Hi there, I was going through the latest threads and noticed you didn't get any replies!
So I'm with Guy's. I did my NHS round there and stayed with them for a private round as well (consultant-led), because I was pretty pleased with them compared to my friends' experiences with Barts or King's. Tbh it's all down to the individual's particular set of circumstances and expectations, and Guy's worked for me. And even at the same clinic, I think that sometimes the experiences differ whether they're on NHS or paying for it, so do look out for that when you're reading reviews.
In my case during the NHS round, I felt that the nurses cared, everyone was super nice and helpful, and they were always reachable via email, but the reply came sooner or later depending on how urgent my matter was or whether they had to get input from a consultant, so it seemed like there was a triage system going on and sometimes it would take a day to hear back. But at other times, I would send them a list of questions and the head nurse would take 10-15 mins at the end of the day to call me and respond to everything to reassure me. Whenever a transfer didn't work, I got a follow-up with a senior consultant within a few weeks and that was soooo helpful. And I appreciated that they were flexible with their protocol, which means that I had more choices than my friend at Bart's for example. I was ovulating just fine, so I wasn't put through an unnecessary round of down regulation, just to make my cycle match their schedule. Same when I had the option to do a natural FET (without medication) because they work 7 days a week. We had short waits because we came into Guy's from the Lewisham borough, but those who live in Southwark have more competition and longer waits I believe. As with any other NHS clinic, you'll mostly be handled by nurses throughout the stim phase (under a consultant's plan ofc) and you'll see a different one every time, and they won't do anything that's not clinically proven to help, so don't expect ERA / EMMA or whatever add-on's. And like every other NHS clinic, they're unlikely to do a fertility MOT before your first cycle, just the standard list of tests that everyone does (AMH, FSH, STI's, sperm analysis).
NHS tends to put people through IVF, see how it goes and where the issues are, and maaaaaybe if there's 3 failures they'll look deeper. So even before starting your NHS round you could try doing a few extra tests yourself privately or via the GP. Also you can start taking supplements now, going on the Mediterranean diet, eating lots of fruit and veggies both of you, working out, reducing sweets and alcohol, cutting out processed foods - they all help.
One thing I'm realising now that Guy's could have done better, but that might be an NHS issue and the fact that we came in with great test results so were relatively low risk or low need for monitoring, is that I didn't get an extra scan halfway through the stim cycle, which might have helped to see what's happening with the follicles and adjust the dose accordingly. My friends at Barts and Kings (also on NHS) did get halfway scans but they either had PCOS, either they were double the dose that I was on. Now that I'm doing a consultant-led private cycle with Guy's, I've had scans every 2-3 days, I started on a high dose and had it lowered twice, and the follicles so far are growing slower but more evenly, which I assume will help. We'll just have to see!
I think that CRGH has a good reputation, if I remember right, lots of women on mumsnet rate it highly. A friend of mine did CREATE at St. Paul's privately and even though it wasn't without frustrations or problems, she did get pregnant on her second transfer. I don't fully know her set of circumstances, but she had a similar protocol to mine when I was at Guy's NHS, same dose but a couple of days shorter, which might have gotten cut short because she was probably already displaying signs of OHSS, which she developed after egg collection.
Hopefully this all helps and I hope that your NHS cycle is successful wherever you go!