IVF St Helier/Epsom

[Makino]

Hi all, I am struggling to find any reviews for IVF treatment at St Helier hospital.

We have funding approved for our first cycle but just wanted to know if their were any success stories.

They have said we only get 1 round of IVF followed by 1 FET when NICE recommend 3 rounds.

I really hope someone can share their experiences with me.

xxx

@Tulip20 This was super helpful but I'm even more happy that you have twins now! x

We have visited the ward and have been advised there is no waiting times currently and we can start our cycle as soon as my period comes and we wait until day 20 to begin long protocol.

I will document the whole process as a 1st timer on here for anyone else who is due to have IVF treatment at St Helier. I think it deserves some reviews for other couples funded or self-funded. I understand the ward opened in Jan 2017 so perhaps this might explain the lack of reviews.

Going to check out the clinic you suggested. If you were there for only 10 days did you start your meds in the UK? I have been told there will be scans every other day for about a week right before the Egg retrieval.

Thank you again xxx

I think that's a great idea as it is so helpful for other people to hear your experiences. I would definitely have appreciated reading something like that before my Ivf there as it's all such an unknown. I did find that once we had our first appointment there everything moved very fast (which was a relief after the months and months of waiting beforehand with gp/hospital referrals!)

Regarding Reprofit, I was on the short protocol, but yes they sent me a prescription and I started meds in the UK. Then you can have scans here and send them the report (a lot of scanning places like ultrasound direct do follicle tracking scans specifically for this purpose). I didn't need to have my first scan until day 7 of my cycle so actually ended up having it there (only had a couple there as actually had my egg collection on day 11 I think. I did find it good there that you could have the scans 7 days a week so there was no having to wait until after the weekend if ideally it would have been best to have a scan on sat or sun).

Hopefully your cycle at St Helier is successful but if it doesn't work for any reason it might be worth considering as it is a big clinic and they are so experienced there and the doctors and embryologists were excellent (and there was very little waiting around - I contacted them at the end Feb after our failed fet and we had our cycle in April). I wouldn't hesitate to return.

Good luck and fingers crossed. xxx

Hi Tulip20 thanks for all the info on this thread so far. I was wondering whether you have an update on your ivf yet since your last post.

I am a first timer as well and After 12 months of paperwork and referrals to St heliers we are now waiting for approval and being put on the waiting list.
Would be happy if you had an update for us 😊

Hi,

After 3 miscarriages and one ruptured ectopic, it all went on in 2 years. I now find myself at nearly 38 and one Fallopian tube. I saw the fellow at the ACU at St Helier and waiting for confirmation of IVF funding. Any up to date stories out there? I always feel on these threads you tend not to find the success stories. I guess if you are successful, you will no longer be researching?

@Chus81 I didn’t have ivf in the end as I fell pregnant naturally (very lucky as I discovered I had low egg reserve) and am now 15 weeks. I still go to st Helier for appointments and even though it’s not the prettiest of hospitals the care is excellent. I did notice when I last went they were running an open evening for people interested in ivf so perhaps that might be an idea? Best of luck with it x

Huge congrats to you! I am also a rmc patient under Prof Shehata so not only I need to conceive but it also needs to stick 😒. Let’s see if your luck rubs on me ha!

@Chus81 thank you! Good luck to you- I’ve just been signed off by Dr Shehata, you’re in good hands :)

@Mistymeow huge congrats!

Ivfbeenwaiting, thank you very much for feeding back. They have been really responsive so far and I am a nurse myself so I can tell it is a good service. Congratulations on your pregnancy xx

@Makino thank you so much for starting this post. Like many others I am also potentially (not confirmed) on the waiting list for IVF treatment at St Heliers and was searching to hear about other people’s experiences.
I went to my initial Fertility clinic appointment back in November 2019 and it’s taken up until now (with a lot of chasing up on my part) to find out whether I might be accepted for IVF at the ACU at St Heliers...
In terms of admin they are very chaotic and seem to lose quite important results frequently. I also don’t rate their ‘bedside manner’. The majority of doctors and nurses I’ve spoken to I’d describe as being casual to abrupt. None have been particularly empathetic considering the stress chasing things up has caused.
What has happened with your journey on this? I’m curious to know as you said you’d be updating this post to try and inform others? It would be positive to read a happy story! 🙂

@Tulip20 thank you for the information on the Reprofit clinic in the Czech Republic. I’ve wasted no time in having a look myself.

