IVF Hammersmith vs UCLH

[hanshan]

Has anyone has any experience with these two hospital??I am interested to know the waiting times:

1. After GP's referral, how long did you wait for your first appointment?
2. After your first appointment, how long did you wait to start the IVF treatment circle?

I will appreciate it if you can share with me any info about either hospital. Many thanks!

Sorry no real experience - I've not been treated for fertility issues at either hospital. But I do know there is strict criteria for ivf at UCLH - they only accept referrals from GP practices in Camden. Hope this helps.

BalancingStick
Thank you for your reply anyway! :-)

Hi hanshan, we had all our investigations undertaken at Hammersmith/Queen Charlotte's. I'm not sure what London borough you are based in and if you are NHS but we were Hounslow and this is the only option we were provided with.

Our experience was once they conclude that you need IVF/ICSI and are in a position to start the treatment there was no waiting list. Unfortunately by the time we got to this point we were just about to move.

We first saw the consultant 3 months after the GP concluded we needed to be referred. However even getting to the point of referral took a few months due to waiting times for husband's tests. We needed quite a lot of further tests along the way adding to the time so not sure if our experience is typical but we knew from the first appointment with the consultant that ICSI would be required.

To be honest were quite surprised by how long the whole process and some of the waiting times between the tests. Saying that when I enquired about private appointments at IVF Hammersmith you could pretty much have the pick of appointments with any consultant within a week or two. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Hi lostinsouth
Thank you very much for your information. The waiting time does sound very daunting. So did you ended up not having the treatment at hammersmith due to home moving?

Hi hansan, unfortunately not but had there not been delays due to our medical circumstances we would have had time to fit one cycle in so we're back in the referral process again. If we hadn't moved however we would have been happy to have gone ahead with the treatment there.

Regarding the waiting times it is daunting. We found it an emotional rollercoaster and sometimes quite frustrating but we realise that this is a high pressure area for the NHS. I'm passing this on (and I realise you may have done a lot more research than) because it just wasn't something we'd really appreciated.

Hi Lostinsouth, good luck with your new referral! hope this time it will be quicker! NHS waiting times are really annoying. I can fully understand your emotional rollercaster!

Thanks hanshan and best of luck to you too!