St George's Hospital - gynae / fertility clinic experiences

[CrispAppleStrudels]

DH and i have one DD (20months) conceived with letrozole + monitoring as i have PCOS. When we started treatment, we were living in Stockwell and so used the Assisted Conception Unit at Guys & St Thomas'. We had great treatment there from Dr Davinia White and the whole process was very smooth, despite the first 2020 lockdown falling in the middle of the process and causing a 6month delay to our treatment.

We've since moved further into SW London and so have been referred to St George's in Tooting for a repeat of the letrozole process for TTC DC#2. I gave birth to DD1 at St George's so very familiar with the maternity unit but interested to hear of any experiences of the fertility clinic?

Giving this a hopeful bump!

Hi, how did you get on? I’ve just been referred there for start of infertility investigations. No idea what to expect or how long I’ll need to wait to be triaged.

Hello! Oh yes i can definitely update you! We were referred just before i made this post and the online waiting time checker said 26 weeks. But our first appointment came through for mid April so around 8-10weeks?

First appointment was talking through our history (mine and DH). Then referred for repeat bloods on a certain day of my cycle, an appointment for an internal scan (about 2 weeks later) and DH to have a sperm analysis.

The next appointment at the clinic has come through for July (so 3 months after the first one?) when the dr said we will discuss all the results and agree a plan.

So all in all, much quicker than i was expecting.

Oh thank you for sharing, I’m glad to hear you weren’t kept waiting for too long. Hopefully I have a similar experience!

Hope your next appt goes smoothly and they’re able to get you back on the letrozole!

Hey@CrispAppleStrudels , can I check in and ask how you are getting on?

We had our initial appt in Sept, and as we’d done all our tests privately already were offered ivf referral straight away. I asked if we could do some letrozole cycles first which they agreed, but now on cycle 3 of that and planning for IVF referral at end of this cycle if not successful.

I’ve had a really poor experience with the doctor I’ve been seeing :( it’s made the whole experience really disheartening - I can’t wait to get referred on and out of her clinic! And going in and out of St George’s for the scans, prescriptions etc each month is soul destroying!

Hi @Sierra26 ! Of course! Yes our experience was not great either in comparison to our first child (we used Guys and St Thomas' that time). At our July appt, we went over all the results and even though she agreed we were suitable for letrozole again, then she told us she wanted me to have an HSG. I didnt have one with my first fertility treatment and had clearly already been pregnant so i thought this was really pointless as there was no indication of any blockages. I also didnt understand why we couldnt have done this whilst waiting for our July appointment? Plus, with my PCOS, it could have been another 40days or more until my next cycle to book the HSG so more delay. All really frustrating.

As it turned out, my next cycle never came and I had actually fallen pregnant naturally in the same cycle whilst waiting for the HSG. First natural conception in 5years of TTC so a big surprise for us! Currently 19w so hoping all is well at the 20w scan 🙏

Im sorry the letrozole cycles havent been successful for you 😔 It took us 3 cycles to conceive our first daughter so i totally understand how it feels. Fingers crossed this one is the one for you! Hopefully if you move onto the next stage, this will get a bit more organised for you.

Wow @CrispAppleStrudels congratulations, that is such wonderful news! Are you now with St George’s for your maternity care? I have no idea how that works! I hope you’re feeling well ❤️

I’m so glad we did all our tests privately first as I imagine it would have really delayed things. Every time I go the doctor says things like “oh, I thought you would be pregnant” or “oh, you had a positive OPK? You will get pregnant this time!” despite us having told her I get them every month and that’s not an indicator that something different is happening. Last time she asked me if I missed my period (obv I hadn’t as I was back for another cycle), and then asked if I already had a daughter and turns out she was reading someone else’s notes. I have zero trust in her and can’t wait to move on 😭😂

Thank you 😊 Oh god, sounds like she was reading my notes to you 🤣 Hopefully things will improve soon!!

Yes, i am St Georges for maternity. In London, you basically can just choose the hospital where you want to give birth, you go on the website and fill out a form yourself. Then they contact you. No need to go through the GP. Super easy.

I had my daughter at St G as well - she ended up in NICU and St G have an excellent NICU unit so this was a big factor in deciding to have this baby there as she received excellent care. I actually have another thread somewhere about St G maternity because they had a CQC inspection earlier this year, which was really poor. But i know 3 people that have given birth there since then with no issue, and i raised my worries directly with St G who got the director of midwifery to call me and explain all the changes they are making to address the report. So i feel happy continuing my care there (our other option is Kingston which would be a 40mins drive in bad traffic so too far for comfort for me). Hopefully you'll have all this excitement to come next cycle!

Haha imagine!!

Thats great you’ve had good experiences so far at St George’s. If we ever get to that point I’m pretty certain we’d go there as we’re only a mile away. Thanks for the advice, and all the best for the 20wk scan coming up 💞

Hello, I know this thread is from last year but I am currently going through StG for secondary infertility and stumbled across this post and I can relate to all you have said! It has been a “comedy” of errors to date. I would be intrigued to know which Dr you saw and if it was the same as mine. How did you receive your partner’s semen analysis results? He did them 4 weeks ago and hasn’t heard back. Did you have to chase or just heard back during the follow up with dr? Thank you and I hope you both have been able to have successful pregnancies.

Hi @nodnol87, this thread brings back memories! My daughter was born back in April and despite me having preeclampsia and her being breech until the day before she was born, all was relatively smooth during the pregnancy. A few hiccups in care during pregnancy (mostly because I didn't have a named midwife due to where we live) but my care during delivery and postnatal was excellent. Very glad I didn't go to Kingston in the end as my active labour was only 90mins long and started during the morning rush hour so I would not have wanted to be stuck in traffic! 🥴

Re the semen analysis, we just got the results at the next appointment after DH gave the sample. They never wrote to him or anything like that but we also didn't chase to be fair.

Good luck and hope you get your bfp soon so you don't have to keep dealing with the fertility clinic!

Thank you for your quick reply @CrispAppleStrudels and glad you had a healthy safely delivered baby in the end!

congratulations on the birth of your daughter @CrispAppleStrudels !

@nodnol87 ill DM you the name of the doc! My hubs had SA via the GP before we were referred to St G’s. Unfortunately we did 6 rounds of monitored ovulation induction but no pregnancy. The whole experience was a shambles! We are now using our funded ivf rounds at Chelwest and it hasn’t worked out so far :(

@Sierra26 sorry I hadn’t seen this when I replied to your DM. I am so sorry it hasn’t worked so far and really hope it eventually works out for you 🙏🏻 I relate to everything you say about StG fertility. It is shockingly poor.