Someone also mentioned a site called Fertility Friends. Thank you!

Await to hear more comments and thoughts on this, in anticipation 😌

Also @Tulip20

Can I ask have you had any success with the Reprofit clinic?

Thanks!

I did promise I would give feedback on my experience.

The nurses are lovely but they seem overly rushed. From that intial consultation to showing you how to inject yourself/dosage!

I had the long protocol
Day 0 - 10 eggs retrieved, 9 fertilised using ICIS
Day 1 - 7 Live and matured
Day 3 - 6 Live and looking good

Day 5 - Walked in thinking we have a few to freeze and transfer our best hope. We only have 1 egg that is of low grade that we will be transfering 1 today. I asked what about about the other eggs, the nurse said they were not of a good enough grade and were discarded.

We were devestated and I didnt fall pregnant either.

Given the choice I would not recommend them, get a private refferal as you only have one shot and there is no appeal.

I don't want to fault the team there or place any blame but every other day you walk in to check progress of your eggs, you get there on time and you are delayed and while you are being examined its a battle against time!

Good luck

@Makino

Thank you for responding, and explaining what happened.

I’m really sorry to hear that this experience was neither great nor led to a successful pregnancy for you 😢 I’m sure you must feel devastated. I totally empathise. I do hope you have another avenue to look at some alternatives options? 🤞🏻

For me personally, I was already going with my gut instinct when I searched and found this original thread and the post you started on the service of St Heliers Hospital.

It’s been a lot of back and forth chasing medical secretaries re. details for us with this Hospital, but when I finally spoke to the lead consultant (and doctor) of the fertility unit my heart just dropped. I had no confidence.

At that point she was actually delivering hopeful news (that we may receive funding) but I found the manner she spoke brash and very matter of fact, I still had to consistently try and get questions in and I found her in no way reassuring. I could have easily been discussing an appointment about availability to get my hair cut (from the way she was) not discussing something me and my husband have wanted for so long that’s ultimately going to be life changing decision.

I privately made a decision then and there that I didn’t want to use St Heliers Hospital and whatever we hear back from them next, we are still going to use our one chance, save time, be as thorough as possible and go private.

I am sure there are some really nice staff that work in the ACU at St Heliers Hospital, but playing the waiting game to get this far has been too much. I don’t know if I could handle that level of service (going through something as emotional as IVF) knowing they aren’t exactly reliable or empathetic.

I’m also disappointed that there seems to be no priority or system in place for women that are older. I am 41 and will be 42 soon. I started this process with them at 40 years old. Everyone knows after 40 the chances of IVF success drop considerably...so I wasn’t surprised when my husband looked up stats for St Heliers Hospital IVF rates and they are recorded as being below the national average in the UK hospitals. 😐

Speaking to the consultant there was no reassurance that with my age I’d be pushed forward to the front of the queue and in fact if I had not contacted them again in July, god knows what would have happened I could still be waiting to hear from them right now...

I found a YouTube video of the lead consultant (the same doctor I spoke to) talking about IVF treatment at St Heliers Hospital at a presentation, but the reassurance, professionalism, kindness and support I saw in that video was not reflected in the phone call I had with her, nor with any of the dealings of other staff from that Hospital so far.

I write this so anyone else in yours or my shoes knows of the experience I had too.

Thank you Makino for such an honest response and your recommendation. You and others in this post have really helped a lot!!

@Persephone12 I know your clock is ticking and that is all the more reason to get the best possible treatment.

