Any Spanish-speaking gynecologist in Galway?

verence

Hi all, my first message here, I hope there are many more.

We are a Spanish couple that are moving to Galway right now, because I've got a new job in this nice city. The thing is that my wife is pregnant (a risky pregnancy) and we would really need to be able to communicate perfectly with our gynecologist or GP or nurses just in case an emergency arises... Do you know any of them that can speak Spanish anywhere in Galway? I don't know if it's relevant, but both me and my wife have a very complete Aviva healthcare plan.

Any additional advice regarding pregnancy in Galway would be much appreciated; we are a little scared and lost as you can guess -we don't have any friends here yet as we have just arrived.

Thanks very much.

biko

Welcome to Galway

Ask in the Galway Family Planning Clinic in Lismoyle House, St. Augustine Street. They may know.
Also check with Aviva, they may have info like that on file.

There is a pregnancy forum here for general queries and more, it cover all counties though, not only Galway.
You can also check out the Spanish language forum, it has Spaniards from Galway and other places chatting about general stuff.
This thread is about local Spanish stuff

Mrs OBumble

One picky English point, that may save you some grief: your wife is pregnant, not necessarily sick, so it's an obstetrecian you need, rather than a gynaecologist.

Ref: http://www.rcog.org.uk/womens-health/patient-information/faq

Obstetricians may see some women before conception to plan their pregnancy.

Some obstetricians specialise in a particular aspect of maternity care:

Fetal medicine – looking after the health of the unborn baby
Maternal medicine – looking after the mother's health
Labour care – care during birth
Obstetricians work alongside midwives, whose speciality is usually normal pregnancy and delivery.

Gynaecology is the care of women with problems of the female reproductive system (ovaries, tubes, womb, cervix, vagina).

As they say, many doctors work as both. But it will be no good if you end up with one who doesn't, just 'cos they speak Spanish.

verence

Thanks a lot, both replies are really useful. :-) I'll look at all those links.

ErnieBert

Check out this wonderful Irish website for parents www.rollercoaster.ie

Good luck.

verence

Thank you so much ErnieBert, that website will be perfect for us. Not just because all the info it has, but also because there are some forums as well in which we can contact other pregnant women and ask them for advice.

You people here are of great help, thank you!

Sponge Bob

You cannot really get a private gynae in Galway at less than 1 years notice so by the time you know you are pregnant it is too late.

The best 'public' consultant is Dr. Egan ...there are 2 Egans, young Mr Egan is public and very good. There are many many Spanish staff working in UCHG in catering especially, ask if one can help translate if you are in and also get to know one or two midwives who manage the workflow.

Try to form a relationship with a "registrar" on the publc list. They are number 2 people in the health system but have time to deal with complex matters. They would report to a consultant but are not as distracted as a consultant. They are often as good as consultants and better at times because they can usually explain something where a consultant will often run off somewhere urgent.

Ask the midwife on duty if she does 'shifts' and find the ones who don't do shifts as they willl be the ones working days normally. They will get to know yoru Mrs and know to find a translator. There are people who can conference by phone to translate too, if you had a Spanish speaker available at the end of a phone you can go to an office and go on speakerphone if required.

But getting a private gynae is impossible except in the Galway Clinic and they cannot handle any complexity there so you could easily waste a lot (up to €10k) of your money in that place and end up in UCHG anyway. You will not get a refund.

Go public in UCHG is my advice. They have seen it all before, they are a teaching hospital with all the specialties.

And Good Luck.

Seaneh

With the amount of Filipina nurses in hospitals in this country, I am sure you will at least find a few nurses who speak Spanish (a fair amount of Filipino's speak spanish).

Mrs OBumble

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Go public in UCHG is my advice.

I've heard that advice before regarding maternity services, from a few different people.

Because - If you go private, the "public" doctors leave you alone because you're totally your consultant's responsibility. Whereas if you're public, someone simply has to see you.

Sponge Bob

It is a long story Mary and if you want to go private then:

1. Book yourself in for a checkup or test with a private Gynae long before you get pregnant so you are 'on their books' when you need to be able to see them.
2. If you go private it will cost you around €2500. For that you don't have to queue for hours in public clinics but that is all you really get for your €2500.

