"Should not be offering private treatment"

- there is no out of hours line, even if they state that. The out of hours line goes to the hospital where they can't help you as they are not fertility specialists - that's if they pick up. When you are going through IVF for the first time, you really need to feel support at every stage.

- daytime number at the clinic never gets picked up - you are put through to an answer message and a nurse will call you back - sometimes hours later, sometimes the next day, or they forget.

- schedule of your treatment is according to that of the consultants - they are not full time at the clinic. Doesn’t sit right for a number of reasons – for example, our embryo scientist said that we should get our embryo back in for implantation asap, on leaving the room (and checking the consultants schedule?) that was delayed by 48 hours for more development/growth time as advised by the consultant. With older women, we've since learnt that many clinics advise that you go with your natural cycle rather than being put on the pill to control when you will next have your period/ovulation - our cycle was timed to suit the schedule of the clinic.

- no follow up appointment after treatment to run through even minimally what next steps might be if it didn't work. You can pay for another appointment - £100 plus.

- Communication between the consultant and the GP was minimal to non-existant. There are so many different things that the GP can prepare you for to ensure that not only the embryo implants but, that your body is ready to carry a baby to term. Whether this is the fault of the GP or the clinic, mine was totally unprepared, did not know anything about the 'ideal' blood levels for thyroid for example - something that as standard other fully private clinics have clearly outlined from the outset for us to pass on to the GP.

- No suggested physical preparation at all from the clinic – foods, supplements – aside from cut back on caffeine and alcohol. Whilst the effect of diet and exercise may be rated by the consultant as ‘not important’ (I think his words were - "it doesn't make a difference") - if anything, psychologically it is definitely important. We've also since understood that it can affect egg quality - when paying these rates you want to give it every possible chance of success.

- No holistic treatment recommendations –uterine bacterial infections for example, thyroid and prolactin levels before treatment– the consultants don’t believe these are necessary, minimal research reveals that to carry to term many of the tests are indicators. From what we’ve researched since – most clinics are on the whole more thorough in their investigation of fertility issues.

- We were waiting for months for our test results, only to be told they have been misplaced when it finally came to our appointment. We were then told we had to go private. We wasted a year – for the sake of a couple of hundred pounds to pay for these tests privately.