Recommendation for a London Fertility Clinic

[Bella23]

We have decided to go ahead and seek fertility treatment in January privately.
We live in London - can anyone recommend a clinic that they have used / are using.

Bella

There is a site dedicated to assisted reproduction called CARE where there will be someone who has had treatment or is going through treatment in the London area and will be able to recommend clincs from their experiences. I am not very good at links but I will try
CARE Fertility Bulletin Board

Hope you get some information from that. You can register and ask your question in the General Forum section or do a search and someone may have asked a similar question in the past. Covers all aspects of assisted reproduction from IUI to IVF/ICSI Let me know how you get on.

Wendy

BELLA23,
WHY? ARE YOU NOT ABLE TO CONCEIVE OR HAVE YOU SUFFERED M/C.
I HAVE HAD 5 M/C AND AM NOW BEING ASSESSED IN A RECURRENT M/C CLINIC IN LONDON QUEEN CHARLOTTES HOSPITAL. WHERE ABOUTS ARE YOU?

I have personal experience with the London Gynecology and Fertility Center on Harley Street. In fact, dd is here as a result of my treatments with them.

The center is headed by Prof Ian Craft (who is often quoted in newspaper articles when a fertility expert's opinion is needed). I was not his patient however, as I think he mainly sees people with only the most serious fertility problems.

I was treated by Dr. Ehab Kelada, and found him to be skilled, compassionate, knowledgeable and supportive (which shouldn't be underestimated when you are going through such an emotionally charged experience). Anyway, if you prefer a woman, there is a Dr. Venkat, who is good too. However, I should also say that I have not been to the clinic in about 3 years, so am unsure if the doctors who treated me are still there. Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

The results from the Lister are the best in london. Clinic is run by Sam Abdallah - excellent and gets wonderful results. Their website is www.ivf.org.uk.

Prof. Ian Craft is a bit more of a mixed bag. He certainly has a very aggressive approach to treatment, and is very "media-friendly". You may think this is or is not a good thing. Perhaps do a search on both Craft and Abdallah and see what you think. Abdallah has a quieter approach.

hth

PPH - Yes, Sam Abdallah has a wonderful reputation, and gets fantastic results. I was referred to him initially, but sadly, it was not an option for me to go to the Lister. I was told by my private GP, that because of something to do with their charter (I think) they would not treat a single woman and consequently, I had to go elsewhere.

As Bella refers to "we", I assume this would not be an issue for her, and the Lister may well be top of the list for her.

Thanks for that, Early, I didn't want to step on your toes.

You probably didn't see Prof Craft because you are not over 55

I went to ARGC - check out this link
guide.hfea.gov.uk/ClinicData.aspx?pageCheck=index&clinicCode=0157

I was under Dr Taranissi who has also been on TV and in newpaper articles quite a bit. At the time I was there (3 years ago) they had the best stats in London. I think they do quite ground breaking treatments, I could'nt recommend them enough, especially after having failed treatments elsewhere.

I have heard good things about the Lister.

I have interviewed Taranissi. He is absolutely convinced his clinic is the best in England. Worth seeing IMO. I think it helps to 'click' with your consultant.

PPH - that's true about my age! Must say that I'd noticed Prof Craft's media profile has been much lower lately. Maybe he's decided a more low key approach is better.

I always wonder if Robert Winston's clinic is a good one (don't know anything about their results). Or is he too busy being a media star to see patients?

ARGC and Lister are the best IMO. Ds1 and 2 have invoices from the Lister in their scrapbooks.

Neither are cheap (ARGC being the more expensive). ARGC has a more aggresive policy but will appear to stop at nothing to get you pg (provided you can pay for it, and are prepared to go through the treatment). As someone noted earlier, Lister has a more gentle approach, but is nevertheless very successful. Lister operates as a team, so you may well get all of their consultants involved in your treatment.

If I were doing it all again I would start with the Lister unless you know you have something very unusual to deal with (auto-immune issues for example).

Good luck!

Lord Winston is at the Hammersmith and very rarely sees patients - you must have a very interesting case, and be prepared for a wait to get to see him.

You don't say if you're going down the IVF/ICSI route, so I'll assume this may be a possibility. We've had loads of fertility treatment - severe and unusual male factor.

The 'best' clinic in London in terms of successful pregnancies is ARGC. Not sure what age you are but if under 35 they achieve about a 60% pg rate which is very, very high. Lister 35%, ACU at UCH 42%, LFC 33%, Nuffield Woking 50%, Care Nottingham 36%. Last time I researched those were the top ones in the country. The HFEA website is a good source of information but the data is a few years out of date so worthwhile getting the most up to date stats by contacting the clinics directly.

