A Specialist Anaesthetist may have an important role to play in the safe delivery of your baby.
An Anaesthetist is a specialist medical doctor with 5-7 years postgraduate training and will be involved if you require an epidural for pain relief during labour and/or if you require anaesthesia for a caesarean section.
A dedicated group of Obstetric Anaesthetists provide Obstetric Anaesthesia services at Prince of Wales Private Hospital. They participate in a 24-hour, 365-day, year-round Roster to ensure a Specialist Anaesthetist is readily available for obstetric patients. The roster system may mean that if you require more than one anaesthetic procedure (e.g. epidural pain relief during labour followed later by anaesthesia for emergency caesarean section) a different Anaesthetist may attend for each procedure. The Anaesthetists who provide this service at the hospital are independent private practitioners. They are not employed by the hospital, and as such each Anaesthetist determines their own fees.
Often it is not possible to provide a definitive cost of your anaesthesia care prior to delivery. This is because it is not possible to predict when Anaesthesia care will be required, the number and type of Anaesthesia services you may require and who your Anaesthetist will be. You may have a different Anaesthetist for different services and each Anaesthetist will set their own fee.
Anaesthesia Fees vary according to:
- Type and duration of the procedure(s)
- Complexity of procedure
- Patient’s physical status
- Time of procedure (e.g. outside of regular working hours)
- Emergency component (e.g. an unscheduled caesarean section)
- Number of occasions an Anaesthetist is called in to attend to you.
Consequently, Anaesthesia Fees can vary considerably. For elective procedures, your Obstetrician will be able to give you the details of the Anaesthetist booked to provide your care. You are encouraged to contact their office directly for specific Fee Information. For non-elective care (e.g. epidurals for pain relief in labour, anaesthesia for emergency caesarean section) your Obstetrician can provide you with a Fee Information Sheet that indicates a range of potential Obstetric Anaesthesia fees and the likely out-of-pocket expenses. The Delivery Suite will be able to provide you with the details of the on-call Anaesthetist when you attend the hospital for delivery of your baby. Feel free to ask the on-call Anaesthetist questions about the fees that may be incurred.
Please note, after-hours procedures and emergency services (e.g. after-hour epidural and emergency caesarean sections) generally attract a significantly higher fee but also attract a higher Private Health Fund and Medicare rebate.