How long of a wait to see gynaecologist PUBLIC

magentas

Just back from another visit with my GP. TTC for almost 1 year now and will be getting my bloods done on days 4-6 and day21 of my next cycle. However my GP told me that we could be waiting 3 years to see a gynaecologist if we go public. Neither of us have medical cards, both work fairly low paid jobs and don't have any private health insurance. Is the wait really that long???
He said going private for the initial consultation and tests will cost upwards of €500/600.

As well as asking how long the wait would be if we go public, I also want to ask you all of your experience going public versus private. Do you genuinely get a higher level of care by going private or is it just that you don't have to wait as long?

Feeling very deflated right now. Any replies would be so very appreciated.

Idrive

Sorry to hear you are feeling so down.

I was TTC for 12 months also, was starting out with tests with GP etc.
She sent a referral letter for me on the public system, which took about 6 months to hear back from. I was lucky and got preggers whilst waiting on the list.
Im sure it depends on what part of the country you are in too. Im based in Tipperary myself.

Has your GP given you a clear idea of what your issues actually are.
ie, are you ovulating etc. Has Clomid been discussed ?

Penny Dreadful

magentas wrote: »

Just back from another visit with my GP. TTC for almost 1 year now and will be getting my bloods done on days 4-6 and day21 of my next cycle. However my GP told me that we could be waiting 3 years to see a gynaecologist if we go public. Neither of us have medical cards, both work fairly low paid jobs and don't have any private health insurance. Is the wait really that long???
He said going private for the initial consultation and tests will cost upwards of €500/600.

As well as asking how long the wait would be if we go public, I also want to ask you all of your experience going public versus private. Do you genuinely get a higher level of care by going private or is it just that you don't have to wait as long?

Feeling very deflated right now. Any replies would be so very appreciated.

Sorry to hear you are facing such a long wait. It must be dreadful.
The standard of care from your doctors and nurses is the same regardless of whether you are a private or public patient. The medical staff will be no nicer or kinder or thorough depending on which you are.
However, as a private patient you get a choice of clinic, shorter wait time, perhaps more options depending on what is covered under your healthcare plan and more scans/earlier scans etc when you are pregnant.
I am 36 and have been ttc for 8 months now. I foolishly thought I'd get pregnant as soon as I came off the Pill (end of Dec 12) and have been finding it difficult these last few days in particualr that I am not.
Rather than jump straight into the world of blood tests and hormones and the like I decided to try acupuncture and have had 3 sessions so far and am going for a 4th on Friday. I know a couple of people that had great success with it and I'm very hopeful (for now at least) that it will work for me too. At €50 a session (which can be claimed back on your health insurance or Med 1) it is certainly cheaper than the conventional medicine route and I'm happy to stick with it for now.
Perhaps its something to think about for yourself?
Good luck with whatever you decide to try.

coolabula

My sister was referred to the Rotunda public in early 2012 and received an appointment for June 2014!!
She was in the same position as you, average pay, no insurance or medical card, they decided to go private and paid to see the consultant in Rotunda Private.
She had to have several appointments and tests done, all of which have to be paid for, and she also had to have an operation. She is now 6 months pregnant


Overall she paid €3,000, but she would pay it again in a heartbeat. She had a problem that was never picked by her doctor and if she had waited to go public she still wouldn't know about it.
I suppose it's up to you and your partner whats best for you, you may be lucky and not need an op, so the costs would be lower.

I would pay for the initial consultation and see where that leads, at least you can make a decision with all the facts.

Good luck

magentas

Thank you all so much for your replies, I have nobody else to talk to about this (my own choice, it's just too personal to tell anyone and my bf is very supportive but I wanted to hear from women who have experience of it)

I guess I should put my name down on the public list anyway and like Idrive might get pregnant in the meantime. I guess I'll know more once I get my bloods done next month but think it's PCOS. I've had a couple of other health issues this year and with every GP visit costing €50 on top of prescriptions and trying to pay mortgage and bills etc all on little more than minimum wage, the thoughts of a long road of private testing and consultations scare me!

Sorry I don't mean to sound like I'm poor mouthing or anything, I'm sure many others in the same boat or worse. Guess I'll see what comes of my blood tests next month and then like coolabula said go for the initial consultation and see what happens. It's more the long-term financial drain that worries me (possibility of needing IVF or something that my doctor said costs €5k) but I'm probably getting ahead of myself just yet.

Like Penny I was on the pill for over 6years and thought I would get pregnant within a few months of coming off it:rolleyes:

Thank you all so much for replying and if anyone else would like to share their experience of public v private I'd love to hear.

LegacyUser

I wont lie to you, going private is very expensive. Yes, IVF can cost up to €5000 but you also have all the blood tests and scans and consultations before a decision is made to proceed to IVF. Generally depending on the issues it's not the first treatment given. You could be advised to try follicle tracking (costs are either per scan or per treatment depending on the clinic) or IUI (around €700 and they advise that you try it 3 times before moving on) and you really need to make sure that you are able to take on the financial commitments.

