Homerton Fertility

[Gillrobert]

Is anyone currently a patient at Homerton fertility? We have been there since January 2020 and have now been told our next round won't be until January 2024. Has anyone else experienced this? We were also told by a doctor that due to the wait time, we can go to a private clinic and have NHS paid IVF which I have found out is incorrect. I spoke to the North London contracts department and they said sadly we aren't the only ones that have been told this mis-information. Would love to chat to anyone who is currently at Homerton!!

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Hi - I was with Homerton fertility since Jan 2021.

First round was October 2021. Even that round I was told would be canceled then it was started at the last minute.

It was a horrible experience and found the admin staff to be useless. Booked in for the wrong appointments and nothing was ever explained properly.

My 2nd round was due to start April this year and that was cancelled. My GP wouldn't refer me to another clinic as the were only contracted to Homerton.

My OH and I decided to not waste any more time with Homerton and went private. I am now 16 weeks pregnant and so glad to have left that experience behind.

If your GP can refer you to another NHS clinic try that. Homerton fertility had been such a brutal experience I was 34 when I was referred there and would be nearly 38 by the time our 2nd round would be possible with them! It's an absolute disgrace.

I hope you manage to get something figured out. This experience of infertility is hard enough without the added stress. Xx

congrats !!!! Had a similar experience

2years wait after months of test before hand is unreasonable I’m not sure WHY they do not allow us to use the funding elsewhere

Congrat!!

We were told by a doctor there in September that as we can't have our next round until January 24 yes 24!! We could go to a private clinic from a website they sent us and have NHS funding. The last two month I have been trying to get this referral from our GP and CCG only to find out we can't change clinic and what we have been told is incorrect. Apparently we aren't the only people that were told this information. So frustrating! I will be nearly 39 in January 2024!!

Hi everyone, thank you for sharing your experience! I did my 1st round with Homerton last year after 2 year waiting, unfortunately I had a missed miscarriage last month.
To move on, I'm wondering if i should stay with Homerton? They have been suspended by HFEA recently. We did the same thing trying to ask for referral from our local CCG and our GP, but no news so far... Homerton said they could refer us to Bart's but we'll have to be on the waiting list again.
We are thinking about going private, but also don't want to lose the NHS rounds. What do you suggest?

Hey I would 100% recommend going private if you can! You will get a much more personalised treatment and care. We have been with Homerton since 2018 and have had issue after issue. There is a formal investigation going on at the moment as their transfer rates are lower then average. We have 3 frozen embryos and will do those transfers. We do have one more round on the NHS, however we don't want to do it again due to problems after the last collection I had. If you can afford it, I really would recommend going private or otherwise I would suggest moving to an alternative fertility hospital. It is a very long and emotional experience so do whatever feels right for you. Really hope it works out for you xx

@Gillrobert thank you so much for your reply! We booked an initial consultation with abc ivf, hope to find out the cost and see if we can afford it.

At the same time, we are still waiting for Homerton to review our failed round. But I don't expect too much from them. It doesn't seem like they can refer us to anywhere else apart from Barts. And they don't know how long the waiting list is. Just feel so exhausted to even think about being on another NHS waiting list again...

Do you need to wait for the suspension to do the transfer? Or they can still do it now? Good luck with your embryo transfer!!! I cross my fingers and toes for you! Xxx

@Doralice Hi Doralice, I am sorry to hear that your round at Homerton Hospital was unsuccessful. I was wondering how you are getting on with Homerton Hospital arranging your follow up consultation to review the round? Have you had any update? I ask as I also had an unsuccessful round of ivf with Homerton Hospital at the start of April. I am also waiting to hear when I will have a follow up consultation to plan the next round, but have no idea how long these things take, especially given the licence issue they currently have. Hope your consultation with abc fertility went well xx

Hi @AmpleFox sorry to hear about your unsuccessful round, it's hard and long way to go! We had a review appointment online with the doctor in Homerton 2 weeks ago, however, they still don't know if they can get their license back, they will find out in mid May.

So they gave us 3 options - 1. Wait and see and stick with them. 2. Ask our GP to get a referral to a different hospital but we have to be on waiting list again. 3. Homerton is looking for outsourcing if they can't get their license back, the last time I heard from a nurse was likely transferring patients to Bart's, but again we have to be on waiting list and Homerton can only find out more details about outsourcing after mid May.

We decide to stick with them for now, but also started to look into private clinics to understand the cost. Because the waiting time with referrals will be crazy if Homerton can't get their license back!

Maybe email the nurses and try to get a doctor appointment with Homerton to discuss your options? I guess it will like us but you have some updates from them at least.

Hope this helps! :)

Hi @Doralice thanks for you message and the extra info. I ended up having my follow up at the end of April. They confirmed that if they get their licence back in May they have roughly a six month waiting list for a second round. I am trying my luck with being referred to a different hospital 🤞🏻

Hope your investigations with private clinics go well xx

@AmpleFox how is it going with a different hospital? Did you manage to get a referral?

I went back for a scan in Homerton yesterday, that's the only thing they can do now. Everything looks back to normal after my miscarriage, it's relief to know!

But I was told they are now suspended till August! so there will be another 3 months of wait + 6 month waiting time for second round... :(( Think we will go private at this point!

Hi @Doralice are you able to get referred to an alternative hospital? Homerton gave me options of Guys or King's so I have now been referred to King's and waiting for an appointment in the next month. We are getting our embryos moved there. We have had so many issues at Homerton so I am glad to get out of there!

@Gillrobert that's amazing news! Hope it will go well for you at Kings! Do you need to go to your GP for the referral or Homerton can refer you directly?

Last time they offered us options we decided to stick with them. Maybe i should ask them again for options!

Hi @Doralice,

Glad to hear your scan went well and everything is back to normal.

I'm currently waiting on getting my first appointment with Kings. I was informed that there is a 4-6 weeks wait for a first appointment. I sent over all my medical records last week. My GP referred me when I asked him too. I'd ask your GP to refer you to a different clinic if you can, they are super understanding and there is guidance for GP's here:

gps.cityandhackneyccg.nhs.uk/service/infertility-service

Let me know how you get on xxx

@AmpleFox 4-6 weeks sounds really good! How is it going with Kings? I hope they are a lot better than Homerton!

We got a letter from Homerton back in June, we were asked to fill a consent form that we agreed to be referred to a different hospital. We chose UCLH, but they said there's no guarantee we would get our preferred one. We haven't heard back since!

At the same time, we started some consultation rounds with ABC/Create, really amazed by how quickly things can move forward! But sadly my husband sperm is not looking good, we are not sure if we will ever get to have a healthy baby... so we are looking into sperm donors at the mo. There's always so many ups and downs!

I hope all goes well with you!! xxx