"Fertility Treatment with the Assisted Conception Service"

I am writing to expres my extreme disappoitment with the ACS unit as Glasgow Royal.

Last year after speaking to doctors and consultants regarding our issues in concieving for 4 years, we were finally given the go ahead to proceed with our treatment and was told to contact them once my cycle started. At this point i had an abnormal smear which was advised not cancerous just abnormal and i would be due back in 6 months for my next smear to check this but was given the go ahead to proceed with the fertility treatment.

I called the next month when my period arrived as advised to be told that they were too busy ( not something i was aware of and was not told) so booked for the month after.

That month i actually found out I was 4 weeks pregnant and called the clinic to cancel my appointment. Unfortunately the month after that i miscarried and had to have a D&C.

After speaking with the nurse at my local doctors and the nurses at the early pregnancy unit, two months after my miscarriage I felt i was ready to start the process of ivf. 

I called the acs unit asked if we could just start asap when i had my next period as it had only been 3 months since i was due to begin, the member of staff wasnt sure but said they would get back in contact with me. Around a week or so later i received a letter telling me i had an appointment in enarly two months time not really advising why but thought that was fine then about 1 week before that appointment i had another letter to say that the previous appointment would need to cancelled and they would see me in March. I called to query this why i was attending anyway to be told this was a consolation and to talk to me if i wanted to about the previous miscarriage, no one told me this advised that i had already spoken to the nurses at early pregnancy about this so did not want to talk about this anymore at this point i expressed that i was unhappy as i felt that there was a delay of 2 months now.

The member of staff on the treatment line advised i needed an up to date smear which was fine but i spent all day trying to sort this out to be dealt with asap to get things moving when i had recieved my results they again advised there were abnormal cells found so i had treatments 2 weeks later to have these removed at the time the doctor who done this advised there would be no delay in the ivf as these were removed and not pre cancerous. They did confirm that it is standard procedure for them to contact me for a smear in 6 months time which is nothing to worry about.

I called Acs again when my period arrived the month after to get things moving after stressing myself out talking to the staff member in the treatment department i finally spoke to a really nice nurse told her what had happened and she agreed to get me in for my treatment to start in the next month. I was asked to come in 2 weeks before this for them to check if the cathator they used would be ok given my recent treatment which was fine. So i went for the agreed appoitment to be told they would need to check my notes again and find out due to the treatment i had if ok to go ahead with the fertility treatment and they would be in contact. Last Thursday a week after i was last at the hospital and 3 weeks after first advised of the treatment i recieved a call to tell me they would need to cancel the treatment until i had another smear in 6 months time to give me the all clear which would take me to over a year down the line from first contacting the unit by the time i had went through the consoltation again it would be nearer christmas before anything has been done. 

I have called the department who carried out treatment who have confirmed that as far as they can see there is nothing stopping the treatment any abnormal cells were removed and they were not of a high grade. I am though unsure why i have advised 1 thing a few weeks ago and something else now especially since this was advised all along. 

I would also like to comment on trying to get through to this department for anyone who works full time it would be a nightmare as it seems there is never anyone to answer a call you always need to leave a message and wait 4-5 hours in some occassions for a call back