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Original poster

The Agora Clinic in Hove, or The Esperance in Eastbourne?

36 replies

CareBear1 · 26/03/2012 22:16

Has anyone had any experiences with either of these fertility clinics and if so would you recommend them?

Thanks. X

OP posts:
Original poster
CareBear1 · 02/05/2012 22:45

I've pm'd you the detail of my acu lady just in case you're interested. x

OP posts:
missbrightside · 02/05/2012 21:59

Hello. No, haven't quite got round to booking any accupuncture ..... ! I did have a couple of sessions a while ago now but am not particularly fond of things that involve 'relaxing' and didn't really give it a fair go !!! I did intend to book some sessions leading up to IVF but lo and behold I haven't managed to get round to it yet (where does the time go to ??!!) I sort of think I should give it a go (based on lots of good reports on here !) but also sort of think that I'm going a bit bonkers in wanting to pursue everything and a line has to be drawn somewhere ........ !

Anyhow, will keep my fingers crossed for your immune results.

Take care xx

Original poster
CareBear1 · 01/05/2012 22:11

Hi Missbrightside, hmm i agree with you i wouldn't want to hear anything about what they'd recommend if you miscarried again, just what they can do to prevent that from happening! Did you have confidence in what the consultant was saying otherwise? At the bridge i found sometimes the nurses gave different opinions, but they always rang back at the end of the day after having conferred with a consultant and gave a definitive response. I did have one nurse who stabbed around at my veins repeatedly and i ended up really sore. i think all your emotions and responses are so heightened during it all anyway that it really helps to have extra reassurance about things. If you've still got any questions, it might be worth giving them a call tomorrow to one of the nurses and chatting it through?

To be honest since my GP referred me which is now about 5 weeks ago i haven't heard diddly squat from them - i've tried ringing a number of times and no-one seems to answer the phone, and i've left messages and no-one's got back to me. So not very impressed so far! At least at the Bridge you couldn't fault their service. I think at the moment I'm distracted anyway as i'm doing a 'super ovluation' round and waiting for my immune test results, and probably need a few months break anyway before another ivf.

Have you been going to acupuncture? x

OP posts:
missbrightside · 01/05/2012 18:17

Sorry - he said 'If the IVF is successful but ends in a miscarriage' !

missbrightside · 01/05/2012 18:15

Hello Carebear

Hope that your immune testing has gone (is going ?) well.

I wondered if you had been to the Agora yet - and if so how you think it compares to your previous clinic ?

I've now had a couple of appointments there and have really mixed feelings about it. At the first I had a baseline scan (nurse who did it was great) followed by a repeat blood test (different nurse who did it faffed around so much I nearly did it myself ... !)

Today we saw the consultant (I've seen him before as he also work for the Royal Sussex). I asked him about immunes (given that it is his specialist area !) and he said he saw no reason no to go ahead with at least one cycle of IVF and "see what happens". But - if the IVF is successful - he would recommend (private) immune testing as part of the recurrent miscarriage investigations I would need if I have another miscarriage (given that I would then have had 3) .... Hmm. Admittedly we agreed with this course of action but didn't leave feeling totally assured of our decision ...... !

Then saw a nurse for all the nurse bits. She was only young (I know we all have to start somewhere) but her inexperience came accoss. Lets just say I've learnt more from mumsnet and youtube ...... ! DP and I had a bit of an argument about it afterwards as (when I moaned about her on the way home !) he thought I was being unreasonable as she was "really nice". She was really nice - just would have preferred to have gone through it all with someone who I had a bit more confidence in .... !

Anyhow, I do think I'm being a bit unreasonable by moaning as I'm sure every clinic is dependent on what person you deal with. But I do think the Agora is hit and miss. I just can't wait to start getting on with it now (I'll start taking the pill on my next cycle aiming for egg collection in mid June) as I'm spending far too much time thinking about things !!

Anyhow, please don't feel the need to reply to this. I'm just starting to warble on now .... !

x

missbrightside · 28/03/2012 22:24

Excellent - a clinic buddy !! Grin

Thank you very much for the NK information - much appreciated. I think I really do need to stop self diagnosing and step away from Dr Google for a bit - but I will ask the Consultant more about it when I see him.

(Although in the meantime I will just secretly order the Dr Beer book that people have recommended. For research purposes of course .... !)

I have a baseline scan in a couple of weeks - so will let you know how it goes there. I then have an appointment with the consultant and a nurse on 1st May - so assuming that will start after that. Incidently, we are with Mr Kelada (who we have previously seen for fertililty investigations as he is also a consultant at the Royal Sussex). Nice man - good beside manner !

Well, my CD doesn't seem to have arrived from Amazon today so no idea if it is any good !! No idea why I went for that one instead of the one that everyone recommends ... ! (Think there was a review on Amazon that swayed me !)

