Cashmere Kate

Going back to my original post, I've had the blood tests, that was no problem. I had an appointment for an ultrasound tomorrow but I've just had a call to say that the doctor won't be there so it's been postponed until next week. This is the second time it's been postponed so I think I'm going to go private as this whole palaver has been going on for over a month now and I just don't have the time to waste. Thorough they may be, efficient they certainly aren't

Cashmere Kate

Just phoned a private gyno. Can get an "appointment" on Monday. The surgery is open from 3pm to 6pm on a first come first served basis. WHY OH WHY can't they do normal appointments???!!! If I'm going to pay a fortune, I don't want to be sitting in a waiting room all afternoon. Just out of interest I asked the secretary how much it would cost. "Ooh, I don't know that, you'll have to ask the doctor when you see her." Not going there then...

Isakat

The private doctors work in the Italian state hospitals in the mornings, hence appointments from 3pm onwards in their private studios.
When you ask for the price,I suggest you tell them that you do not have private medical insurance, as sometimes they have different tariff if you are paying all yourself.
I recently had an emergency x ray done on my leg and I was told the double x ray would cost 70 euros. When I asked for a receipt because I need to be reimbursed by my insurance company, the price went to 100 euros.
A realistic sum to pay for your check up would be between 80-120 euro.

Cashmere Kate

The afternoon appointment would be fine if they would just say "Come at 4 o'clock" and I knew that at 4 o'clock or thereabouts I would see a doctor! Unfortunately the difference in price is quite common with a lot of doctors (and plumbers and electricians and dentists etc.) and doesn't depend so much on whether you have insurance as whether they have to declare the money they've taken from you! If you need/want a receipt, they have to pax tax on it so the price goes up.

Isakat

Maybe my paediatrician is just a nice lady as she charged several of my friends less when they told her they had no private insurance and this was irrespective of getting a receipt.

indiebird

Kate, would it be too far out of your way just to go and have a look at how many people there are waiting already? If there aren't many then I suggest you go for it... my public health GP is a turn up and wait affair and it really depends on the day. I find the afternoons are quieter. It seems to be an Italian habit to sort these things in the morning... well, here anyway. I've had similar gyne problems. I ended up taking my own coil out in the end when I couldn't get back on to the original doctor and I'd suffered the indignity of having a full 'scrape' by a male doctor at the local hosp to make sure I had no infections.... and really did not want to try and find a private one after all that. I've made different contraceptive arrangements now based on not shaving my legs, wearing my grey knickers to bed and being grumpy if my OH comes near me... but, perhaps not recommended for those who haven't already had two kids and find they work as pretty effective contraception already on my OH who has to pay out for all their school materials and activities....

Lorna at Vicenza

LivingHere

My private gynae gave me an appointment which she stuck to. My private PAP test was cheaper than going through ASL!

indiebird

Mine was free through the ASL! It was the one thing that I found quite painless and efficient. I had a letter in the post with a date and time. I turned up, found the right place, there were a few women already waiting and it was over in less than 20minutes.

Lorna at Vicenza

Me too - all part of the women's health scheme. At a certain age they call you for a mammogram too, though I forget which age.

37100

Me too. It's up to the age of 61. I have also just had a mammogram. That's from 50 to 69. Then there is the colon cancer prevention programme at 60.

K in Modena

I'm another one to have found the health system here pretty satisfactory. I went through the consultorio for my pregnancy and they were great. Gave birth in a natural birthing centre and it was great. Was moved onto the main ward afterwards and the bedside manner was far from great but I can't complain about the quality of care.

Bedside manner: nobody ever introduced themselves so you never knew if you were talking to a gynaecologist, paediatrician, midwife, nurse, cleaner... And they must have had my name in their notes but they would just march in and say, "letto 29!" and I'd say, "yes, that's me!" We were in a relatively private room- 2 beds- but you could never have the door closed because someone else would arrive 5 mins later and leave the door wide open when they left. They would come in and wake you at 5 a.m. to give you a pill- presumably because they'd just changed shifts. They left me with a drip stuck in my arm for hours after the bottle had emptied- I think they were on a break. On my first night they switched a bright light on above my bed which was impossible to switch off without getting up and I couldn't do that as I'd lost a lot of blood and had already fainted in the loo when they made me go so it stayed on for most of the night. Oh and they went on and on at me to eat something after the birth but didn't actually provide anything to eat and they'd sent my husband home. And the breastfeeding woman made me cry by telling me I needed to make more of an effort to feed my baby when I'd been up all night roaming the corridors trying to get someone to help her latch on.

Oh, dear, that's turned into a rant!

Cashmere Kate

So let me get this straight...

1) No-one introduced themselves to you.
2) No-one called you by your name.
3) You couldn't have the door to your room closed.
4) You got woken up at 5 am.
5) They left a drip in your arm.
6) They left a bright light on so you couldn't sleep.
7) They made you go to the toilet after you lost a lot of blood and you fainted.
8) They didn't give you anything to eat.
9) Someone made you cry.
10) You got no help with breastfeeding.

...and you call that quality of care???

K in Modena

Ha! Maybe "care" is the wrong word. Maybe I mean "medicine"!

It's not true that they didn't give me anything to eat, just not at that time that they wanted me to eat. I was somehow expected to magically produce food and eat it.
I got a bit of help with breastfeeding but nowhere near enough considering my baby wouldn't latch on. They seemed to lose interest after day 1 until about day 3 when the woman made me cry.
Yes, the other statements are all true!

indiebird

you say that but I had a horrendous first stay in hospital with Baby number one in Brighton... I don't want to get ranty but I was treated appallingly by midwives who were stretched to the limit. We all heard a rather huge argument through our curtains when one particularly sensitive woman had a go at her husband for 'looking' at another patient in our room of four when a midwife asked him to give the tray of food to this poor girl who had just had a caesarian.... that is quite funny looking back, but wasn't at the time with all the hormones flying about....