I don't think it is worth it. Private was big 10 years ago or more because.

1. Queues in Public clinics were dire. You could be all day there and not be seen and have to come back. The Public gynae system basically could not cope with the pressure from the 1990s onwards.
2. The public scanning/radioology was a shambles back then ( after you queued) and they might not see something important. That changed completely around 10 years ago and some serious pros were hired specifically to do the scans during the Public clinics. The scanning gear the public clinics now use is as good as what the private consultants exclusively had in their rooms back then.
3. It cost a lot less 10 years ago than it does nowadays and was probably worth paying on a first child for peace of mind. If you were gonna have three or four kids I would consider private for the first child only nowadays for reasons I won't go into.
4. The consultants who do public work ONLY are very good in UCHG nowadays. That was not the case 20 or more years ago. But you may be dealt with by top private consultants entirely as a public patient and get the exact same service.

You can effectively end up public even if you are private....don't ask

verence

Thanks a lot, Sponge Bob. Just one silly question: how do I "go public"? I have been in Ireland just one week now, and I really don't know how your health system works. Sorry for asking that, it's probably offtopic here and maybe it's not an easy question.

Sponge Bob

Register with GP and GP refers her at around 4 months to Hospital.

Maternity care is free and is administered by GP/Hospital. If she has other medical problems she must pay the GP but not for Maternity and early Childcare like childrens vaccine programmes etc. After birth the child will get a Public Health nurse for periodic checkups for free.

It is called the "Mother and Child Scheme". Otherwise medical care is not frees save for unemployed and low income households.

Does she have a PPS number??

verence

We don't have a PPSN yet, just rented an apartment today. It's impossible to get a PPSN without having an Irish address, so the first step was to get an apartment. :-)

She is currently unemployed, would that prevent her from having a PPSN?

I'll read about the "Mother and Child Scheme", thank you. You're helping us a lot.

Sponge Bob

Get the PPS and go register (free) with GP. You can register with a GP when you have a piece of paper to SAY you applied for a PPS but your child will be issued with a PPS the minute they are born and you will know the childs PPS number before it is 24 hours old as it is printed on the birth certificate.

Should be fairly fast for adults so.

But remember, Maternity stuff free but if she has a headache she must pay the doctor.

Oh Whoops they changed the name....to "Maternity and Infant Care Scheme"

http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Find_a_Service/maternity/combinedcare.html

Be careful about this bit.

"The Maternity and Infant Care Scheme provides an agreed programme of care to all expectant mothers who are ordinarily resident in Ireland. This service is provided by a family doctor (GP) of your choice and a hospital obstetrician. You are entitled to this service even if you do not have a medical card. Virtually all GPs have agreements with the Health Service Executive to provide these services; "

You may need to PROVE you were offered a job in Ireland BEFORE she knew she was pregnant ( ie you were interviewed BEFORE the positive test) so talk to HR at work tomorrow morning about this matter. It is important and not for an internet forum.

verence

Ok, thanks very much. I was offered the job before we knew she was pregnant indeed (in fact: before she was pregnant), so that should not be a problem. Tomorrow I'll talk with HR regarding PPSN, "Maternity and Infant care Scheme" and other stuff.

Thank you again!

ErnieBert

Ask your landlord to write a short letter 'to whom it concerns' which states your name, the address of the property and a confirmation that you have signed a Lease Agreement, paid rent and a deposit.

This will speed up the PPSN process.

Sponge Bob

verence wrote: »

Ok, thanks very much. I was offered the job before we knew she was pregnant indeed (in fact: before she was pregnant), so that should not be a problem. Tomorrow I'll talk with HR regarding PPSN, "Maternity and Infant care Scheme" and other stuff.

Thank you again!

VERY Important that it is OBVIOUS you got the job initially and that is how she became "ordinarily resident"....ie that she is not a social benefit 'tourist' in any sense. Bureaucrats can be real assholes ....this is an international problem not a particularly Irish one.

Get your HR to write a letter detailing the job offer date and job offer acceptance date for you and to send this letter stating these key facts to your GP once you have a GP and PPS number. That should sort that potential issue out very clearly.

