Who applies for combined care?

cch

I went to doc when 4.5 weeks pregnant to confirm it and said I wanted to do combined care. I paid for this appointment but expected that. Anyway I go back again at 10.5 weeks for a general checkup and on the way out I get "that'll be 50 euro please" because authorisation hadn't come back from the HSE for combined care, was shocked but paid anyway. I remember from my last pregnancy getting a letter from the HSE in the post confirming combined care but haven't got it yet this time. I was in the hospital at 11.5 weeks but totally forgot to ask about it, too much else going on
So does anybody know if it's me or the doc that should apply for combined care? I don't remember from last time. And anyway it's not dependant on stamps/prsi contributions/length of time in country or anything like that, as far as I know, so it's not like it'd be declined, right? I asked could it be claimed back from anyone and I just got a shrug, hmmm
Will definitely be checking with them before my next appointment...

Squiggler

I filled in a form at the GP's at my first appointment both times, and my GP sent it off. Do you remember being asked to sign a form at your first visit this time?

meggysmom

Hi this is all new to me too,I just went last week to my doc for my 1st appointment at 5 weeks.I too will be doing combined care and she said to come back to her in 12 weeks,she filled in a form there and then and faxed it to the hospital which I will be going.I was leaving and I said to her, so do I pay for today then and she said no,doc appointment are free now when pregnancy related,I'm not sure why you were charged,I have heard of different stories of people paying so I'm not sure if it's up to the discretion of the doctor!

ariana`

Under combined care the HSE will pay for 6 pregnancy related GP visits during your pregnancy. Beyond this its at the discretion of your GP, my GP practice doesn't charge for any visits during pregnancy & they put no limit on how often i attend. I signed the forms on the 1st visit and i got confirmation from the HSE in the post a couple of weeks later.

cch

Thanks for the replies.
He printed out a letter which I included in the envelope with the form for the Coombe, but it had personal medical details on it so that wasn't it. I didn't sign a form either.
There's a chance I'll be going to the high risk clinic so I might not need combined care

cyning

Just on that I attended high risk clinic the whole way through but still had GP appointments so make sure you sort the combined care just in case you do need it: I know it was a different hospital but just to be on the safe side.

KGLady

The form needs to be signed and stamped by your GP in addition to what you fill in yourself, I always got mine from the receptionist in his office and then sent it off myself to the HSE address on it (local office not a central place). There is also provision for more than the 6 visits if you have a condition in the pregnancy which requires you to be seen often.

One important thing to note, the form isn't just for your own ante-natal care its also to cover the visits for the 6week check up for you and baby, I don't recall the text but provision of care to the newborn by your GP is mentioned on it. So even if you are going for hospital led care its probs best to have it done and sooner rather than later.

I am in Dublin 15 and the place I sent mine to was in Dublin 7 - so I'm sure that someone in your GP office will know where to direct you locally to get the form, if they don't have copies there for you.

laurynsmam

ooops i am going combined care but haven't been given any form to fill out. I am 19 weeks..I have had my 1st appt with hospital and am due at gp at 24 weeks

cch

It gets worse... I finally got around to calling up to the docs at the weekend to sign the form and they tell me it can take the HSE from 6 - 10 MONTHS (no, not a typo) to approve combined care. So they are charging for appointments until approval is received then I can claim the money back. I'm already 13 weeks, at this rate the baby will be born before my approval comes through!!! :eek:
Anybody else heard anything similar from their GP and paying for their checkups?

(I also somehow managed to talk myself out of the high risk clinic by telling them I didn't think my situation was serious enough, regretting that now!)

Moonbeam

That is rubbish,ring the hse or change gp.
Weeks yes ,months no.
Sure it effects every pregnant women in the country.
Have you filled in the forms ?

cch

Moonbeam wrote: »

That is rubbish,ring the hse or change gp.
Weeks yes ,months no.
Sure it effects every pregnant women in the country.
Have you filled in the forms ?

I signed the form but left it for them to complete and send in (honestly, I didn't want to give them any excuse to possibly charge me for another consultation so I was in and out in a minute) so I was going to give it a week then ring the HSE myself. When I joked that "the baby will be born before approval is received" the reply I get is "yes, that's what's happening"...
The only requirement for approval is having lived in the country for a year and considering I've been going to this GP regularly for longer than that I'm not impressed. Ok they're a business and subsidising a load of pregnant women would have an impact on their accounts but there's serious goodwill issues here. Also I would be wary about changing GPs just to find they're doing exactly the same thing...

cch

Actually can anyone tell me roughly how long it was from your first appointment and signing the form to receiving the approval letter from the HSE in the post?
(I remember getting one the last time around, presume it's still the same?)

Squiggler

I still don't have the approval letter from the HSE, but my GP hasn't charged me for a single visit, not even the first one - it's been about 10 weeks, in which time I've had maybe 7 appointments (I went to him around 26 weeks though)

Moonbeam

It took about 6 weeks (KIldare)
22 weeks now and only had 1 gp appointment on it so far

0ctober

Hi I just had my daughter 2 weeks ago but I remember having a similar problem. At my first visit around 7 weeks my GP gave me a form to fill out and send off. Sent it off and then when I went back at 20 weeks she asked had I heard anything back as I should have by then. I hadnt so she told me to ring them. I rang and turns out due to cut backs and shortage of staff that there is a huge back log in processing applications. They asked had my GP charged for the appointments I had before my application cleared because aloverly they shouldn't be charging you so maybe suss that out. But yeah its crazy that your baby will be born before you're application is processed, just another result of the cut backs in health care :-/

cch

Thanks for the feedback on getting the approval letters. For some reason I thought they were all sent to Donegal, but that's maternity benefit isn't it?! I'm in the SDCC area so maybe its just the health board here that's mad slow? I've identified another GP nearby that I'm going to call into and check out when I'm off next week.

Toots

I'm in Dublin (Dun Laoghaire Rathdown if that makes any difference) and it took MONTHS before my letter came back. I think i was going in for my 30 week checkup when the receptionist in my GP told me it had come back. It was a running joke between us at that stage, she said if I wasn't pregnant she'd have been popping open a bottle of champagne to celebrate that it had finally come in!

I signed one at my first visit and then I think I signed another 3 after that at various stages cos every time my doc got on to the HSE they kept telling them they never received my form. :rolleyes: My GP never charged me for any pregnancy related appointments though, even if it wasn't one of the 'scheduled' ones.

KGLady

Perhaps its a Dublin thing with the lengthy delays?

On my previous pregnancy last year I completed the forms on my first visit to the GP, unfortunately we miscarried about a month later and it was two months after that again (just when I was starting to not be a daily ball of misery ) that I got confirmation letter. Needless to say that one got shredded and drenched in tears.

Now that I think of it I don't recall getting the confirmation letter for my current pregnancy and I'm 34wks now, but my GP never charges me soon as I tell him the good news.