Fertility clinic in Reading! Nervous and need advice

[rubywoo24]

Hello, I’ve been reading the threads on here for a while and have only just plucked up the courage to make an account and ask for some advice for myself.
My husband and I have been trying to conceive with no luck for 2 years. We have been through some initial tests at the doctors, scans, sperm analysis etc. And I have been told I have pcos and referred to a fertility clinic.
We are based in Reading and have been given a choice out of:

• Royal Berkshire Hospital
• Royal Berkshire Bracknell Healthspace
• Townlands Memorial Hospital

I wanted to ask whether anyone has any experience with any of the clinics above. I have searched through the internet but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information available. After reading through the many threads, it sounds like the clinic you select can make a quite a big difference to the whole process, so want to make sure I pick the right one! I am quite nervous about the whole process, so any advice or help would be much appreciated.

[Italiangreyhound]

I had a fertility related procedure at Royal Berkshire Hospital. It was perfectly fine buy the parking was terrible. I mean really stressful finding a parking space.

I do not know for sure but the. HFEA might carry stats on success rates.

May I ask how old you are?

Good luck.

Ps we have a child by IUI and a child by adoption.

[rubywoo24]

Thanks @Italiangreyhound that's very helpful. I understand what you mean about the parking at Royal Berkshire, I've been there a few times for other reasons and the parking has been awful. Good to know their service was ok though.
I am 31, so hopefully age shouldn't be an issue, but keen to get the process started!

[rubywoo24]

I forgot to add, I tried looking them up on the HFEA website, but they didn't come up for some reason!

[Italiangreyhound]

Age is in your favour.

"May the odds be always in your favour."

[gwen7896]

Hello,

I had my first appointment at Royal Berkshire Bracknell Healthspace a few weeks ago. It was easy to find parking there etc. I will still need to go to RBH for some of the tests / procedures and the staff is the same in both locations.

Hope this helps :)

[rubywoo24]

Thanks @gwen7896 that is helpful. Is there a long wait between appointments? My GP mentioned that sometimes being an issue with fertility clinics

[RenegadeMrs]

Hi Ruby Woo,

I was referred for fertility investigations at Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in 2015, and through the course of the investigations had procedures at the Royal Berkshire Hospital and Townlands. We then were referred by the RBH fertility clinic on to another fertitility clinic to undergo IVF.

The RBH clinic will do investigations that require more specialist tests and then recommend a treatment for you. As I understand it, if you need surgical intervention, its done via RBH. But RBH don't do procedures like IVF or ISCI (I'm not sure about IUI we didn't do that), which is why they are not on the HFEA website. Its a bit confusing as they are all called fertility clinics!

Both Royal Berks and Townlands were fine in terms of the procedure and care, but I would say that for my HSG test, (done at the Royal Berks Hospital) I had to wait in the same waiting room used by all the pregnant ladies waiting for their ultrasounds, which I could have done without.

Also, parking at RBH is terrible as noted above. Leave plenty of time. You can also park at the Queens' Road car park and walk up (takes about 15 mins to walk) if the weather's good and you are not having a surgical procedure.

I'm afraid the whole process does take a while. I was also 31 when we started investigations, and it did take a year for them all to be done and to get through to IVF. It took them almost 4 months just to confirm our funding for IVF and transfer our case to an IVF clinic. And then another could of months to be seen at the clinic. Be prepared to chase, and to wait.

Having said all that, I had a baby in 2017 after sucessful treatment and now have a lively 22 month old daughter

Good luck on your journey!

[rubywoo24]

Thanks @RenegadeMrs and congrats on the birth of your daughter! Glad to hear the whole thing worked out for you :)
I think I've decided to go for the RBH healthspace as it sounds like it's the same people working there and will save me the hassle of parking.
It also makes sense about them not being included on the HFEA website. Out of interest, which fertility clinic did you have your treatment at?

[KiaraJ2]

Hello ladies
Hi @rubywoo24 i am on same boat.
I am 31 years old and having a regular visit in RBH from May this year. I have pcos since 2012 and started TTC from 2018 April. When unsuccessful this year i was referred to Fertility clinic in RBH. i was offered baseling ultrasound, blood test and 3 rounds of clomid. As they were unsuccessful yesterday i went through Hycosy scan. The wait was 45 min even when i had an appointment. Tubes were fine but i was told that i might have endometrisosis as seen in my left ovary. So they have again offered me a specialist appointment some where in oct so that i can discuss my further options.

