Moving back during pregnancy

JimmyBronco

Hi,

Myself and my wife currently live in the UK are looking to move back to Ireland this year. We are both Irish and, as per the title, she's pregnant so we're wondering about the logistics of it all. We're looking to move back in (roughly) May and by then she'll be about 6 months pregnant. Which means we'll have both scans done and will be on the home straight all going well!

Our main concerns are around arranging maternity care, where she'll give birth and how we sort all of that out. Should we be looking to get this stuff sorted out now? Will it be too late to start arranging the maternity related stuff in 6 months? I don't know about Ireland but in particular you need to book into the maternity hospital pretty swiftly over here, not sure if it's the same back home?

It's our second so we have gone through all this before, just not in Ireland!

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks,
James

dori_dormer

I'm about to move home at 5 months pregnant for the second time. I've had no problem registering with hospitals. Most people do combined care, where you alternate between seeing your gp and seeing a gynae at the hospital. But you don't have to do this.

Depending on the hospital you May be able to register online, or print off a form and post it in to register.
The only issue I can see you encountering Is with health care. I don't think the pregnancy would be covered by insurance if you were to sign up now, and I've no idea if you would be entitled to public healthcare since you likely haven't been paying irish taxes but english ones. The birth could be very costly for you!

Lucuma

Best thing to do is on your next trip home (or organise one specifically) your wife makes an appointment with the GP and gets referred into the maternity system. Then she is good to go.

dori_dormer

You don't need to waste money visiting a gp to get a referral. Just check out you local hospitals website about how to register.

JimmyBronco

Thanks all. Looks like we need to look into potential costs if we aren't covered. Do you know if the cost of it and any eligibility rules / regulations are available anywhere online?

dori_dormer

The hospital should be able to tell you themselves. All of them have different overnight costs etc. I know if you go semi private, that it still costs about 3.5k even with insurance so upwards of that? It really depends if she has a straight forward birth, or a c-section ( would cost more)

I would def get insurance even if the pregnancy is not covered. As the baby automatically goes on the mothers policy once born, for free until the next renewal, so if the baby has any issues, they will at least be covered.

lazygal

Semi private wouldn't be €3.5 grand, fully private would.
Op a friend of mine moved back at six months gone and booked in with my consultant. I don't know what insurance she had but she went fully private. The system here was a huge shock to her after the NHS. Just to let you know.

dori_dormer

Lazy gal, semi I think can range from 2.5 to 3.5 depending on teh hospital and the consultant. Think ours was the 3 grand mark as I only moved back at 20 weeks, would say 3.5 would be accurate for a full pregnancy. A friend of mine paid close to 5 grand for private in the coombe.

lazygal

I was in Holles St. Most consultants were in or around four grand but semi p was way less, under a grand. Wonder why the difference in price.

dori_dormer

Strange. Our scan alone at 20 weeks they charged somethign like 800!

lazygal

dori_dormer wrote: »

Strange. Our scan alone at 20 weeks they charged somethign like 800!

What? I'm sure we paid €150 max for ours. And private scan clinics wouldn't be that price. And that was only semi private?!
Out of sheer curiosity I checked Babyscan.ie. The charge seems to be €160. I think you were ripped off big time.

sareer

You can go public which is free. The eligibility is that you have lived in Ireland for a year OR plan to do so. I moved here and was pregnant before completing a year and had no issues. One of my friends went for public care and was asked to vacate her hospital bed three hours after giving birth in the morning as they have so many new patients every day. In general, most recommend semi private care.

sareer

Most insurance policies require you to have been on their policy for 12 months before you give birth.

Holles allows you to register online BUT parking is an issue there - fyi. There is limited public parking and you need to renew the parking either by running downstairs and pay for more time or use the online app to do so. Else take cabs to/fro.

dori_dormer

lazygal wrote: »

What? I'm sure we paid €150 max for ours. And private scan clinics wouldn't be that price. And that was only semi private?!
Out of sheer curiosity I checked Babyscan.ie. The charge seems to be €160. I think you were ripped off big time.

The small scans at 12 weeks etc were that price. We had a detailed anatomy scan done. ( we didn't ask for it it was insisted upon as we'd lived abroad) and the woman spent about 45 min with us. Perhaps that was why? I've no idea . Or perhaps we got charged that because it was our first appointment back in ireland? Ireally don't know!

I do know my sister paid about 2750 total for her care in the Coombe semi private a year after me.

jockeyboard

Public care is free?
Pregnancy is not an illness so midwifery led care is far superior.
If your wife has any issues, blood pressure, diabetes etc she will see a senior doctor anyway.
If she and baby are well she can avail of early transfer home scheme and midwives do visits at home including loads of breastfeeding support if she is breastfeeding.
If there was god forbid an issue with the baby the baby would be seen by the appropriate medical professional.

dori_dormer

She may not be entitled to public care since they haven't lived in ireland. But if what sareer says is true then going public is your best bet.

The midwife led care is excellent but only available within a certain range of the hospital I believe? And it fills up pretty fast. In the hospitals themselves when you go into labour everythign will be dealt with by a midwife unless somethign serious happens then a doctor will come to make any big decisions. I never saw my doc when I gave birth.

