How to choose a fertility clinic and what to ask at your first appointment

Embarking on fertility treatment is one of the biggest, and perhaps most daunting life decisions many couples and individuals will ever make; choosing the right clinic will go a long way to relieving some of the stress and anxiety.

I thought in this, my first column, it might be helpful if I put together this simple checklist to help anyone considering assisted conception to understand what to look for in a clinic, plus how to prepare for their first consultation.

Choosing your clinic

1. Success: Ask your potential clinic to confirm how many patients give birth to healthy babies. This is a much more relevant number than how many IVF treatments they conduct.
2. Bespoke and appropriate expert care: The clinic you choose should offer personalised assisted conception treatment plans, tailored to your therapeutic needs.
3. Services and flexibility: Ask clinics to confirm where routine blood tests and scans will be conducted, and the procedures they have in place to discuss your treatment options. Ideally, your consultant and their team will go through every option with you before embarking on any treatment.
4. Transparent pricing: IVF is a major financial commitment. Make sure you understand from the outset how much your treatment will cost. Also ask if a fixed price for a round of treatment is available and check for ‘hidden’ or extra charges before you agree to go ahead.
5. Patient support: It’s important to ask how much access you’ll have to your clinicians between appointments to support you and offer you peace-of-mind. This will help you and your family to reduce the tension and anxiety felt by many patients.

Prepare for your first consultation

When you meet your prospective fertility consultant for the first time, you’ll be wondering what to expect, and what information the clinic might need from you.

To make that first consultation as smooth and stress free as possible, here’s what I advise my patients before their first meeting with me.

1. Collect as much information as possible relating to your personal health and family history. The more detailed the information you can share, the better.
2. Take any test results you may already have and list your medical history in chronological order. Make a list of any medication you take.  This will help your team understand what treatment may have, or have not, worked for you and what the next steps might be.
3. Write a list of questions. Your consultant will expect you to have lots of questions, but it can be hard to remember everything; jot down a list of anything you want to clarify.
4. Don’t be anxious raising any concerns. The calmer and more open you are, the better your team will be able to assess your needs – and the more likely you are to take in all the information.
5. Share your experience with family and close friends. This can help to settle your nerves; they may also have additional questions to add to your list and provide a perspective you may have overlooked.

Finally, don’t forget this is ‘your’ assisted conception journey. If at this early stage you feel you haven’t connected with your consultant, ask to speak to someone else. It is so important to have trust in your clinician and wider team.

Professor Luciano Nardo is Founder of NOW-fertility. He is board-certified in obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive medicine and surgery. He has 20 years of clinical practice and academic focus on assisted conception, male and female infertility, reproductive endocrinology, miscarriage, and all aspects of benign gynaecology.