Rant about Guys Hospital

[Willieowinsbury]

Does anyone else find it impossible to get any questions answered by Guys ACU?

I can never get through on the phone line and they are terrible at answering emails. We have two frozen embryos that I want to get on and transfer (individually) and they are holding it up for a reason I don't fully understand and no-one will explain to me.

The letters they send are so delayed that the second embryo transfer had happened by the time they sent a letter about the first, and the information on the write ups is incomplete and incorrect. I don't even know who to take it up with.

They are nice when I am actually at the clinic but sheesh, this is driving me up the wall. And the counsellor hasn't replied to my three messages since July, asking for a session.

If anyone can recommend an organised clinic in central london for our next cycle (icsi for male factor/ endo) which I'm sure we'll need as our remaining two blastos are not great ones, I'd be very grateful.

[Michelle404]

Urgh, so sad to see so many people having bad experiences.
I wish I'd been referred somewhere else.
Currently fuming as I'd sent them an email informing of my day one, 2 days ago now. No reply, so probably will lose a month of treatment due to their sloppy incompetence.
I've chased over email 2 times more, called multiple times each day, but no one picks up. On hold at least an hour each time. Currently two hours. I'm halfway between tears and rage. It's utterly pointless.

[MadCatLady24]

Couldn’t agree with you more, ladies. Guys is appalling... they’re currently holding our frozen embryos hostage and refusing to answer the phone / reply to emails. We’ve missed two FET opportunities because of their inefficiencies. Despite having a perfectly normal cycle, I’m now being forced into a medicated cycle to suit their timings (not mine!)
I feel like moving our little frozen embryos to a unit where the staff actually care. With Guys it’s all about the money and never about the patients. I’ve complained twice, including crying down the phone to the matron, but essentially no one cares. If we had our time again, I would pick anywhere else but Guys.

[Janefx40]

@MadCatLady24 sorry you've had such a negative experience. I think they are massively under staffed but it is stress you don't need.

You've made me think that I should contact them about our frozen embryos.

I hope you get it all sorted

X

[ivf2019]

I had my first appointment with Guy's yesterday (via Genetics as we're doing PGD) and they did warn us about the terrible correspondence from ACU - apparently it has been escalated internally and they are hiring new staff in November which is expected to help with capacity issues.

I really hope those of you waiting on FETs get them very soon. The understaffing issue does worry me but we're right at the start of our journey so I'm hoping things may have improved by our next step.
x

[LemonTwist10]

@LuceConnection

I am sorry you are experiencing this right now. I stayed for a few weeks longer and then my partner and I decided to bail as we saw no improvement and found this just wasn’t the place for us.

I believe that if communication is bad at the beginning before treatment, what the hell would it be like when we had a “failed” cycle and the aftercare / updates and plans moving forward.

We are now with Concept Fertility, haven’t looked back since and communication is brilliant, staff nurses are contactable throughout the day and their success rates are good also. We are now waiting for my period to start so I can start taking my medication.

I do wish you the best with your treatment regardless and I hope the complaint I made sees their admin process overhauled and patients such as yourself can receive a better service moving forward.

X

[Janefx40]

Good luck @LemonTwist10 hope your cycle goes well.

Although Guys were pretty dreadful, I didn't find the comms as bad as described here so it must have for worse since we were there. Yes I could be on hold for 40 mins but I did always get through immediately.

Despite it all, we did get pregnant so fingers crossed to anyone still under going treatment there x

[LemonTwist10]

@Janefx40

Congratulations!! I too heard good things about Guys, however I think this decline has been within the last few years. Even if you’re a private funded patient, the treatment is no different to NHS.

[LuceConnection]

Thanks for responses all :)

Congratulations @Janefx40 that's lovely news!

sorry to be 'that' person but DP was unhappy that I shared our experience online and wants it removed.
We are in this together, so I am respecting that. MNHQ has kindly agreed to remove it for me, so I thought I would explain- before it disappeared.

Thanks again for the replies xxx

[Janefx40]

Totally understand @LuceConnection my DP is always far less happy to share than me. Hope all goes well for you x

[MrsT75]

I can write a long rant on this. The consultants are nice but getting hold of anyone is impossible, their finance account twice now claimed we haven't paid for various things when we have (keep receipts), they don't pick up the phone or answer emails (ever). We are at the point of giving up on them.

[Janefx40]

I know! I emailed them about 3 weeks ago to ask what we needed to do about our frozen embryos and tell them we have moved. I got an irrelevant out of office (it was beyond the dates they said they were closed) and no reply since.

But on the other hand they did manage to make us the most lovely baby - so somehow they manage to do their job.

[Holly147]

We've experienced similar at Guys, and ended up making a formal complaint back in October after an administrative error meant that our cycle was delayed by five months. They missed the email about the start of my cycle and ignored phone calls - this meant that I missed my slot and had further delays as they said the lab was closed for December. I started my first cycle two weeks ago, after a 2-year wait altogether, with lots of administrative errors along the way...

They did give us a very detailed response to our complaint and said that they had implemented a new system of double-checking emails and making written correspondence more promptly. They also said that they were employing additional staff to answer the phones, starting from January.

However, it doesn't seem to have helped - during stims (last week) I arranged my scans locally and had the results emailed to Guys. They had said that my trigger injection would be likely to be on day 10 or 12 of the cycle - however they didn't look at the day 10 scan until the following day, when it would have been too late for me to give the trigger! Fortunately I wasn't ready until day 12, when I had a very fraught hour waiting on hold, hoping to speak to someone before the clinic closed.

We are having PGD funded on the NHS, so unfortunately can't move clinics. Hopefully if enough people complain, things will eventually improve!

[ivf2019]

@Holly147 good luck with your first cycle, so sorry to hear you've been having such a nightmare with Guy's.

I'm currently waiting on first contact from ACU as we're also having PGD so the Genetics team there have just referred us. I'm so worried about the delays based on everyone's recent experiences - it's already taken since June just to get to this stage and I have no idea when we'll hear back. Every time we're waiting on something it's conveniently "just arrived on my desk" or "been posted today" on the day I email/call

[Holly147]

Thanks @ivf2019 . I know, the waiting is so frustrating isn't it!

I would recommend following up every email you send with another email/phone call, as we ended up with two major delays of 4-5 months each, due to me sending them an email and it being missed. Don't think I was persistent enough when I started off!

When the treatment actually starts it is very quick - I am on short protocol (not sure if they put everyone on this) and just had 12 days of injections followed by egg collection on Friday, then if we have any embryos develop to day 6 they'll be tested and frozen this Thursday! So it seems very short compared to the time waiting.

Hope you don't have to wait too much longer!

[ivf2019]

Thank you @holly147 , that's good advice! I think they think I'm completely neurotic as I was pestering about waiting times etc. at our first appointment, but it really helps manage your expectations if you at least have a rough idea of when things will happen!

Will keep my fingers crossed for lots of healthy embryos for you x