"We had a mixed experience of the services there"

We were referred to Jessops for IVF around a year ago.

We had a mixed experience of the services there including some unhelpful comments from a couple of different staff (consultant and junior doctor) and a good experience with the head consultant there at the time. We did receive good care and communication from one of the senior nurses/sisters who was very warm and emotionally supportive.

We did not have a straightforward journey through the IVF process and the IVF process can make people feel quite out of control anyway.

The impact of this could have been reduced by better information and less judgemental communication. Some comments were made that I felt were judgemental and people allowing their personal views to impact and some were just silly/naive. It may be that the particular staff member who made a naive comment and laughed inappropriately just needs more experience. 

I wish services like this were more aware of guidance around the psychological aspects of care (e.g. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BBS-TIC-V8.pdf ) because I think if things had been slowed down for us and I specifically had been given more control, or better explanations of things, it might have helped to make the process less emotionally challenging.

We felt very grateful also for the staff who were kind and did communicate well.