Information for patients having fertility treatment

Following your initial review appointment, if you are suitable for fertility treatment you will be added to the waiting list. 

Once you are near the top you will be registered on our online fertility consent portal. You must review the information provided on the portal and sign the allocated consent forms before we can offer a date for your treatment.

Fertility consent portal

Fertility Consent is a UK-based company that specialises in providing secure online consents specifically for fertility clinics. Their online platform provides information about your individual treatment, which you can review at home before electronically completing and signing clinic consent forms and, where required, regulatory consent forms.

Our team register patients on Fertility Consent through our own secure clinic system. Fertility Consent then allocate educational videos, clinic information, regulatory consent forms, and clinic consent forms, based on your individual needs.

Completing the consent forms

When you are nearing the top of the waiting list, you will receive a text message directing you to the Fertility Consent platform. If you are having treatment with your partner, you will both receive a text message.

When you receive the text message, please log in to review the information videos and complete the consent forms as soon as possible. If you have any difficulties accessing the system or completing the forms, please email the nurses at [email protected]

It is best to complete the forms on a laptop, PC or tablet. Please contact us if you do not have access to a laptop, PC or tablet and we will arrange for you to attend the clinic to use our tablets to complete the forms.

Once you have completed all of the consent forms please email [email protected] to let us know. You should include your full name and date of birth in the email. If you are having treatment with a partner, you should not email us until you have both completed the forms.

Completed consent forms

Once we receive your email alerting us that you (and your partner if applicable) have completed the consent forms, we will allocate a date to review your forms (you do not need to attend for this). If your consents are completed correctly when reviewed, the team will contact you to arrange a scheduling appointment. We will not allocate a scheduling appointment until the consents are completed fully and correctly.

If you fail to complete the forms in one month and have not contacted us for support within this time we may remove you from our treatment list. 

Withdrawing or varying your consent

If you would like to amend your consents or withdraw your consent after you have completed your consent forms please discuss this with a member of the team as soon as possible.

Scheduling appointment 

This is a face-to-face appointment with a member of our nursing team. If you are seeking treatment as a couple, both partners must attend this appointment. If you are a single woman seeking treatment, you might find it helpful to have a friend or family member attend the appointment with you.

The nursing team will answer any further queries that you have and make sure you are ready to commence your treatment cycle. If you are happy to proceed to treatment, we will then help you to choose your dates for starting treatment. While we will do our best to accommodate your preference for a specific treatment date it is not always possible.

You will be given a treatment plan listing the medication regime, scan and procedure dates for you to refer to throughout your treatment. The fertility nurse will teach you how to do the injections and you will have a go at practicing this yourself.

During this session, we will provide you with an equipment pack. This includes all the needles, syringes and other equipment that you need for the fertility injections and a sharps disposal bin for your used needles. 

Tests you may have

A list for the tests you may have and how we give you your results can be found in the information for new patients leaflet.

Appointments for treatment

Getting time off work for appointments can be difficult. Some people find it helpful to discuss what is happening with their employer, others don’t. We can provide proof of your appointments if requested.

The minimum number of appointments are as follows. If you are having treatment as a couple then attendance of both partners is essential for the appointments in bold, although partners are welcome to attend at any point

• scheduling appointment
• starting scan
• monitoring scan(s)
• final scan
• egg collection
• embryo transfer

Please remember that the treatment dates are only an estimate of how your body will respond to the drugs. This means that we may have to alter the treatment dates in response to the scan results to ensure that you have the best chance of a successful outcome. This can sometimes be at very short notice.

Prescriptions

NHS patients will collect their prescription from the outpatient pharmacy at the RVI. You will need to pay the standard NHS prescription charge per item on the prescription. Sometimes there can be multiple items on one script for a cycle of treatment.

Private patient prescriptions can also be sent electronically to the RVI outpatient pharmacy. You can contact pharmacy who will be able to give you the cost of the drugs. We can also give you a paper prescription to take to your chosen pharmacy. You will need to collect this from the centre. Drug costs can vary significantly so you may wish to shop around. 

Make sure you have collected your drugs before you are due to start the treatment.  Remember to check the expiry dates and storage instructions for each medicine.

Prescriptions sent to the RVI pharmacy must be collected within 7 days.

Injections

The injections you may require to boost your egg supply, and the expected date for you to start this treatment is explained in your individual treatment programme.

This date is flexible, and it’s normal for your cycle not to be exactly times with the treatment programme.

You will be asked to take an injection to mature the eggs, this is sometimes referred to a trigger. It is carefully timed to your egg collection and is usually given in the evening. 

Depending on your treatment plan, this may be ovitrelle or buserelin.

How to administer injections

We provide guidance on how to to administer the injections. It’s simple to learn, and much easier than having to visit your doctor every day. 

The support and training can be found at the links below:

• Support and training information for Cetrotide®
• Ferring for fertility – Menopur
• Ovaleap – Patient instruction video
• Ferring for fertility – Rekovelle

We will also supply you with the needles and syringes you need. 

We will provide a special container for the disposal of used needles and glass.  Please do not put these in your household rubbish. Unfortunately, we cannot arrange for injections to be given in the unit. 

Needles and syringes

You can collect needles and syringes and a sharps box from the Newcastle Fertility Centre.  Please return the sharps box and any unused items to the centre for safe disposal.

Counselling

We are aware that undergoing fertility investigations and treatment is stressful and can affect the most personal and private aspects of your life. Counselling can help to lessen potential feelings of isolation and confusion, and encourage you to recognise and understand your emotions and allow you to explore the options that you have available to make the decisions that are right for you.

Research

Our understanding of early human development is constantly evolving and we are actively involved in research to improve current treatments, and to help develop new approaches that may benefit patients in the future.

As part of this work, we may ask you to share your views through surveys about your experiences, your health difficulties, and the treatments you are offered. This helps us continually improve the care we provide.

When you first attend the clinic, we will ask whether you would be willing to donate cells for research purposes. This is entirely your choice.

• If you decide not to take part, your decision will be fully respected
• You will not be asked again
• Your care and treatment will not be affected in any way

If you would like to learn more about our research or what taking part involves, our team will be happy to discuss this with you during your clinic visit.

Social media

We understand that you may wish to share your fertility treatment story on social media.  We know that some of you feel this gives you a network of support and that it can help lessen the stigma you feel surrounding fertility treatment.

We respect your choice to do this, but ask that you respect the privacy of our staff and most importantly the privacy of other patients. This means that we would prefer that you do not photograph or record the staff (either in picture or sound) delivering care or speaking with you on the telephone.

If you do decide to record yourself attending the clinic this should only be done when staff are not present and when you are in an enclosed room so there is no risk of accidentally videoing other patients. We appreciate that your fertility journey is personal to you and any recordings must remain the same.