Experience of create Birmingham?

[Katxz]

Wanted to ask if anyone recommends them? Been looking at clinics in Birmingham and had initially decided to go with priory mainly because I thought standard IVF would suit me more than natural/mild IVF but now I'm not too sure after seeing a webinar from create!

I was with Create Birmingham and loved them - stuck with them for 5 rounds and am now 19 weeks with twins.

I also looked at the priory and whilst my friend had success there also heard quite a few negative reviews

What I liked about Create Bham

• friendly staff
• didn't feel like a walking cheque book
• relaxed atmosphere - compared to Care Birmingham which was very corporate and glitzy
• compassionate - they bent over backwards to try and help prevent a miscarriage when I found myself pregnant naturally inbetween IVF cycles
• when I was fobbed off by Heartlands when I knew I was having a second ectopic Create scanned me within 30 mins of me calling them and they called an ambulance and I was operated on within hours
• embryologist team spent a lot of time going through all the options with me about what to transfer
• very quick - short protocol and natural modified IVF over in less than 2 weeks with minimal side effects
• scans start at 730am so didn't impact on work

Minor niggles

• occasionally would have to correct them on pricing
• some of the consultants/embryologist team obviously speak English as a second language which made it difficult to understand sometimes but I would just get them to email me afterwards so I was sure I knew what was going on
• I did a lot of research on my own and it was me that requested to change from short protocol to natural modified - had i not I wonder If they would just have stuck with the same protocol even though I wasn't getting great results?

@ivfbeenbusy ah twins that's amazing! Congratulations xxx

I have been using them and my experience has been mixed. For me they seemed to be the cheapest and in a good location which is why we went with them.

I think they are fine where it counts. I have had no issues with the processes and if it gets me results in the end thats all that matters.

I get very stressed with anything fertility related because it has been going on so long and we have had so many dissapointments. Therefore the following things have caused me stress, but more laid back people might not -

I don't like the fact that you have to go through a call centre to talk to anyone and I have been on hold before for 30 mins

I have also had different staff to deal with each time and not known who to go back to with problems. This has then caused problems with money. I have been very careful to fully understand charges and asked each time if are there any possible extras. I also asked about a specific cost for something and was told it was included in the plan. I was then charged extra money for it. As I didn't have anything in writing there was nothing I could do and just had to pay. I then was chased by some finance company for money for something else that I had no idea about. I would understand if the clinic had asked me for money and I had not paid. But I had an invoice each time and this charge was not on any invoice and had never been mentioned to me by the clinic themelves.

You also don't have much choice with appointement times unless you are looking in advance. I think they are just really busy. They have taken on NHS patients recently too.

I have had to really chase to get everything in place on time for each round, but I am a complicated case and am grateful I have not been delayed in the end. There are a few really good staff who will help you out.

@Rd12 thanks for your message and good luck! Yes I have actually just found out that I would qualify for NHS treatment with create and the waiting list only a few months at the moment, obviously financially this would be massive but part of me worries if another lockdown happens and then we would get delayed again! I just wish we could see into the future sometimes and know the outcome!

Just on the call centre point that isn't standard - pre covid once you had signed up for treatment you get a mobile number for the patient coordinator and you call them direct - you don't go through the call centre (that's how it worked for 4 of my 5 cycles). I think they are directing calls via the call centre at the moment only due to covid and with some staff working from home/back log of patients so hopefully it will go back to normal

Appointments I imagine are busy at the moment - they take NHS patients now as well as doing some scans/egg collection for ABC patients (the really cheap sister clinic in oxford ). I never had an issue with appointment times and usually got the time I wanted/needed although they often ran late.

I guess looking back my 5th cycle did feel rushed but it put that down to doing it as soon as they reopened

I think if you've got a couple of months till you can start treatment you should be ok as hopefully they will have cleared the backlog of patients a bit x

Thanks @ivfbeenbusy. We're dealing with MFI and from my end things seem ok...so part of me thinks go with the protocol that will give the most eggs and the other thinks well actually do I need all these drugs? But if I wait for create will things stop again if we get another lockdown in winter? So in 2 minds! Who knows for the future but at the moment luckily I have enough money it I wanted a private cycle. x

Hi is anyone still using this thread ? X