drdan

Hiya, interesting forum you all have.

I'm an ObGyn in the UK and thinking about applying for a job in Whangarei. I'd love to hear about any 'user' experiences of the maternity system in NZ and Northland/Whangarei in particular.

Wifey is v. keen to take the plunge, but I'm a little bit unsure!

Are the hospitals good? Any bad experiences. It's great to hear about the place in general and have picked up loads of useful info here.

Best wishes,
Danny

shazzafromnz

Hi Danny I have used the services 2 /1/2 years ago with an independent midwife and had my baby in the delivery suite at Whangarei Hospital..had the baby at 1240am and went home at 6.30 am.!!.(2nd baby though)..had my 10 year old in Napier hosptal also with an independent midwife stayed in hospital 3 days there..My care at Whagarei was better than my care at Napier but that was mainly due to the midwife issue..i dont think in hindsight that my midwife in Napier managed a slowly progressing labour very well in hindsight..
I was very happy with the services ..I am an RN and had a late baby at 38 1/2 so was offered free amnio etc which I didnt decide to take up based on a 18 week scan that I was happy with!!.One thing i think i like about Whangaie hospital is that the staff are very pleasant but that is my opinion!!
Any questions specifically??
Cheers
Shazza

drdan

Shazza, thanks, that's great. I just wanted to hear about the hospital really and if people have had good experiences. It does seem that maternity care in NZ is pretty similar to the UK.

Other than pregnancy, do most people contact a specialist directly or go via GPs for things that need secondary care?

Danny

shazzafromnz

Hi Dr Dan
In reply to your query ,GPs will refer pts to a specialist or we as pts can contact a specialist direct ( ie self refer).
Shazza

shazzafromnz

i should add to this that if you were an Ob/GYN employed by the hospital pts may not be able to self refer to you..but they could if you were operating privately.

drdan

Thanks.