On the length of stay, if first child, then you usually stay 3 days, 5 for a c-section. On subsequent children you can be released 24hrs after you have been admitted. Provided you meet all the requirements obviously.

sareer

jockeyboard wrote: »

Public care is free?
Pregnancy is not an illness so midwifery led care is far superior.
If your wife has any issues, blood pressure, diabetes etc she will see a senior doctor anyway.
If she and baby are well she can avail of early transfer home scheme and midwives do visits at home including loads of breastfeeding support if she is breastfeeding.
If there was god forbid an issue with the baby the baby would be seen by the appropriate medical professional.

I had no midwife visit me at home and have no friends who went public/semi private where that was the case. Is that for private patients only?

Just to add regarding my friend who was asked to leave after three hours - it was her first child and at Rotunda.

Only the public health nurse visited me at home two days after being discharged from the hospital. When I asked her about breastfeeding tips to continue from nursing in hospital she told me she can help me only with how to prepare a formula bottle.

sareer

Yes, going public means it's free. However also typically means longer waiting hours for checkups, not seeing the same physician at hospital checkups but whoever is on duty that day and sharing your room with definitely more than the five other women in semi private.

sareer

Sorry for yet another post, just thought of something else -

If you do opt for semi private or private, even without private health insurance, keep all receipts and submit them in Jan 2017 on the PAYE portal. Same goes for any other expenses as public patient.

The Irish government pays back 20% of health expenses like these unless they have already been reimbursed by an insurance company (insurance companies stamp the receipts and the government quite frequently asks to see the receipts even after paying you so stick to the rules ). It's called med1 tax relief if you want to google it.

sareer

dori_dormer wrote: »

She may not be entitled to public care since they haven't lived in ireland. But if what sareer says is true then going public is your best bet.

The midwife led care is excellent but only available within a certain range of the hospital I believe? And it fills up pretty fast. In the hospitals themselves when you go into labour everythign will be dealt with by a midwife unless somethign serious happens then a doctor will come to make any big decisions. I never saw my doc when I gave birth.

On the length of stay, if first child, then you usually stay 3 days, 5 for a c-section. On subsequent children you can be released 24hrs after you have been admitted. Provided you meet all the requirements obviously.

Boards.ie does not allow me to post any links as I am too new of a user. If you check the HSE website you will find it mentioned there as well - in theory they may ask you to prove you will stay for a year (in my case they did not) but if you have any job contract, rent agreement etc that should do -

Every women who is pregnant and ordinarily resident in Ireland is entitled to maternity care under the Maternity and Infant Scheme. Ordinarily resident means you are living here, (HERE -) or you intend to remain living here for at least one year.

sareer

dori_dormer wrote: »

The hospital should be able to tell you themselves. All of them have different overnight costs etc. I know if you go semi private, that it still costs about 3.5k even with insurance so upwards of that? It really depends if she has a straight forward birth, or a c-section ( would cost more)

I would def get insurance even if the pregnancy is not covered. As the baby automatically goes on the mothers policy once born, for free until the next renewal, so if the baby has any issues, they will at least be covered.

The GP 6 - now GP 12 - card for children also allows you to take your child to the GP for free so you should definitely apply once you have a PPS number. You can apply online and they will post the card. As it's GP specific you will need to confirm a GP first though. I asked mine and she said she still takes children so I selected her from the list online.

dori_dormer

Yeah no gps in my area actually doing the scheme so I didn't even bother applying for that under 6 scheme. But thankfully they don't rip us off and it's only 30 for a child visit or 50 for an adult.

lazygal

dori_dormer wrote: »

The small scans at 12 weeks etc were that price. We had a detailed anatomy scan done. ( we didn't ask for it it was insisted upon as we'd lived abroad) and the woman spent about 45 min with us. Perhaps that was why? I've no idea . Or perhaps we got charged that because it was our first appointment back in ireland? Ireally don't know!

I do know my sister paid about 2750 total for her care in the Coombe semi private a year after me.

My anatomy scans were €150. Mini scans at every appointment were included in the fees. The price for semi private seems really high. I've never heard of anyone paying as much as you for scans,even fully private.

Cakerbaker

As far as I know the visits from a midwife at home are only available if you go public, if you live in certain areas and if you leave hospital early under the domino scheme or early release scheme. This also depends on having a straightforward birth. I'm attending holles st as a public patient and these schemes are only available in parts of south Dublin and north Wicklow. Other hospitals offer them in different areas but as far as I know it's not available everywhere.

Back to the OP, I know someone who moved back from the UK at 7 months pregnant and had no problems going public in Holles St. She couldn't go semi private or private as she needed health insurance for 52 weeks here before they'd cover her.

Ciarrai76

here's some info on the HSE website http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/3/maternity/

Couchkitten

lazygal wrote: »

My anatomy scans were €150. Mini scans at every appointment were included in the fees. The price for semi private seems really high. I've never heard of anyone paying as much as you for scans,even fully private.

http://www.coombe.ie/content/files/V2_Hospital_Charges_Jan_2016.pdf

Here are the costs for the coombe be semi-private - the antenatal fee is €750 and the total scan costs are capped at €480. Your insurance covers the costs of a room and the delivery fee. 20% of your direct costs can be reclaimed if you are a tax payer.

I'd say choose your hospital OP and ring them for costs. They'll be able to tell you in your covered in the public system or not. Because your moving from another EU country then I would think you are entitled to public care free of charge.