Hammersmith, Chelsea, Guys or UCLH for IVF?

[Tuckedinbelly]

Hi everyone. We're just waiting on our NHS referral and have been told we can choose where to have our treatment (male factor issue for us, I seem 'normal').

Any experiences of any of these hospitals? Not sure where to start with decision making. All much of a muchness in terms of travel. We're in west London near Ealing, with the train line into Paddington

Hi @Tuckedinbelly good luck with your IVF journey. I don't know the others but avoid Guys. With a few exceptions most people I know who've gone there have had negative experiences including me (nearly lost me my precious baby due to their screw ups).

I'm on a FB group at my current clinic and when someone mentioned Guys there was a huge flurry of negative comments (with one positive comment too I should say for balance).

I hope it all goes well

Xxx

Ps most of the private clinics are Marylebone/Harley Street so not bad for Paddington x

Sorry should have read your message properly - ignore the bit about private clinics!!!

Thanks @Janefx40 Sorry to hear you had a tough time with Guys! Hope baby is safe and well?

Our clinic seemed to suggest Hammersmith is first choice for most followed by UCLH.

We may well go private if there are any cockups with referall/refusal/it doesn't work etc. NHS process has been a bit haphazard tbh not helped by covid

Hi @Tuckedinbelly our girl is safe and well and now 2!!! But she wouldn't be here if I hadn't realised they had forgotten to give me some vital drugs and chased it up!!

Have a look at the HFEA website as they have stats for each clinic. Look at the more detailed stats where you can look specifically for your age group and at different parameters. That will give you a good idea of their outcomes although of course outcomes for other people won't tell you everything!

I've been to 2 different clinics, about to start with a 3rd. I've had 3 fresh IVF/ICSI cycles (chemical, DD, BFN) and a FET (miscarriage) so have been around the houses. Feel free to ask if you have any questions xxx

@Janefx40 Oh, I’m so sorry you went through that, I’d be absolutely livid too! Hope your baby is ok now?

Interesting that there’s a fair few negative experiences with Guys in general, if you don’t mind me asking, is there a running theme on what the issues are?

@Tuckedinbelly I was offered Guys or Kings and went with Guys on GP recommendation. I’ve not started treatment yet but have already had a mixed bag of experiences with them. I’m on a thread where some have had a great experience so far and others have had a pretty poor one so it does seem to be a bit of luck of the draw with them, even though I thought they’re meant to have a good reputation.

If the other hospitals are closer and get good reviews and stats I’d probably go with them even if only for convenience for when you’ll need frequent scans. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Hi @RiverRiot I'm so sorry to undermine your confidence when you are about to start a cycle. I'm sure you will do fine at Guys. We had a very extreme thing happen and it won't happen again so really not something for you to worry about.

I think the most general complaint about Guys is their communication and getting in touch with them isn't great but that won't affect your outcome.

Best of luck with it and for balance, I did get my daughter out of it (even if they screwed up on the way)!!

I’m with Hammersmith at the moment, the clinical side of things has been great (scans/medication/transfer etc) and we have just completed our first ICSI cycle with a tentative positive test today.
The communication when we actually started the cycle was also great, the embryologists and nurses always calling when they said they would.
The only thing I’ve been concerned with is several admin errors (such as husband being given someone else’s results) so we have had to be hot on checking those things! We also had our cycle cancelled several times but this was due to lock down so couldn’t be helped. Good luck wherever you choose!

@Janefx40 Oh no need to apologise at all! As mentioned, I’ve already had some not so great experiences with them as it is, one of which actually resulted in me lodging a complaint, so I’m not at all surprised there are others out there too. And then there are others who’ve had a really good experience with them. I suppose it can be quite individual depending on the circumstances.

But you’re right, their comms can be a royal PITA at times!

I’m so glad your daughter is safe and well and wishing you all the very best for your next cycle. x

@Tuckedinbelly we’ve also been with Hammersmith. They have been fine and we are very fortunate to have a toddler, and now twins due next week- all from treatment there. It can feel a bit like a conveyor belt sometimes (I think this is true of many clinics) but if you ask them questions they are usually very happy to oblige with more info. Pre covid they also had very short wait times- I don’t know about now though. I might be wrong but I think with UCLH if you end up needing IVF it’s actually done at a private clinic called CRGH? Good luck with your fertility journey wherever you decide to go. X

@Tuckedinbelly we’ve also been with Hammersmith. They have been fine and we are very fortunate to have a toddler, and now twins due next week- all from treatment there. It can feel a bit like a conveyor belt sometimes (I think this is true of many clinics) but if you ask them questions they are usually very happy to oblige with more info. Pre covid they also had very short wait times- I don’t know about now though. I might be wrong but I think with UCLH if you end up needing IVF it’s actually done at a private clinic called CRGH? Good luck with your fertility journey wherever you decide to go. X

@orchid10

I’m with Hammersmith at the moment, the clinical side of things has been great (scans/medication/transfer etc) and we have just completed our first ICSI cycle with a tentative positive test today. The communication when we actually started the cycle was also great, the embryologists and nurses always calling when they said they would. The only thing I’ve been concerned with is several admin errors (such as husband being given someone else’s results) so we have had to be hot on checking those things! We also had our cycle cancelled several times but this was due to lock down so couldn’t be helped. Good luck wherever you choose!

