The Portland.

I'd take the luxury any day.

Did you hear the anecdote on WH this morning from a nurse who had worked at the Portland?
When she told her lady to "Push" she got the reply "That is what I am paying YOU to do"!!!

The programme set out to show probably the most extreme people they could.
I expect there are many people who go to the Portland who are rude and act like spoilt brats. One of things is that you get the same consultant all the way through....the NHS do not provide this in most aspects of care and it's actually dangerous. My daughter was left overdue for way too long as the unit didn't have a bed.....luckily the baby was ok, but by the time they got round to dealing with her the baby was in distress and then she was treated by a midwife who was training.....and their was a big panic when the trainer couldn't deal with the difficult birth.

If you have the money to make sure your baby is well and safe then why not!

When I win the lottery the very first thing I will buy is private healthcare not because I don't like the NHS but for all the extras that make ill health and life events easier to deal with.

Private health care isn't as good as is made out , friend had a hip replacement and was sent home after a few days , no follow up for review or exercises , he took ages to get on his feet compared to NHS patients , Son in law had to have surgery on his feet , the same story . His work had a private health care system and the NHS waiting list was so long . Due to the lack of after care and slow recovery he was unable to get back to work . His NHS appointment came in the mean time and he went to see the consultant expecting to be thrown out , but he ended up back in hospital to have the whole procedure repeated , successfully this time .
Those women in the Portland might have had a consultant on tap but they didn't fare any better than in the local Midwife centre

NHS for me anytime- I would prefer to have an anaesthetist on call within the building if I have a cardiac arrest than a very nice menu offering edible food. When I had my knee replaced in 2012, I lost 8kg in over a week because the food was dire but the medical and nursing care were excellent.

A friend of my mother lost her husband in private hospital. He went into cardiac arrest and there were no experts to see to him so he was rushed off to the NHS - unfortunately too late.

My good friend, wife of a retired GP, mother of a consultant anaesthetist, was persuaded by them to have her hysterectomy on the National Health last year because they said it would be safer and she would get better after-care. She said it was a revelation to her after years as a private patient, and that she couldn't have had better care. And my DBIL has had two hip replacements done privately and one under the NHS (yes, three in all!) - the aftercare was so much better for the NHS procedure, and included regular physiotherapy at his home that was not given for the other two ops. His recovery was much quicker.

A friend of mine was hoping for a bit of luxury when she went into our local private hospital as an NHS patient. The first thing that happened was that the TV and a la carte menu were removed and she was told she could choose between a ham or cheese sandwich

I have to confess that DS2 was born at the Portland not long after it opened 31 years ago. I had to have an elective C-section, and in those days that sort of thing was covered by our medical insurance so we did not have to pay for it ourselves! I don't think Caesarean section are covered by insurance any more.

Of course last night's programme showed very extreme cases. I wasn't impressed by most of the mums featured. No names mentioned! And yes, I did keep my baby
with me all the time, I felt sorry for the little mites in the programme who spent most of their time in the nursery.

All these years later I remember being pampered and looked after for the week I was in hospital, and it was a wonderful experience - in addition to the euphoria of having a gorgeous new baby.

Strange experience they had - mostly elective caesarians, baby in the nursery from the start, mostly bottle fed by the look of it. Then home to the maternity nurse and the nanny! Those births most have taken it out of them!

Elective sections for all my babies in the Westminster and Queen Mary's Roehampton. NHS of course, although there were amenity beds I.e.private rooms for a small charge I believe -or if there was the need..
The babies slept in the nursery at night and mummy would be fetched for the night feed. It was a lovely atmosphere , those lovely young student nurses bottle feeding the bottled babies and enjoying the cuddle, quiet time with your baby and no worries about disturbing the other mums in the ward. You could chat to the nurses, ask any questions and generally start to build up some confidence with this terrifying tiny mitevho thought you knew what you were doing!! The night before you were due to go home (after the regulation 7/8 days) you could put a note on the crib saying "mummy and I are going home tomorrow, please let her sleep and give me a bottle if I am hungry"!!!
We also had to take the babies to the nursery if the ward was being hoovered and if we wanted an undisturbed afternoon nap!
Those were the days!!