Will keep in touch !

x

Original poster
CareBear1 · 28/03/2012 18:02

Hi Bright side - Well I decided that it would be more sensible to look at statistics after all, and I know they don't mean everything but the agora and lister combined are well above average, and well above the esperance so we've decided to go with the agora after all.

Fyi I rang them today (got straight through) to ask if they do NK cell testing and treatment as part of cycles and they do. (I assume that you'd have to pay extra but good to know this could be done and managed inhouse). They don't really do the chromosome testing thing that some other people on these threads are having done.

I haven't heard of the Helen McPherson one is it any good?

I'll be really interested in your experiences at the agora as I'll probably be a few weeks behind you in treatment. x x x

OP posts:
missbrightside · 27/03/2012 22:49

Hello - I'm along the coast from you in East Sussex. Hove (just a stones throw away from the Agora in fact). So my reasons for picking it over the Esperance were even more fickle than yours - I can walk there !! I work in London so that would have been a viable option for us if we had had had a free choice. As you say, it's a postcode lottery and I can't really complain with mine. East Sussex give you two fresh cycles and two frozen cycles which seems to be much better than some PCT's. And - although I'm winging about waiting 6 weeks for an appointment - it's significantly less than some areas !

Yes - phones always going through to answerphone and speed in returning calls is already one of my annoyances with them .... ! (I'm glad it isn't just me who has picked up on it though !!)

Thank you for your words of advice. I've currently got a meditation CD winging it's way from Amazon. I went to get the Zita West one but had a last minute change of plan and went for the Helen McPherson one (no idea why to be honest !) I'm not particularly good at relaxing at the best of times so will see how it goes ! Have half heartedly had a few sessions of accupunture in the past - but think I will now book a few sessions to be geared at IVF. The Agora has an 'in house' bloke (Richard Mundie ?) who also practices independently in a clinic in Brighton - so will give him a go.

Anyhow, best of luck back to you too on this rollercoaster of a ride. I'd be really interested to hear back what you think of the Esperance when you go there.

Take care xx

Original poster
CareBear1 · 27/03/2012 19:41

Hi there missbrightside, thanks so much for your reply. No need to be sorry for voicing your opinion! Hope their service improves for you and your treatment goes well. You must be a West Sussex person also - I had been at the Bridge clinic in london but it seems west sussex pct have changed their contract of fertility clinic. After 2 goes at the Bridge I'm not sorry to give somewhere else a whirl, though i had no complaints about the Bridge. I think we've done really well in the postcode lottery compared with some other parts of the country.

I had already been thinking about the esperance as its a bit more of a convenient location. I rang both clinics yesterday to ask a question, and the esperance answered the phone and answered straight away, whereas with the agora i got a voicemail and they only got back to me late on today. So that coupled with your comments and the nice pictures of the esperance on the web i'm going to go there! How fickle, I'm sure I should be looking at statistics or something.

And yes, regarding your second post, hopefully they just prioritise everyone who is already in treatment so to speak so they get the best service. Best of luck with it. I found the fear and worry of the treatment a lot worse than the actual drug taking and procedures - in fact i had no side effects at all - easier said than done but try not to worry and get a zita west meditation cd. Having Zita whispering in your ear telling you everything will be alright is really supportive. Also I found doing acupuncture alongside really helpful - do you have this?

OP posts:
missbrightside · 27/03/2012 14:01

Hello again !

I'm now feeling bad that I've been a bit negative to you about the Agora. The truth is that I have nothing else to compare it to - so possibly I was expecting something a bit more in terms of service than I should be. As I say I haven't even started treatment there which is of course the deciding factor .... !

(possibly I just need to chill out a bit !)

Should have said that it's a satellite/sister clinic to the Lister in London (so can't all be bad !!)

xx

missbrightside · 27/03/2012 09:12

Hello CareBear

I've been lurking on the IVF thread (as I'm due to start treatment myself shortly) so am sorry to you for your news.

I'll be watching this thread with great interest as the Esperance and the Agora were the two clinics offered to us for our NHS cycles. We picked the Agora but now I'm wondering if we've made the right choice ... !

All my concerns are unbelievably petty (and will be totally irrelevant if the treatment works) but - if I'm quite frank - so far I've found them a bit slack. I'm hoping that they aren't so slack when it comes to treatment ..... ! (I'm sure they aren't).

When it comes to administrative matters it's very much like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. They are very keen to sell the fact that they have no waiting list - but when I tried to make a 'booking in' appointment with a nurse the earliest date they could give me was 6 weeks away. Really ? Just to be shown how to do injections ? My initial thoughts have been that if we were paying we probably would be looking around a bit more.

I don't know if you are familiar with the area but it is minutes away from Hove Station (handy if you are travelling by train) in a souless modern office block. There are some comments on Fertility Friends that it is like a 'spa'. Sorry to offend anyone but it's not like any spa I've ever been to ... ! I didn't particularly find it a nice environment (but then again, is any clinic ??)

Anyhow, hopefully someone who has actually had treatment at one of these will be along to give far more constructive comments ...... !

Take care xx

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