As you can imagine there was a lot of detail I had left out as not to point a finger of blame. It was just over a year ago I had the treatment and I felt it would have been simply unfair if I didnt warn others of my experience. I tried desperately hard to find reviews on the unit beforehand. I also came across that youtube video that you mentioned. She was the one who actually did the transfer!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing as I only had one chance and we blew it!

@Makino

It is indeed. I’m sorry that your one chance is gone, I really am. I don’t know where you’re at in terms of alternatives, but I hope you are in a stable place in terms of acceptance of what happened and that you’re ok.

I, for one, feel your pain, and I am so grateful you started this post (indeed I know like me, it will help others so much, so thank you).

After my treatments I will be spreading the word. There needs to be a lot more transparency and information on how specific NHS Hospitals run their IVF treatments, especially as nowadays it’s like a postcode lottery, and if you’re lucky enough to get through the process, by then it’s too late and part of the reasons for the failing is down to their delay!

None of this is reflected in their website (of course) but in general the NHS seem to put very little emphasis in this significant area of fertility and assisted conception. What’s the point of running this unit, if they can’t deliver a streamlined service?

I will also continue reporting on this page to let people know of my experience and encourage others to do so too.

Thank you Makino. I hope you are well and wish you luck in whatever you choose to do next.

Sending hugs

@Persephone12 Thank you x

Completely agree about transparency! There was nothing related to their standards, protocols, success rates etc.

We took out a 24 month interest-free credit card and paid for our treatment in Wimbledon. Our treatment is due to start next month.

We have decided take the hit that will give us one chance. We have been saving like mad for the past 18 months.

Keep us updated and I hope other people read this thread!

Hey @Makino that’s wonderful news! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you! 🤞🏻

Yes I’ll definitely keep you updated. We’re also at similar stages.

Following @Tulip20 ‘s suggestion we looked into YourIVFJourney and the clinic in the Czech Republic. We also looked at a few clinics here in the uk.

After a consultation with YourIVFJourney we decided that we were going to take our chances with them and the Reprofit clinic. I’m in the middle of tests and I suspect treatment will start next month or October.

Sending you good vibes and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

All the best 🙂

Hi @Makino how are you doing?

Hope you are well. We’re just at the beginning stages of planning our treatment so nothing has started yet, but I just wanted to share on this blog that following the phone call by the consultant at St Heliers we were sent a letter (nearly a month later) saying we might be eligible for funding, but this wouldn’t be cleared for another year!
It was optimistically quoted ‘so it will still be before your 43rd birthday’

(This, from a doctor, who is well aware chances of conception at this age will have considerably dropped to nearly impossible by the age of 43...now I see why their success rates are below the national average!)

I was flummoxed! I contacted St Heliers and told them exactly what I thought of their services so far and to allocate our ‘possible’ funding to a more suitable couple. I never heard back, which sort of goes hand in hand with the service we’d received so far, for the last 10 months.

I am going to use this post to warn others against using St Heliers Hospital for assisted conception. They are incompetent, unprofessional and sadly lack complete empathy to the patient. IVF treatment is so personal and scary you need doctors to make you feel reassured and at ease. I don’t think this attitude is synonymous with this Hospital.

Anyway on a positive note, going private has been a much better experience and we’ve only just started.

Good luck to all on their journey!

@Persephone12 very well thx

Judging by this it seems like things have actually got worse! After filling out the application for funding approval we actually didnt have to wait too long. If memory serves me right about 3 weeks and they said we could start our treatment right away. We were ofcourse delighted.

Sadly as soon as our treatment began everything went downhill.

I was just speaking to my husband about this thread and he rolled his eyes and told me something that he held back.

On the day of my egg retreival he walked back from theatre with my eggs in a sealed container back to Assisted Conception Unit. The girl in reception was on the phone and he was hanging about with this heavy case while she completed a social call. He had to interupt her to say I'm here as instructed to drop this off. She asked him to just place it on the floor and meet me in recovery.

