Before you start your treatment, you will be registered on our online consent portal (Fertility Consent) and given access to information videos relevant to your treatment. You must review the information provided on Fertility Consent and sign the allocated consent forms before we can offer you a date to start treatment.
Please read the section below regarding fertility consent very carefully, to avoid errors in your consent forms. Any errors in your consent forms could lead to delays in starting your treatment.
Fertility Consent
Fertility Consent is a UK based company that specialises in providing online consents specifically for fertility clinics. This is a secure online platform, which provides patients with consistent and engaging information about their individual treatment, which they can review in the comfort and safety of their own home before electronically completing and signing their clinic consent forms and, where required, regulatory consent forms.
Newcastle Fertility Centre staff register patients on Fertility Consent through our own secure clinic dashboard. Fertility Consent then allocates each patient’s individual educational videos, clinic information, regulatory consent forms, and clinic consent forms based on their specific demographic and treatment details.
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 to review information specific to your treatment and complete the relevant consent forms. If you are having treatment with a 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 do not use your mobile phone to complete the forms as they do not format correctly on a mobile phone and the forms will be invalid.
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.
Next steps
Once you have completed all of the consent forms please email [email protected] to alert us that you have completed your consent forms. 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.
You should discuss the content of your consents together as there are areas you may wish to agree a response to. For example, if one partner agrees to allow us to write letters to the GP but the other partner does not, we will not be able to write to the GP about your treatment as a couple. Similarly, if one partner agrees to embryo freezing but the other does not, we are unable to freeze any embryos. If you consent to freeze embryos you should agree the length of storage for this embryos as if each partner consents to a different storage period we will default to the shorter storage period.
Please enter your personal details carefully especially when entering your names and you or your partner’s date of birth. If you enter incorrect details, we will reset the forms for you to do again.
Please read this information leaflet and watch the information videos before completing your consents. We are also happy to answer any questions you might have.
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. 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.
Training
We train laboratory staff in routine techniques and the HFEA consent forms you complete before treatment will ask if we can use your eggs, sperm or embryos to help in this training of the next generation of practitioners and embryologists. The eggs, sperm and embryos used for training are those that are not needed for your treatment and would otherwise be allowed to perish. The techniques we train staff in are embryo biopsy, freezing, thawing, injection and handling of sperm, eggs and embryos.
If you agree, you can vary or withdraw consent up until the point at which your eggs, sperm or embryos are used in training. Whether or not you agree will have no impact on your clinical treatment in any way. Our principal aim is to help you achieve a family and the training that we carry out will not alter your chances of a pregnancy. Cells that are used in training cannot be then used for treatment and will be allowed to perish.
If you wish to know more about our training procedures, we would be happy to discuss this with you when you come to the clinic.
Research
Newcastle Fertility Centre has an active research program because we believe that there are still too many unanswered questions about early human development. We undertake studies that are aimed not only to improve your treatment but also to develop new treatments that may help others in the future. We carry out surveys about your views on your problems and at the treatments offered.
You will be asked when you first come to discuss treatment if you have objections to donating cells to research. If so, we will respect that decision without question and we will not ask you about it again, and your decision.
If you wish to know more about our research, we would be happy to discuss this with you when you come to the clinic.
Contact
If you have any questions or concerns throughout your treatment, you can email the fertility nurses.
We do our best to answer your call as soon as possible, but we are a very busy service, so we may not always have someone available to speak with you immediately. If the line is engaged, please try again later or use the nurse email address above. The telephone line is often quieter in the afternoon.
Outside of these hours, there is an on-call doctor available to speak to in emergencies only on 0191 256 8240. The on-call doctor is not able to change clinic appointments or to answer general queries that are not urgent. These types of calls must be made during clinic opening hours.
For more urgent queries, our telephone line is open 8am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday
Patient feedback
We welcome your opinions and feedback on areas you feel have gone well or suggestions you may have to help us improve our service.
If you have any problems during your treatment or are unhappy with the care you are receiving please contact the Senior Sister (Stacey Turnbull) on 0191 213 8213.
Fertility treatment is sometimes upsetting and frustrating particularly when things do not go quite to plan or you do not get the outcome you had hoped for. Sometimes having a chat with us will help relieve some of the tension and frustrations you may be feeling. We are always willing to listen.
