Coronavirus and fertility clinics.

[mabel92]

Has anyone’s fertility clinic told them they will close due to Coronavirus? I’m due to start treatment and now confused as what to do or whether I’ll be able to start. Thanks.

@LemonRabbit There was a Facebook event on Friday by Care in which they said they will also stop fresh cycles but they would still accept new people. But after the event their message on CV disappeared and is now replaced with them saying they are going to revise guidelines on accepting new people.

@Matilda128 @Xx40yearsyoungxx
Thanks for replies.
Good luck to you both too with whatever happens next.

Thanks @LemonRabbit! X

Hi all, for anyone considering moving their embryos to a private clinic I looked into this mid last week. It is not a quick process as the two clinics need to communicate with each other re how the embryos were frozen/ quality/ tests done beforehand (ie HIV tests etc). I was told it can take several weeks before they are ready to transfer. It’s also not cheap, there are admin fees charged by both clinics (£2-300 each) although our current clinic has waived the costs under these exceptional circumstances. (They have also refunded the cost of our FET in full although we have lost the cost of the drugs) This does not include the cost of the transfer itself which is done by a third party embryo courier and costs upwards of £300. You also need to sign consent forms for release and acceptance of the embryos from the old to new clinics. We have decided to keep the embryos where they are for now. I’ve been advised that the embryologists will not be redeployed and will continue to check on the embryo storage even in the event of a lockdown. To be brutally honest I don’t know how many of the private fertility clinics will survive this and I’d rather not start a lengthy transfer process with the threat of lockdown looming. Once the height of the pandemic is over then we will look to move them then and have all the necessary paperwork and contacts to get the ball rolling. I’ve also reflected on the fact that I am both at higher risk of an ectopic and needing a c-section, so now is not the time to be pregnant when resources are so stretched. It’s a crushing blow but I’m now resigned to the fact that our treatment is on hold for potentially a considerable amount of time.

Sending love and luck to everyone. Hopefully we can get through these difficult times and start our treatment again in the future xxxx

I was meant to stay 3rd round if ivf next month's but it has all been cancelled. Doctor today just told me to wait and they will give me a call when it can go forward. I was/am in absolute pieces ='(

I'm so sorry @Paininside30 it's so unfair. 💐

I'm waiting for my IVF approval from the NHS CCG. I was told that it would only take a few months and I was expecting for it to be approved and a letter from the IVF clinic by end of March. However, I'm worried that the CCG is too busy with COVID-19 and/or they are stopping funding for non-essential treatment.

I appreciate that treatment wont start until things with COVID are better but I wanted the approval process done so that we are ready to go when the clinic reopens. Now I have no idea of we'll even get the approval.

Is anyone else in this situation? Has anyone had approval during the outbreak?

I feel bad for worrying about this when so many people are being effecting by the virus. But it's hard not to. It took such a long time to get our referral and we dont have the money to pay for IVF ourselves. Also time is not n our our side.

Feeling really anxious ...

Has anyone been told when there will be another assessment of the situation in regards to treatment? I wonder if couples are still ttc regardless.

@Rere1234

Don’t worry the funding will come through. If you fit the criteria it is done fairly quickly. Someone in the hospital just then needs to pick up receiving the approval, but usually hospitals know each CCG criteria and proceed.

We never got a letter directly ourselves.

However the question is when will they start up NHS treatment for fertility again. It definitely won’t be for 6 months. And from experience it may take another 3 months for all tests to be done before you would be ready for egg collection. So it will likely be 9 months before you get treatment (best case scenario and if your hospital has average wait list)

If you have any way of taking loan/mortgage I would recommend going private as they are still doing freezing.
Depending on CCG you may be able to use your frozen embryos and get them transferred on the NHS so at least you don’t pay the transfer.

Best of luck deciding what is best.

@mabel92

Looks like the "fertile" couples are largely still continuing ttc over on the conception board

I think a lot of private clinics will update their info tomorrow

@Liliclaire @JeNeBaguetteRien thank you xx

Has anyone’s clinic put an update on their website over the weekend ?

Is anyone with Lister in London here?

The majority of private clinics were saying they would continue around Thursday and by Friday it seemed a Gov directive had been issued as they all started sending emails out detailing their shut downs.

Private clinics aren’t likely to be able to do more for you unfortunately.

@katiebooboo I was treated by the Lister. Their most recent updates said that they would not be starting any new treatments. They said they would be completing any current cycles but doing freeze all’s only. X

@FlashesOfRage

Lister fertility is part of Lister private hospital isn't it? They will have changed their stance due to the government deal on Friday for private hospitals to take in NHS Coronavirus patients and share staff, equipment and resources

@flashesofrange I’m with lister too currently downregulating and have started doing so before they have issued the statement about not starting new cycles and honouring the ones that they have started. I just wondered if they consider taking suprecur for downregulation as a started cycle or only the stimulation part ?

@Katiebooboo

I suspect being in downreg puts you at high risk of cancellation as it's only the stimming part which needs to be monitored to an end conclusion

The Lister clinic advice is here;
listerfertility.co.uk/coronavirus-update/

But you’re right @katiebooboo it’s not clear whether downreg counts as “started treatment” x I hope you get contact from them soon and a clear answer 💐

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted True about the Lister but what I’m seeing all over my infertility account on Instagram is that everyone’s UK clinics including private are now cancelling. My insta newsfeed is a wall of devastation about cancelled cycles.

I am truly so sorry for everyone going through this xx

@FlashesOfRage
Yeah I've been refreshing Creates page several times a day and still seeing the note that they are open as usual but I'm due period in the next couple of day so so going to ring tomorrow and check (I do natural modified IVF so the whole process is over within 9 days or so)

Unfortunately my FET which was scheduled for this month has been cancelled, I found out on Monday. Devastated doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel. Realistically I think it will be late summer before my clinic are going to restart.

Good luck everyone today speaking to their clinics x x x

I finally got through to Create - even though their website this morning still says they are open as normal and even their Facebook page says business as usual and also accepting NHS patients they've just told me that they aren't booking in any first treatment scans......so I'm due to start period in day or so for egg collection and transfer cycle and looks like it won't go ahead 😢

Waiting for a nurse to call me back

I’m so sorry @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted
I think we are going to all hear the sane news today
I’m due first scan Wednesday 😢
X

@maltida128 have you heard anything ?

No nothing yet @Xx40yearsyoungxx I have my baseline scan tomorrow but I won't start stimming for another 2 weeks. I'm really not expecting it to go ahead.
I'm sorry to hear your news @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted I also checked the create website this morning and it really doesn't give you any indication that they've stopped.
Take care everyone! Xxx