He said he regretted leaving it just there because he felt it should have been taken by the embryologist and not by someone who didnt even care.

Going private as you say is a world apart. IVF is not easy finacially but also the toll it takes on the body. The drugs are a mind bender, they screw with your hormones and when it fails you blame yourself.

I wish you all the luck, stay calm and positive. This thread is here to help others.

xxx

Hi @Makino I’m really pleased you’re doing well!

Oh dear. I’m sorry to hear this. In hindsight we can all look back and have regrets and think ‘what if’, but I’m positive that, that had nothing to do with the outcome; I’m just sorry you and your husband went through that medical experience with people that didn’t really care. :(

You’re right this thread is here to help others, it certainly informed me and pushed me to trust my instincts and be decisive on the matter. And for that and you and others on here I’m really grateful. 🙂

When I start treatment I’m sure my hormones will be everywhere and again I’ll be grateful that us women can stick together and be there to support each other.

Thank you 😊
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Hi Everyone

I am having my fertility treatment at st Heliers and they failed to tell me that my AMH. Test was pending for my ivf referral so i waited three week.

How long does it take to get the results of AMH blood test?

Also how long is the waiting list at the moment

Hi @Freya2015

When I had my AMH test (which was the final test I needed from them) they told me it may take a month but I got the results within 2.5 weeks I think?
Blood tests (depending on what they are) normally takes less time.
My advice is if you don’t hear anything within 3 weeks chase it up.

I honestly don’t want to make you feel more nervous, but the consultant told me that if you have a low AMH level for your age (for example I’m 41 years old) you won’t be considered for IVF treatment at St Heliers. I turned out to be ok, but when I asked her what happens to the people that don’t have a high level she told me they don’t get approved for treatment (its part of the new CCG rules) and ‘you don’t have to worry about that...’ 😔
However this may be different for you depending on your age?

In terms of waiting after this, we were told we still had to go through another panel. For us that could have taken up to a further year! Again this might be different for you but that was our experience.

My personal thoughts are if you feel like you’re being given the run around by them, chase it up and record it via emails to the secretary.

If you can’t be bothered with that and don’t want to wait, consider going private (if you can afford it). The treatment is much better than what the NHS offers. I wish I’d thought about it sooner. I wouldn’t have wasted many frustrated months simply waiting and not knowing what was going to happen next.

I hope you manage to get your results soon.

All the best and good luck to you
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@Persephone12
Thank you for your response. Yh i had to chase it up for the 3 weeks to only know its lying on their desk with nothing being done. Receptionist told me it only takes around 6 weeks atm i am 24 years old so hopefully it will be okay

All of this is soo stressful with COVID. Aswell i hope we dont go into another lockdown

@Freya2015 I am really sorry to hear this. They really are useless in that unit! I’m sure you must have read all of this thread, but I had a similar experience with them when they didn’t bother to follow up my case. The Dr gave me the wrong email address so I was sending chasers but nobody was replying for months! It all seemed like a lie as I never got an email bounce back so the address obviously worked...

After I decided I wasn’t going to use them, I gave them feedback as to why and I have since printed out all the emails and written a letter to my own GP; so they know why I didn’t continue with my NHS referral and if they refer patients there what they can expect. I want people to know that this is not a good hospital for ivf treatment. Even just dealing with the Secretary was stressful. They’re so relaxed and really don’t care about reassuring the patient. My experience was negative and I’ve read mainly bad things rather than good.

I pray your experience is better and as you are younger (and have time) I think you may as well try via the NHS first with your chances, before you consider your next options.

You’re so right with the COVID-19 situation who needs more stress? Hopefully we won’t be going into a full lockdown again, so perhaps the hospital will be operating on a ‘need to go in basis’ and it might work out as they’ll stick to a specific time you must be in (i.e. with appointments they might actually be more organised because they have to be!)

Good luck to you Freya don’t let their poor service get you down...keep pushing! 💪🏻

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