Fertility Clinics - Lancashire - Advice Please

[Lounat]

Hello...

We are at the start of the NHS referral process and have to choose one of five clinics in our area for our first consultation - all are around 15-20 miles away.

We are trying to decide but no idea where to start. HFEA only brings up one of the clinics so at the moment we are swaying towards closest to hubs place of work as he is a teacher and won't be able to get a lot of time away from school.

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience attending any of the following clinics and if you can highly recommend or advise to avoid/reasons/etc.

• Fertility Fusion Wrightington Hospital, Wigan
• Advanced Screening, Lytham (I believe linked to the hospital above in Wigan, but may not offer all treatment types)
• Ormskirk & District General
• Queen Victoria, Morecambe
• Royal Lancaster Infirmary

Any personal experience or general advice at all will be much appreciated.

Lx

Have you considered the Hewitt at Liverpool Women's? I had tests there under Dr Gazwani, and can recommend him.

Hi @ChagSameachDoreen I haven't as it's a bit far for regular appointments and juggling work, etc. Thanks for your recommendation though.

We are currently with Fertility Fusion and possibly looking to go elsewhere. (Hence coming across your post) We were referred via our GP and had the most awful experience yesterday. The first steps will be for the female to get her bloods done during day 2-4 of your monthly cycle and the male to produce a Semen sample. 2 options for Semen sample the male can choose to produce in clinic or at home provided you can bring the sample to the clinic within the hour.
my husband chose to do it from comfort of our home bearing in mind the time constraints and the time of his appointment. He realised half way through his journey that he forgot the forms that were sent that should have gone with the pot (if he were to turn round and go back he wouldn’t have made to the clinic in time) Personally I didn’t think there be an issue regarding the forms and that the forms merely be reprinted. However we were wrong. He arrived 15 mins early for his appointment time now being 35mins within the hour. He explained to the reception he was sincerely sorry he forgot the forms. She said it’s not a problem we will reprint them. He was made to wait gone after his appointment time by this point the sample was out of date if you like from the time specified and then was taken in by the Andrologist rather than to take his sample but was lectured on the basis of not providing the form bearing in mind he had an appointment, he gave in his details and had a pot with his name nhs number and date of birth and the form that was left accidentally at home. During this lectured he could see that the form had been reprinted on her desk. So what was the issue!!! She chose that time to be insensitive of the matter that the task for any male to have to undertake be daunting enough and there was just no need. Yes he forgot the forms he probably wasn’t the first and he certainly wouldn’t be the last. My partner walked away from there thinking that the results were going to come back poorly and of no true reflection. She basically spoke down to him and belittled him and said he could be anyone off the street.
knowing what had happened I took it upon myself to call to get clarification of such event as I just thought it was morally wrong for anyone to be made to feel this way at such a sensitive time. I received a call back and got the same treatment, the Andrologist had called me back openly admitted that it was herself that had spoken to my husband and also lectured me on said process and that she wouldn’t be doing her job, she said the forms tell us who referred him for the investigations (no it doesn’t, the form is just for her and what she needs to input regarding the analysis process) it has 2 stickers on indicating the male and female ie couple that’s it. She said that she could have just put the pot in the bin. Eventually I got an apology from her but it was long winded and I came away from the phone call all upset and frustrated. We now feel if this is the service that’s being provided although that is a reflection on one person should we look elsewhere. I hope that you have a better experience than we have had.

@Cwinters I'm sorry to hear you haven't been happy with the service received so far. We didn't opt for Fertility Fusion in the end as it turns out it wasn't the best location and the average wait times for treatment appeared to be longer than the others - only based on the information on the NHS Referrals website.

Do you mind if I ask how long it took you to get an appointment for your first consultation from when you were referred?

None of the clinics available to us have any appointments at all, which is really disheartening, so we are basically on a waiting list awaiting on a call with no idea of when it might come.

When selecting the clinic, a message popped up to say we can contact them for an update if we haven't heard anything by early November.....just seems like such a long time away and no guarantee we will even hear from them then, let alone when an actual appointment might be.

@Cwinters I also meant to ask, is it Fertility Fusion in Wigan or the Lytham branch you are currently with?

Best of luck in deciding the next steps. You want to be able to have trust in the clinic you are with at such an important time.

@Lounat Hi it is Fertility Fusion at Wrightington,Wigan we are with. We we’re referred from the GP 22nd July and actually received a choose and book letter surprisingly the beginning of August in which we submitted a request which the only Choice being was Wrightington there was no other choices to choose from but was also told like you that we could be waiting to the end of September for an appointment as it didn’t give us an appointment date or time at that point and if we haven’t heard to contact but subsequently we received an appointment and got a date for our virtual appointment on 24th August by post so we didn’t have to wait long in all honesty. The appointment was a consultation just to get health and background history from us both and the next steps are as mentioned above in my previous thread. We are now currently awaiting the outcome from my bloods and husbands semen analysis which I’m sure we will be contacted for a further virtual appointment to have a discussion with the consultant and will be told what is to happen next and should there be a further test for myself Ie Hysteroscopy (camera of the womb). I’m hoping that we can just move forward from the upset but it has unsettled us to feel that there was such a lack of empathy from such a rude inconsiderate member of the team. Disappointing views thus far. We have also tried to look for somewhere more closer to where we work as it’s 30-40mins from home and/or work but we don’t seem to have any joy regarding any NHS clinics closer should there be any further testing but my thoughts are now we’ve started we would have to do the same process somewhere else should we consider another clinic. But your right we should feel confident in the clinic/staff and we should feel comfortable and happy with them and the process at such an important time and not be feeling underwhelmed so early in the process. Should you wish to ask me anything else please do not hesitate. Good luck in your search 😊

@Cwinters thanks for the detailed info. Maybe it would be worth you seeing how your next appointment goes and make a decision after that. If it's only one person, you may not need to deal with them again.
I'm not sure how long it will be before my first appointment comes through.. I called the hospital today and my details are still with the GP surgery - the hospital haven't received my file from them. Once they do, I will go on a waiting list which will dependent on referral type (routine/urgent). I already know I have been referred to the gynae clinic as a routine appointment so expecting a long wait. Based on all this, it might be worth seeing your next appointment through before deciding whether to change... just in case you end up at the back of a very long queue again elsewhere.
Hope the next appointment fills you with a bit more confidence.

my thoughts too. There is that of having to wait further and effectively start from the beginning. I’m not sure on the waiting times elsewhere either but I do hope you get a speedy response very soon.