Yorkshire clinic recommendations

[BirdIsland]

After two years TTC and yet another pregnancy announcement from a friend today, I'm starting to look at Ivf. We don't qualify on NHS so will need to go private.

Does anyone have recent experience of clinics in Leeds or Sheffield. Previous reviews on here of Care Leeds are patchy at best but are all quite old. Just wondering if they be improved, as they'd be the most convenient.

Thanks x

@BirdIsland hi im with Yorkshire Fertility they have been really good throughout this whole process for me. Good luck with everything x

Thanks @Sherr33, where are Yorkshire Fertility? Their website seems to be Huddersfield, but it also suggests they work with Care Leeds so I can't quite work it out!

@BirdIsland they are at Halifax but they work with a few hospitals for the egg collection and embryo transfer process and care leeds is one of the options you have. Its what I went ahead with as Manchester and Sheffield just wouldn't have been feasible

Anyone have any more recommendations/reviews? I'm so new to this so appreciate any thoughts or guidance.

I’m with Care Leeds and they’ve been great so far. I wouldn’t be put off by the reviews really, obviously it’s so emotive most negative reviews are because women haven’t fallen pregnant through ivf not because of the clinic itself.
I’ve found them to be really responsive (reply to emails within a couple of hours, answer phone straight away) and the staff and consultant I’ve dealt with have been good. We’ve not started IVF just yet (there’s a wait for a nurse appointment until March so are starting then).
Otherwise Care in Sheffield is meant to be good for both reviews and success rates but not much in it I don’t think.

Hi, that’s good to hear about Care Leeds as I had also been put off a bit by the reviews. I had initial calls with Care Sheffield and Manchester Fertility last week - both offer two cycle packages and both seem to have good reviews and success rates. As a left field option I’m also looking at New Life in Greece due to the low costs and excellent reviews and success rates there (and direct flights from Leeds Bradford). Would you mind sharing if you come across any other good clinics in Yorkshire please OP? Such a lot of info to take in.

Hull and East Riding is a good clinic if you don't mind travelling a little bit further?

I think Leeds recently changed hands and become part of Care, and I think they may have had teething problems with the changes. I’ve read all the reviews going for the clinics local to me and they do seem to be people upset they didn’t fall pregnant rather than the service in most cases. Also I want to be somewhere close to my house because of the number of appointments (and a very clingy dog with separation anxiety 😅) so our choice was between Care Leeds and Care Sheffield.
We have been messed around by our GPs for over 3 years so we ended up self referring and just resigning ourselves to going private for all cycles, but the consultant at Leeds pushed our GP for us and we are getting our free round on the NHS. So that also made me more positive towards them, as they could have just taken our money.
I can report back when we have started the actual IVF process next month though if people need! 😊

Thanks @HopefulllHolly - Leeds is actually closer to me so I will definitely take another look at it. It sounds like they have given you a good service so far, so that is nice to hear. Yes, it would be great to hear how you get on; I’m just starting this process and so a few months behind you.

Good to hear that Leeds Care is looking better than it was, it's definitely more convenient than Sheffield. I have one more NHS scan next week to monitor some ovarian cysts and check egg reserve and, subject to the outcome of that, will move to privately funded IVF. It's so overwhelming though, a world of information that I feel like I need to get to get grips with.

It would be great to hear how people get on with their chosen clinics, it's understandable that people are angry/sad when they don't get pregnant so leave bad reviews, but it does make choosing a clinic much harder when starting out in the process.

By total coincidence my nhs infertility referral has ended up with Care Leeds! I called Seacroft Hospital today to chase up the referral and they told me it had been transferre to Care. I called them and they were super helpful, offered me lots of options for appointments. So first impressions are positive!

Ah that’s good, maybe we’ll be there together! I found the consultant Dr Rutherford to be really nice, I think he warmed to us because our little sausage dog was on my knee for our consultation and then he showed us his two golden doodles. He was the one who pushed us to go back to the GP and demand a letter and referral and chased it for us, which he really didn’t have to do.
Whens your appointment going to be? I think I’ll be starting down regs next month and then start stims end of March early April, which is annoying as I wanted to start this month.
Im going to be on long protocol which I wasn’t really wanting as I have low AMH (4.7) and AFC (6), plus my oestrogen levels are low so im terrified of going in to early menopause. Obviously he knows best but id rather just work with my cycle as its very regular and I have been tracking my cycles for so long from trying to conceive the last 7 years that I know exactly where I am in my cycle. But hey ho, guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

@HopefulllHolly I have my scan in a couple of weeks, then consultation a couple of days after that. I'm not actually sure what the scan is for, all they said was I couldn't be on my period - any ideas??

I'm pretty certain the overall outcome will be that our only option is self funded IVF, but I'm really grateful that this first exploratory stage is being done on the NHS.

