wombatboy

just looking for people who might have travelled back home to uk with two young kids. i am looking to move back in a year or so and we have one toddler, but we are thinking of having another kid and dont know whether its more financially viable to do it here or back in uk. My wife is aussie and she's been talking to her best mate (who lives in london) who tells us its 8000GBP to have a child in private health. so whats the NHS system these days? considering baby grant ..should we stay in oz to have 2nd and then travel back?
(i dont have a job to go to yet, but would go over and organise that as and when)

Dessiree

Personally i would want to be settled with a job before even thinking about bringing another life into this world.

wombatboy

...thanks Dessiree.


the question is more about the cost of health care in UK, I am in private health care here and wont have it over there...and my question is more about how good the NHS system is.

dunroving

Surely you realise the NHS is free? .. maybe not.

Cost and quality are two different things.

From personal obesrvation, reading posts on here, reading the respectable newspapers, the NHS seems great for accidents and emergencies, pregnancy and childbirth, and surgery (when you get to that point). Diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions can sometimes take a long and torturous route ... but it seems once you get to the point of treatment, the NHS can be as good as anywhere (and a lot cheaper, of course). Of course, diagnosis of pregnancy is usually pretty straightforward so you're not likely to be sitting on a wait list for 2 years before you get "treated" for the condition.

Dessiree

Okay well as mentioned above the NHS is free. I am currently pregnant, and using the NHS and i have to say i have absolutely no complaints at all. My first child was born in Spain under private health care and i had several complaints with that care! So you do NOT get what you pay for!
I also worked in maternity in UK many moons ago and i have to say, in my opinion it would be a waste of money to go private in the UK because the NHS really does look after you in terms of pregnancy/childbirth.

sunray

I had 3 children in the UK at NHS hospitals. The Dr's/Midwives were fantastic. I cannot think of one complaint throughout any of my pregnancy/birth experiences.

wombatboy

thanks loads for your replies. I knew NHS was free, didnt know if it was 'reliable' when it comes to child birth. But it sounds like it is and the treatment is good. I plan to go back and get a job in UK before another child and to get things set up for my family. Thanks again for your replies

JustBecause

Same position here but have decided to go back to have 2nd child for family support - must have been mad to think we could do it by ourselves for the first one, & if we weren't then it's driven us mad by now! Anyway, aside from cost of care I think quality of maternity care very much depends on the individual hospital and then again on the particular staff you see on any given day & again if they're having a v busy day you might be treated less well than a normal day, so there's a fair degree of randomness involved. If it is really important to you & you have freedom of where you are going you could check out the local hospitals first & make sure you are near one that is supposed to be good.

For us we would probably be better off cost-wise over here with all the child benefits, but then we have not factored in child care which we would need if we had a second one here. Back home hopefully the rellies will do it for free!

Amandabee

Just one more point to consider, many private health insurances won't cover for childbirth/pregnancy if you havent had the coverage for a while.

Also in my area it wouldnt have mattered if I was covered by private coverage as there isnt a private hospital that does childbirth.

I have absolutly no complaints about the NHS and the whole birth, and the subsequent stay in the special care baby unit for 4 weeks.

wombatboy

thank you so much for your replies.
its q a thing to decide, but we have come to an agreement at the moment that it would be less stress to just wait until we go to UK to have a second. I really dont want to leave a family with 2 kids over here while i look for a job, and from what you have all said the NHS is still a good place to have a baby.
I just remembered this week that a mates wife back in Redbourn (where i'm from) is actually a midwife, I will ask her about local hospitals and find otu whats best.

thanks indeedy