Tell HR that the GP must have permission to forward this information to the HSE Bureaucrats who administer the Mother and Child scheme so it must be a "To Whom It May Concern" letter rather than addressed to the GP directly by name.

Best thing to do is print this thread for HR and hand it over to them with key bits highlighted.

verence

Ok ErnieBert and Sponge Bob, I will do so. Thank you people, you're so helpful!

Sponge Bob

Read the small print in the Aviva contract, I suspect that many Maternity benefits only come into effect after 1 year as an Aviva customer...HR will explain those important little conditions too or will ring Aviva to check.

see http://www.buyhealthinsurance.ie/dubco/downloads/Aviva%20Level%202%20Hospital%20vs.%20VHI%20Plan%20B%20and%20B%20Options.pdf

Unrealistic

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You cannot really get a private gynae in Galway at less than 1 years notice so by the time you know you are pregnant it is too late.

We moved back to Galway two years ago when my better half was 7 months pregnant. I got her signed up over the phone, six weeks before we moved, with a private OB/Gyn based in UCHG for the final check ups and the birth.

Were we actually really lucky to get someone to take us on? If it is really the case that consultants are turning away patients willing to spend a hefty four figure sum on a what probably adds up to 10-12 hours work over a number of months then the our health system is even more screwed up than I thought.

Sponge Bob

Unrealistic wrote: »

We moved back to Galway two years ago when my better half was 7 months pregnant. I got her signed up over the phone, six weeks before we moved, with a private OB/Gyn based in UCHG for the final check ups and the birth.

Were we actually really lucky to get someone to take us on?

You were based on what I hear, were you perhaps related to an existing patient of theirs whose name you managed to drop. ??

If it is really the case that consultants are turning away patients willing to spend a hefty four figure sum on a what probably adds up to 10-12 hours work over a number of months then the our health system is even more screwed up than I thought.

Well how much did it cost??? I think €2500 of your Cash (or was it more) and generally for no more than 10 hours work ....is a lot!!!

Unrealistic

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You were based on what I hear, were you perhaps related to an existing patient of theirs whose name you managed to drop. ??

I mentioned I had been given the contact details by a previous patient but she was a public patient rather than a private one so I guess wouldn't rank highly on the 'pull' rating. From what I recall I wasn't give the impression at all over the phone that I was asking for something extraordinary. That's why I was so surprised to read the descriptions here.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Well how much did it cost??? I think €2500 of your Cash (or was it more) and generally for no more than 10 hours work ....is a lot!!!

Agree it is a lot. Which is why I'm surprised they are turning people away. If they are bumping up against their private quota cap why wouldn't they just up their prices until the hit equilibrium instead of turning paying patients away? List price for full pregnancy was north of €3k from what I recall. We paid less than a third of that for the home stretch.

Sponge Bob

It could be that there is less demand for Private Gynaes nowadays and that they have shorter waiting lists. I did sort of explain the history of it earlier in this thread. It _should_ be that the public system now works so well so there is no need to pay a lot of money for what should be available to all taxpayers as standard.

€3k+ for going private translates to €300 an hour plus at least and for a simple pregancy with a few scans and a quick birth ( ie most of them) it translates to more like €500 an hour based on 1 to 1 contact time. The midwives do most of the work anyway.

My experience is that a given consultant will have 2 or 3 in to give birth at the same time on a monday morning and that they flit between them as well as deal with public patients.

Nice money that. But for a first birth the peace of mind can be invaluable in certain cases.

Unrealistic

Sponge Bob wrote: »

It could be that there is less demand for Private Gynaes nowadays and that they have shorter waiting lists.

That would seem to be the case. At least if you can assume that Galway is following the same pattern as Dublin (30-50% drop in private patients).

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0717/1224320247548.html

SalteeDog

In relation to the PPSN, when my second child was born here, my partner did not have a PPSN. The mother does not need a PPSN do access Irish public maternity services (there is no obligation for residents in the state to have a PPSN although it is required to access most welfare services) . That said, you should ensure you have proof that you are 'ordinarily resident'.