Clinic choice is a difficult one and in our case was directed by DH's uro so I think your dx can affect the clinic that's best suited to you. Haven't been to the ARGC but I believe it is not for the faint-hearted. You need to be prepared to go for daily bloods/scans if doing IVF for about a 10 - 14 day period, sometimes having to return for more bloods in the afternoon. They monitor progress v v closely which is a good thing. They do lots of immunology testing, the value of which is much debated amongst the medical community. They treat with steroids, humira, IVIG etc. That said they do get results and 75% of their patients have been unsuccessful elsewhere. You do have to have FSH

WOW thanks ladies!!
My history is that we have been TTC since since June 04. We did get pregnant after 6 months but then had a m/c in Jan.
After no luck DH went for a sperm test and his motility is less than 30%. I am 32 and feel like I don't want to wait around for more "luck" so we have decided to seek treatment.
From what I have read I think we will try IUI first and hope that works. If not then will move onto ICSI.
After a search on the web I had found the ARGC website and it would seem that they have the highest success rate. I have asked them to send me their details.

Wendy - thanks I shall check out CARE

Peepee - so sorry to hear about your m/c's

Thanks everyone I shall check out the clinics you have recommended and let you know which we go for xx

Can I put in a late vote here? I know the best results tend to be from private hospitals, but if you don't have unlimited funds it might be an idea to consider an NHS hospital unit (UCH, Chelsea and Westminster, Thomas's for example). In the (probably unlikely) event that something goes wrong during your treatment, and you need hospitalization, a private hospital would knock your budget for six. An NHS-housed unit on the other hand would simply transfer you to an NHS hospital bed. I was hospitalized twice during my four rounds of treatment, and I hate to think what that would have cost us if I'd had to pay for a private hospital bed. We were at the C&W incidentally. Hope this helps. Just a thought.

I've heard good things about the Lister too. a friend has just used donor sperm and went to Guy's and had a v positive experience.

Hi, we also had a problem with low motility or at one stage anyway, my fertility history is a little strange. Tried to coneive naturally for 3 years with no success, 2 x icsi, 1 x fet which all failed. And then somehow got pregnant naturally only for it to end up as an eptopic pregnancy. DH had another sperm test and even worse motility and after having surgery for the eptopic advised ICSI again, got pregnant after 3rd ICSI treatment. Was breastfeeding DD and she was 9 months old and fell pregnant naturally. So now have 2 wonderfull DD's. A bit crazy after years of thinking we wouldnt ever have any children.

Janinlondon, Hate to be pedantic but UCH don't do NHS treatment. Their ACU is private only and as expensive as the other private clinics. I think EGA do go to IUI level on NHS though. You do raise a good point about admission to hospital, rare though that is. That said from what I understand, most private clinics (eg ARGC etc) which are clinics and not hospitals transfer patients for NHS admission if the need arises.

Hi everyone
Just to give you a bit of hope, my DH had sperm motility of 25% and we got our BFP in July after 15 months of ttc. I never thought it would happen for us but it did and I am now 17 weeks pg. What I am trying to say is please dont give up hope, especially you Bella, if your DH's motility is less than 30% but not that low, then it can happen and I am sure you stand just as good a chance as anyone.
Hope this story helps a bit.
Bev

Sorry Portree - I wasn't being clear. I meant NHS hospital based units. Not NHS funded. I know they charge - I have the bills to prove it . I was just thinking of emergencies. When I was at the C&W there was (ahem) a small problem when I kicked the consultant doing the retrieval in the face and caused damage to both of us, and there were instantly four qualified consultants from the NHS side of the hospital in the room with me sorting it all out. I just meant that having NHS back up close by can be helpful. And of course when I came to I wasn't in the ACU anymore, but in the NHS obst/gyn ward. And the same thing when my next catastrophe struck. (oh dear!!)

WorriedBev - lovely news.
Can I ask - Were you going to seek any treatment at any stage. I just don't know if we should wait longer before going to a clinic or not - don't feel like I want to wait if nothing is going to hapen.

Bella
I am in exactly the same position as you... have been ttc for 2 years, now deciding to go for fertility treatment in Jan 06 and am researching london clinics at the mo, so all these posts have been v helpful. Am now going to get infor from both ARGC and Lister and will choose between those two. Let's stay in touch??

Madigan - sorry to hear that you are in the same situation
However am glad to find someone who I can talk to.
Have you been to the GP / had any initial tests etc?

Based on my own experience I wish that I had gone private earlier. I started off with NHS and plodded through their course which was in part designed to keep you waiting as long as possible (in case you got pg wothout assistance). Going to the Lister was just a breath of fresh air - our first consult was for an hour and a half where I feel that we really did explore every option, and discuss everything thoroughly.

That said, if you're going to have all your initial investigations done privately the cost will soon mount up (as some tend to be done under GA).

Hi Bella

Last month I had lap and dye for endometriosis, which was lasered successfully, and so we had out hopes up. But this week we have found out that DH's sperm count is low (14.5mil)
so I have decided to go for IVF in January.
fed up ttc now, been at it for 2years, and feeling v despondent at the moment.
How long have you been ttc, and have you had any other tests etc?