@RenegadeMrs i was really hopeful after seeing your post, thanks for sharing. So according to your post will my IVF be NHS funded/ free of cost or i need to pay?
Do you have any idea about treating infertility due to endometriosis? is it a good option to go to ivf rather than having any surgical procedure for endometriosis.

[RenegadeMrs]

@KiaraJ2 I didn't have endometriosis, so I'm not 100% sure of the treatment. However, my understanding is that you would be offered surgery to investigate the extent of the endemetrios / remove some of the scar tissue on the NHS as part of your fertility investigation without charge. I'd think you'd be given the option to do that before IVF (I was investigated for endo before IVF, but didn't have it) but the clinic would advise you.

It is the funding for IVF / ISCI that is harder to get. IVF funding changes depending where you live. If you live in Berkshire you need to be under 35, have a BMI under 30, non smokers and both you and your partner have no children from previous relationships in order to get funding. You get one round and storage of any left over embryos for up to 3 years funded. Beyond that, or if you fall outside of the criteria, you need to pay for it.

You can find the criteria buy googling for it based on where you live, e.g. Hampshire IVF funding criteria.

Oh and sorry this is very late @rubywoo24 but I went to the Victoria Wing clinic in Woking for IVF. It wasn't that local, but it had the best sucess rates out of the clinics we were offered, and at one round of funding we went for greatest chance of sucess over convenience.

[rubywoo24]

Thanks @RenegadeMrs that's very helpful. Not quite at the IVF stage yet, currently trying a few cycles of Letrozole so fingers crossed!

[rubywoo24]

Hello @KiaraJ2 I also don't have much experience with endometriosis, and I haven't had a tubes scan just yet. Currently trying Letrozole, but the doctor did say if this doesn't work, next step would be the scan. Interesting to hear that they put you on clomid rather than Letrozole. I wonder how they decide between the two

[KiaraJ2]

Hi @RenegadeMrs thanks for the info. Did you also went through endo investigation? How was it. Do you need a week to recover?
well i do match all the criteria for ivf funded. But sorry to say i really don't understand what funded means.
Does it means that it will be done without any cost or it will be done under very minimal cost?

@rubywoo24 i too mention them do i need any other medicine but they didn't listen. They just told me as i am responding on clomid. It will work for me.

But both of you i would like to say please stay in touch. I really found this thread after a lot of search. So please keep on exchanging info. Thanks alot both of you.

[gwen7896]

Just thought I would give an update. I’ve finished my 2nd round of Clomid. I’ve asked about next steps in case it didn’t work. The nurse mentioned options such as ovarian drilling or IVF...

[Baypony]

I tried RBH fertility after having an awful time with Oxford fertility. We didn’t qualify for NHS funding but went to RBH for an NHS fertility op I needed before commencing private IVF overseas. As already mentioned parking is awful however the consultant I saw told me that the op was not needed and as I was going for private IVF anyway he also did private consultations. I ended up using him in his private consultant capacity through Spire Hospital on Bath road. He was great although it was expensive. We had IVF overseas with consultant supporting in UK and we are now 28 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately clinics are quite hit and miss in this area however if you start with one on the NHS and they don’t offer what you need you can move to a more specialist one in the area and your records can be transferred. Good luck 🤞

[Iloveoreos]

Hi ladies. How long did it take to get a letter/call from fertility clinic after GP first reffered you to it

[YouBoggleMyMind]

I went and got referred from my GP and she printed out the letter there and then and gave me a number to call and a code to give in order to book an appointment at RBH Fertility Clinic. I called at end of Jan 2020 and got an appointment beginning of March 2020, prolly about 5 weeks wait.

[ThashG]

Hi there, I’m 34 and have been offered IVF via the NHS after 2.1/2 years of unsuccessful attempts of conceiving. I really don’t know which clinic to choose. Has anyone any experience of the HEFA website? Or does anyone have any recommendations? I only know of the ARGC clinic but that’s a private clinic and it’s one of the best in the world. Any recommendations for NHS funded clinics? Thank you in advance smile