A return...

I’ve had many people in touch over the past week thinking that Fertility clinics are re-opening this week to start providing treatment again.

The Facts are that from today Fertility clinics can “begin to apply to re-open”. Each clinic has a choice if they wish to apply or not and no clinics will truly know ‘when’ they will re-open and how long it will take for their application to be assessed and then confirmed or rejected.

It will take time for any clinic to open up, become used to the new changed working environment, conditions and guidelines and likewise for patients to feel safe too. They will likely want as few staff and patients in at any one time as possible and any staff able to continue working from home will likely be asked to do so.

Clinics will be making decisions on ‘who goes first’ and assessing priority levels for current and new patients.

On an emotional / psychological level, I suspect hope might increase when the clinics open up and it will be important to establish how much of this hope is linked to being able to receive treatment after the recent delay and how much is connected to faith in the treatment/consultant/clinic itself. Alongside the hope there may be raised levels of anxiety and many connected emotions ranging from fear to excitement and apprehension to relief.

We remain in an uncertain state and fertility itself is uncertain. Fertility treatment is EVEN MORE uncertain and unpredictable. Over the next week/s, if you think your treatment cycle will be starting soon, now is a good time to review your support network and strategies, including your diet and any supplements, your physical health, your emotional well being. Also to ensure you know as much as possible about the treatment cycle – what’s going to happen, when and by whom.

If this relates to you right now, for the latest up to date information keep checking the website of your chosen clinic and also the HFEA website which continues report on the changes.