@BirdIsland Yeah it’ll be your internal scan, they will check all your insides with it make sure it is healthy and no cysts etc, then they check your follicles and count them to get a rough idea on how many eggs you’d produce - and this affects your protocol.
It’s an internal scan so it’s like a camera on a dildo, just to warn you!!
How come you don’t think it will be NHS funded?

Ah, that's so helpful, thank you.

I actually have an NHS scan booked for Monday, I know I have cysts on one ovary (discovered before Christmas) so the scan is a follow up to see what is going on with them. It's a bit weird, I seem to have two processes running at the same time (scans re cysts and referral for infertility), feels like they should be more joined up?!

I'm glad you've had a good experience with Care @HopefulllHolly (love the bonding over dogs 🐕) and have been able to start the process. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome 🤞

@BirdIsland Yeah it can feel a bit disjointed with the NHS stuff and the fertility stuff. Hopefully you’ll get answers on the cysts and be able to tell your consultant at the clinic the results. They might remove the cyst at Care?

We’ve finished all our consents and watched all the videos last night, and then this morning they called me to book my final bloods (HIV) and our nurse consultation to go through drugs and how to do injections. That’s first week of March so only a few more weeks to wait, I hope all this goes quickly and it works. I’m constantly talking to myself telling myself to be more positive then be more realistic as we don’t have great odds. 🙃

Joining here as we gave started the process with Care Leeds - a little bit further behind than you though. This has been reassuring reading for me as the reviews had put me off. 🤞 we end up where we want to be x

Had our consultation with Care today, lots to think about as anything further will be privately funded.

The consultant was good, nice but honest about our chances of conception via IVF which she put at 15% - hard to hear but I'd prefer to have that clarity on where we stand.

Got to decide now what our next steps are. In the meantime she told me to increase my CoQ10 to 600mg and add vitamin D (which I thought was included in my B vitamins but turns out not!).

I've had to chase Care a couple of times as they hadn't sent the emails I needed, but both times they've answered the phone almost immediately and sent the email straight away. Prefer not to have to chase but they dealt with it quickly, so pretty positive experience so far from a service perspective.

Hey @BirdIsland thats good you had your consultation! And glad they have been efficient too. I guess with so many patients they do just need a poke to do things quickly. I don’t mind doing that though personally! (And I’m good at it 🤣 poor them) I’ve found them really good with us tbh! And everyone’s been really kind and friendly.
I had my nurse one today where she went through my protocol and dates. Annoyingly we were told last month we could start this month but it’s worked out it’ll be next month now as they don’t have any space. Still going to bother them just before I’m due on this month to see if anyone cancels. I’ll be on short protocol, which I wasn’t expecting but fine, less injections and drugs.

What kind of things are you thinking of? Anything I can help with?

Hi all I just thought id add on my experience with CARE hsd been amazing. I also had issues with emails etc but that was because for some reason my hotmail/outlook account wasn't accepting them. CARE were always prompt when I rang them and reassured me. They even had an out of hours number for contact when we got to egg collection and embryo transfer. The day of EC the nurses and everyone were amazing. I just loved my experience with them. Im currently in my TWW. Good luck to you all! :-)

Thanks @Sherr33 for sharing, fingers crossed for your TWW 🤞

@HopefulllHolly annoying that they don't have space for you. Not sure how old you are but I always feel like every month is precious (although in reality a month probably doesn't make much difference physically, just emotionally). Hopefully they'll get you in asap.

We're just trying to decide whether to actually go down the IVF route. We're lucky enough to have one DC already, and I'm just worried about the impact the process might have on her. Also worried because I got preeclampsia at 35 weeks which was so scary. I'm also (reasonably or not) worried about my age and the increase chance of having a poorly baby/child and again the impact this would have on DC. So lots to weigh up.

Does anyone know if/why long protocol is better than short? Everything I've read doesn't seem to suggest it has any particularly benefits over short, so not sure why long would be used? Why wouldn't short just be used all the time?

Ah yeah @BirdIsland lots to weigh up. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.

So from my understanding long protocol shuts down your ovaries and then when you do the stimulations it means that all the follicles should grow at the same speed. Often there’s a lead follicle with short protocol which means you may end up with less mature eggs if they decide to do the retrieval based off that one egg. Or they could let the others try and catch up and risk you ovulating.

That’s what I’ve been told and read anyway but I could be wrong!

Im starting on 21st April (which should be day one of my next cycle). Although it’s frustrating as I’m older (37) and have been TTC for 5 years now, I am just trying to see it as another month on the supplements and healthy habits. I was healthy before anyway but have made a real effort the last 3 months.

That's really helpful re short/long protocol, thank you! Fingers crossed for April @HopefulllHolly, I find the healthy eating/supplements etc give me an element of control in an otherwise totally uncontrollable situation 😵‍💫