London women's clinic, Cardiff v ivf Wales any experiences to share?

[Dreamy33]

We are hoping to start ivf in Spring and were planning to attend LWC, Cardiff but have just received a letter from ivf Wales (nhs) to say we are top of the list and have been given an appointment later this month.

I'm nervous about ivf anywhere but, having spent time travelling back and forth to lwc for tests etc, feel a little more 'at home' there (if that makes sense!). So I'm left wondering which of the two options we should persue. Any experiences/advice on either clinic would be most appreciated because my head is in a muddle!

Thanks x

[FabiOne]

Hi Dreamy33

I have just undertaken my first Ivf attempt through the London women's clinic and couldn't fault them one bit. We saw Dr Thackare following a recommendation from a lady at work and although her bedside manner is not everyone's cup of tea I really liked her and have total faith in her.

Following my initial consultation at LWC my initial consultation for IvF Wales came though (six months after initial referral). Was told it would be another 12 months before treatment would start given it is 18months minimum wait following referral. I had had all the initial tests done at the LWC so basically Ivf Wales didn't really need to do anything. I needed to have a lap and hysteroscopy before lwc could plan my treatment and basically Ivf Wales said the same.

Throughout the whole process I have felt like Ivf Wales have piggy backed on what the LWC have done and wonder if they would have requested the operation had I seen them first. But this is mainly due to a lack of confidence in Ivf Wales following wasted appointments for test results that weren't back and a couple of other incidents.

I have endometriosis and Ivf Wales have monthly meetings with the endometriosis team to discuss if anyone who has recently had surgery to remove the endo are good candidates for starting treatment early. I was supposed to have been discussed in July, and in September and in November but it sounds like they haven't really discussed me properly. I have had four appointments with Ivf Wales in total, three of which were a complete waste of time (twice to get test results that they knew nothing about and didn't have and once where both them and us asked what the point of the appointment was!). Anyway the final appointment did turn out to be ok as I managed to get them to expedite my treatment to start in march rather than wait until July as originally planned (if you push hard enough you can get what you want!)

My opinion of Ivf Wales hasn't been great but that's not to say that's everyone's opinion. If my current round of treatment at LWC isn't successful then I will have every faith in Ivf Wales and hope the two fresh cycles they offer will be enough. If it is not, or in the future we would like to have a second baby I would definitely go back to LWC.

If you are in the position that Ivf Wales can start treatment now then I personally would use the free goes but if it's a case of having to wait a while then I would go to lwc and pay for up to two goes as this will not affect your NHS eligibility.

Good luck!

Would be good to hear what you decide to do

Fabi xxx

Ps one thing that did annoy me about Ivf Wales was when we went in September and they told me it would only be 10 months more to wait (after 3 years ttc 10 months felt like a life time!). I got the impression that the consultant had never experience infertility himself!