I've come over all nostalgic! I remember being absolutely exhausted and in discomfort a couple of days after the baby was born and oh! the luxury of putting him in the nursery for a couple of hours during the night so that I could get some undisturbed sleep.

I think the most important thing is having enough doctors, nurses and equipment around in the event of there being an emergency. That isn't a given these days with the NHS - but neither is it with private health care.

My first experience of childbirth was horrendous - in an ex-military hospital in Colchester on a ward of about 18 women with lots of noise, only 3 toilets and one bathroom. The nurses were horrible. I think this really bad experience gave me a mildish but long lasting period of depression.

My second experience seven years later was as different again - in a "cottage hospital" in Horsham, only two mums to each room (which was very peaceful and with a nice outlook), kind and caring nurses - and lovely food. It was like being on holiday and I felt much happier and more optimistic afterwards.

Watched the repeat of this late last night. That poor little Chinese baby. An indifferent mother, a father who couldn't wait to leg it back to China and already on his second nanny at just a few months old.

No doubt his name is already down for boarding school.

If I was paying shed loads of money for even a 'standard' room I think I'd want it to be cleaned with a little more enthusiasm than a quick wipe round with a cloth that was used on all the surfaces.

I'm with you merlotgran - that chinese Mum was so detached from her new baby and the father barely there that you did feel sorry for the little chap being brought into that sort of world. And then she went back with her mother and Nanny intow so she could return to being one of the beautiful people which was clearly much more important to her than her son.
I think the dedication of the Midwives in NHS hospitals is exceptional as are the nurses and I would not pay those amounts to give birth even if I could -

I watched the programme yesterday afternoon and I too was amazed at the Chinese mother who didn't seem to want the baby at all so she took her Mum along to look after it in hospital. the she cried because she had a big tummy after the baby and someone might steal her husband from her because of it!

I must say I was gripped by the stories but very impressed by the clinical staff especially the senior nursery nurse who seemed very down to earth and totally dedicated to the babies.

The reason NHS hospitals stopped having large communal nurseries was to cut down on the transfer of infection baby to baby and to improve mother baby bonding.

3 GS born there, 2 stayed with mother all the time. First one came, dramatically and dangerously for both him and his mother, 10 weeks early. Emergency C-section, born weighing just 1 kilo with 50/50 chance of survival. He was in SCBU for weeks though home a week before his due date.
So we have good reason to be grateful to the hospital.
I'm certainly not saying that the outcome would necessarily have been different in the NHS hospitals my other grandchildren were born in.

I haven't seen the programme but the comments above seem to suggest that (surprise, surprise) the producer went for the extremes in editing to make an impact. What's new?!

I worked in a building directly opposite the Portland when it first opened all those years ago and it was interesting watching people leave- obviously not all celebrities but a lot were. Some entered and left via the rear entrance but even so we saw a lot from the balcony!

Off topic, but I used to go to a hairdresser in Mayfair bang opposite a pub where celebrities used to like to be seen, Charleygirl. I loved getting the gossip on how they all behaved when spotted by the hoi-polloi. Predictably, some were absolutely lovely, some were proper a***holes. The stylists liked Jerry Hall and Burt Kwok, who bought drinks for his fans. I'm not saying who was at the bottom of their list, but it changed the way I saw him when he was all smiles on TV!

A friend was an estate agent and had many a tale to tell! Cate Blanchett was top of her list and a certain Eastenders young woman near the bottom.
I asked a taxi driver about celebs he'd had in his cab and he mentioned Michael Palin. I asked whether he was as nice as on tv, he said 'No' then, as we were stopped in traffic, paused, turned around and continued 'even nicer'!