By all means go for the initial consultation, get yourself to the point of finding out what treatment they advise, get a price list and see how you are then financially. But in the meantime get yourself on the public list because you don't want to be in a situation where you're told you need expensive treatment that you can't afford without having going public as a back up.

Idrive

I know exactly how you feel..
financially speaking we would be the same also, so it can be daunting to think about the costs involved.
Your mind would be tormented from all the googling and thinking and worrying

I had myself convinced I had PCOS and endo, neither turned out to be the case.
Our bodies do need time after being on the Pill for so long, just to get back into a natural rhythm.

I would continue to try, every second night from day 10 to day 24 ( just in case you are ovulating earlier or later in your cycles ).

In case you havent looked into it, have you partner checked too before heading down the route of more tests etc. Very often women assume its their fault and sometimes it can be easier to fix the mans problem

I wish you the best of luck. Look after yourself.

magentas

Yeah my GP asked me to bring him with me on my next GP visit as indeed it may be him or a combination of the two of us! However all the signs point to me having PCOS but it won't be confirmed until they do the bloods and a scan.

My GP is fantastic and is extremely thorough so I have 100% confidence in him when it comes to my health. He really seemed to be pushing for me to go private though which made me think that maybe private meant a higher standard of care. I think sometimes people on a higher wage forget how much money €600 (to start with!) is to a normal working person but I know he only wants the best for me.

Bakemate

I'd have to disagree that the standard of care is the same between public and private. I've been TTC for 2 years now. My GP referred me to Holles Street as a public patient with suspected endometriosis. I thought I'd go public as you can get most of the tests done for free and I thought I'll go privately then if it turns out I need IVF.

I waited 4 months for the first appointment and about three months between each of the other appointments. I went 3 times in total and still have never met my consultant. I would just get whoever was working on my service and none of them had read my file before seeing me. I got an ultrasound, blood tests, a test to see if my tubes were open and a physical exam. Not once did they say I'll need a laparoscopy because that's the only way to really know if someone has endometriosis, which I had all the symptoms for.

The last time I went to get my test results consultation (I had already chased up each individual test result myself during this time), half my file was missing, the doctor actually said, "So what seems to be the problem", and she spent 20 minutes chasing up blood tests which had never been followed up. I could have had anything and they wouldn't have known!

So at the end of all that, after wasting over a year, they told me you've got unexplained infertility. If you want any further help you have to go privately.

The following week I went to the HARI clinic. He said great you've got all the tests done already so that will save you some money, but you need a laparoscopy before we do IVF, otherwise there'll be no point doing the IVF. So 5 days later (!) I was in getting the op and it turned out I had loads of endo.! Tried to conceive naturally then for 4 months and starting IVF next week.

On one hand I'm glad I saved loads of money getting the tests for free, but I also wasted a year of my life with doctors who completley ignored the symptoms I was referred to them for in the first place and I'm not getting any younger! If you have time or don't have the money, then get the tests for free publically, but if you can afford it just skip the public system I would say.

orchidsrpretty

Through my GP I got am public appointment in the rotunda. The wait was just over 11 months(2011). I decided I couldnt wait that long and went private in the merrion. I was really lucky that through them I was able to get a lap done publicly with minamal waiting time(2 weeks or so). it showed blocked tubes and my doctor thought it best that I visit the gynecologist in the rotunda as he has lots of experience with blocked tubes. I was lucky again with the time frames as by that time my public appointment was only weeks away and was able to have the op that I needed publicly, but had to wait nearly 7 months for it.

Aside from all that if there was any way for you to go private I would. I guess because the public doctors are so busy they don't seem to care. At my first public appointment I was given a prescription for clamyidia for absolutely no reason... in the three visits I had, they were all junior drs who tbh, seemed pretty clueless about my issues lots of misunderstanding, having to point out things to them etc..
In the private clinic, the receptionist gives a nice greeting, drs don't seem rushed and have time foe little chats etc. At a very vulnerable time for you and your partner these little tbings really mean a lot. I was always in tears after visiting the public dr.

In regards costs: depending on how many appointments you need but consultations are around 140-160 each time, most blood tests can be done at your doctors for about 25e and can be brought along to your first consultation. SA should be done in the clinic to avoid any issues about time frames in getting there and costs about 140e

I would go ahead and bet tne public appointment and save up for at least one consult to see what kind of issues you could be talking about

Best of luck, hopefully you wont need any of this info:)

Lizzyjp

Hi Ladies,

I have just had my first gynae appointment just a general check up. She did an ultra sound and instead of a foetus (which we were crossing fingers for) I saw a 12cm x 12cm cyst. I am currently living in South Africa but we are moving back to Dublin December. I have just sent the referral letter and scans etc to the appointment scheduling department in the Rotunda. I see on their website they say that appointments are scheduled depending on the urgency of the case.

I'm a newlywed and a bit of a novice when it comes to matters of the uterus (brought up strict Christian!!) Can anyone suggest anything else I can do or try? Should I also send referral letters to the coombe and holles street? This cyst is pressing into my bladder which isn't pleasant.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lizzy

LegacyUser

Hey guys i am currently on the waiting list for to see a gynaecologist in the public sector and i was just wondering if anyone knows how long the wait is to get an appointment in portlaoise hospital?