Thank you orchid and congrats on your positive. Will keep everything crossed for you.

@Tuckedinbelly @Lemongrass1 I didn't know UCLH used CRGH (too many acronyms!!). CRGH have excellent outcomes for older women. If you are over 40 you might want to consider choosing them if that's the case.

Congratulations @Lemongrass1 on the twins. I remember you from various threads! Xxx

Thanks @lemongrass1. And congratulations!

I'm going to turn 39 in a few months. I'm right at the NHS cut off age so our clinic is trying to get us referred asap.
I actually think my fertility is ok. I've fallen pregnant three times after three one off contraception failures/lapse of judgements but never by my current DP.

I don't have any children though - one termination as an idiot teenager, and one MMC with an ex partner and one v early miscarriage around 7 weeks.

I hope that if they can pick out a good one of DPs fairly useless sperm we'll be in with a shot.

@Tuckedinbelly CRGH are an excellent clinic. We had a consultation there but went elsewhere in the end but my friends went there and really rated them. It could be worth choosing them now as if you do end up going private in the future, you could just stay there. There aren't many clinics that have good outcomes for 40+ but CRGH are one of the best (don't let that freak you out tho - loads of women have babies over 40 me included).

Good luck with whatever you decide. Sounds as tho Hammersmith are good too

Xxx

I was under uclh. I cannot fault them. Excellent doctors. The entire team is great. Things didn't work out for us (we did get pregnant but things didn't work out) and I'm now at CRGH privately. Again, I'd recommend crgh too. Good luck.

Thanks again. UCLH sounding like a good choice then!

@Tuckedinbelly similar situation as you just had the initial Consultation for NHS treatment, and they seemed to recommend Hammersmith and UCLH, didn't mention Guys at all.

He seemed keen on Hammersmith but haven't looked into it. I also know that some private clinics take NHS patients but not sure how that works exactly so I'm curious about that process.

At the moment as it will be a few months till we start with NHS so we are about to start a private cycle. Where we are we can do up to 2 private.

@Lemongrass1 good heads up about UCLH being at CRGH. When looking into private CRGH was one of our top three so think we will pick UCLH.

Best of luck with your cycle!

Nice thing about uclh is some of the consultants also consult for uclh, so rather than having to get records etc. The transfer from nhs funded to private was seamless. I even have the same main consultant.

@Hoping4baby21 best of luck with your cycles. Just a heads up that the rule in Barnet when we did it was 2 cycles "however funded". So because we had done one privately funded cycle, we were only entitled to one NHS one. If we hadn't done any we could have had two. I'm sure you've already checked but if not, do double check before paying for a private round xxx

@Janefx40 thanks I have looked into it and as long as we don't have more than 2 privately funded cycles we can get 1 on the NHS with our CCH. But thanks for flagging. So strange how they are all so different.

I meant CCG*

My GP suggested Guys or UCLH and we went with Guys mainly because easier commute for us for appointments etc.

Their admin team are a total nightmare (and you really do have to do a lot of advocating for yourself and be pushy) but the doctors and nurses are great. We had a successful outcome and are very grateful.

Random question and slightly off topic but as some of you have been there done that the consultant for NHS IVF suggested a HSG and laparoscopy to check tubal patency and other things to cover all bases, from what I can see that is gold standard to be sure you check for every possible thing that could be going on in there and fix it at the same time. BUT I don't really want surgery if I can help it. There are other tests for tubal patency that are less invasive such as HyCoSY or even just HSG along. I have no signs of endometriosis or fibroids or polyps etc (based on 3D scan which I had privately) to suggest I need a lap. Although of course something could be found.

Does anyone have any experience of these procedures? Do I go all guns blazing or do I go for a less invasive procedure? If ultimately they refer me for IVF why do I need to go through the invasive surgery?

It just seems that haven't given me a reason as to WHY they NEED or SHOULD do the invasive surgery?

I know I should call and answers these questions and I will. Didn't think to ask all these questions during the short consultation.

@Hoping4baby21 Do you have a reason for the infertility or is it unexplained? I've had a hycosy as the fertility clinic says anywhere we're referred to will insist on it. I do have a couple of fibroids but they say they're nothing to worry about. I haven't had mentioned what they've recommended to you but we know it is male factor for us so perhaps that's why?

@Tuckedinbelly it's unexplained so I get that it's the final thing to check that might give an explanation. I'd be more comfortable getting the HyCoSy because it's less invasive. Also he said the same in regards to needing if before the referral. No male factor.

What I'm unsure on is the need for the more invasive tests HSG and Lap considering I have nothing that suggests a lap is needed. Perhaps he isn't trained in HyCoSy or there's some other reason he didn't go into with me.