Your IVF journey, first contact?
It might be as simple as not being sure how long the first appointment will take, whether it’s ok for you to bring along a partner or a friend, or how much of a financial commitment you’ll need to make up front. If you’re considering fertility treatment then you’ll have a lot of questions – ranging from weighing up whether it’s the right option for you at all, through to wondering how easy it will be to navigate the logistics of the treatment process, and each one is valid.
Because we know this can be an emotional time, we do our best to put you in control and give you all the information you need at every stage.
Here, we’re going to walk through what you can expect from the first time you contact us, to the start of your treatment.
Your journey, step by step
We usually first hear from women either at one of our free open evenings, or when they contact our patient support team over the phone or by email. Either way, the first step is just a conversation where we can arrange a time for an initial consultation – we’ll be able to see you for that first appointment within a week or so of you speaking to us.
Contact us Book an open evening
Make a note of your questions
Before you come along to one of our open events or an appointment, we recommend you prepare a list of questions ready to ask the team or clinician. That way we can help clarify or alleviate any confusion. We’re here to help support you on your fertility journey and make everything as smooth and easy to understand as possible. If you discuss all your queries you will be able to make an informed decision about your treatment.
What's the Initial Consultation?
Your initial consultation is your opportunity to get a really detailed and accurate picture of your fertility. You will have a detailed 3D ultrasound scan and a consultation with one of our expert clinicians. Our advanced 3D ultrasound scan will assess several areas of fertility including the blood flow to your ovaries, egg reserve, how healthy your uterus is, as well as the health of your ovaries and follicles, and whether there are fibroids or polyps that might be affecting implantation or causing miscarriage. If you’re going to be having treatment with a male partner and he hasn’t previously had a semen analysis, we’ll need him to produce a sample so that our expert embryologists can assess the sperm quality and quantity. This is to make sure we make an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan for you.
Where does the appointment happen?
We can book initial scans at any of our seven clinics around the country. The environment is friendly and we do everything we can to ensure you feel at ease, from welcoming you on arrival, to offering refreshments and playing relaxing music in reception – and you won’t be held up in a busy waiting room. You can come along alone or with a partner, friend or family member if you’d like the support.
Our clinics
What happens at the Initial Consultation?
Before you even come along to the clinic, you’ll be assigned a personal patient coordinator who will contact you to talk through the appointment so you can ask any questions you have about how it all works. On the day, your coordinator will meet you at the clinic to introduce you to your doctor, and if further down the line you decide to go ahead with treatment, they’ll be with you at every stage.
You’ll meet with the consultant for an hour to run through your medical history, have your scan and then discuss the results. Each of our consultants are experienced specialists in fertility. They will explain the results of your scan and help you understand where you stand, what your options are and whether more diagnostic tests would be useful.
If treatment is right for you, you will be given a personalised treatment plan, as well as success rates that are individualised for your circumstances. The appointment is geared to giving you all the information you need to make the decision that is right for you. As a clinic we offer a whole range of treatments including different types of IVF, intrauterine insemination and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection – it’s about finding the way forward that will give you the best chance of a healthy pregnancy.
We know there’s a lot of information to take in, so you’ll also have the chance to spend another 30 minutes working through the details with your patient coordinator. You can find out more about the process, timing and potential costs of treatment you might be considering, as well as the counselling we offer throughout treatment.
At this stage, no financial commitment is required from you, except for the cost of the Initial Consultation and scan.
Book an Initial Consultation & Scan
What happens next?
If you need more information at this stage you can contact us afterwards by calling the patient support team. Many women in this situation are very aware that time is of the essence. If you decide to go ahead with treatment then we can usually book you in for the next step – your treatment consultation – within a week, although your scans and results are valid for three months.
What happens at your treatment consultation?
When you come into the clinic your patient coordinator will introduce you to one of our specialist fertility nurses. This is your chance to go through every detail of your treatment plan with your nurse and talk to us about any queries you might still have, so we encourage you to prepare a list of questions ready to ask, as well as a notepad if you feel it will help to write down the answers your nurse gives you. At this appointment, we’ll order any medication you need and you’ll learn how to take it. We will also take a small blood sample which we will use for necessary blood screening.
We want you to feel confident and relaxed about how your treatment will work, and you should leave this appointment with all the information you need and a very clear picture of what happens next.
If you are planning treatment with a partner then they will need to come along too, as you’ll both need to supply ID and sign consent forms. If not, and you’d like to bring along a friend or family member for support, that’s fine too.
This is also the point where we’ll ask you to make payment for your treatment. To do this, you’ll need a credit or debit card. If you would like to discuss finance plans please refer to this link.
Payment plans
When will your treatment start?
After the treatment consultation we ask you to contact us on the first day of your next period to book your first scan and start your treatment.
