception and they make the next appointment for you. In between times you make the appointments yourself for your GP.

Hope it works out okay for you both, best of luck and congratulations on your happy news