The Beaconsfield Clinic: functioning well and often easier than London 

Although we cannot make private medicine accessible to everyone, we can try to make it easier.  I have been looking for a good location ever since medical practice became more complex and patients were travelling greater distances, and so what we need is accessibility, parking, and all the necessary tests available on site, preferably on the day of the first consultation – a ‘one-stop’ service.  Of course, it is not quite one-stop, because some of the results will take two or three weeks to be available, but the results of semen analyses and ultrasound scans are available on the day of the consultation, but it does mean that usually only two consultations will be required, with far fewer visits and arrangements in between.  Overall costs are reduced because the number of visits is fewer and car parking is free.

To make this happen, we need quite a lot of high-quality resources on site, for semen analyses and advanced seminology such as DNA fragmentation, we have Claire Mooney, Erica Foster and our new recruit, Hayley Fryer, all part of Fertility Solutions, who provide on-site testing with most results available on the day of consultation.  Similarly, Dr Ali Hassan, Consultant Radiologist, undertakes ultrasound scans on site and usually on the day of the first consultation, but often we can plan the ultrasound scan at the beginning of the follow-up consultation so that all of the results once again are contemporaneously available.

We also have Lynne Chapman, specialist in reproductive medicine and gynaecology, to provide further advice where necessary and to introduce patients to cycles of IVF and ICSI.  We also have Dr Nik Chopra, who has a special interest in men’s health, and is also available for specific cases, sometimes when hormone replacement more long-term may be required.

Overall, the costs of the tests are a little less than in central London, but as fewer visits are necessary and parking is free, then further overall reductions are probably evident.

I hope that this will be a better experience for all of you, more relaxed, certainly better integrated and overall probably less expensive, as I am well aware of the terrible costs of fertility treatments, and of course these are not merely financial.

So, if the Beaconsfield Clinic seems attractive, ask Alison for an appointment there, and to those of you who have already visited me in Beaconsfield, please send some feedback to Lucy the website.  I am also aware of all the stresses of infertility, especially after failed cycles of treatment, and of so-called unexplained male factor, so anything we can do to try to improve your journey, please let us know.

Although I think that the Beaconsfield Clinic is a great step forward, I may be a bit close to it for objectivity, so please let us know, because it is all about you and we need to be part of your plans, rather than the other way around!

With best wishes to all current patients.