Our promise to you

Our priority is to ensure all of our patients and colleagues are kept as safe as possible at all times.

We continue to maintain our existing safety processes, which includes the requirement for some patient groups to take a lateral flow test prior to attending, wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing and a triage prior to entering the clinic. Thank you for your continued support.

Our page outlines all of the steps we have taken and procedures we have put in place to assure you that we have done everything possible to ensure the clinic is a safe place for you and how treatments can commence whilst assuring your safety and well-being at all times.

This means our clinic will need to operate a bit differently. However, we assure you that you will still receive the highest standard of care and warm welcome that you are used to from our team and clinic.

New and existing patients:

• We are accepting new patients and will offer appointments virtually or over the phone. Our Patient Teams can answer any questions you may have or give support and advice about your treatment or future treatment. Our Doctors and Counsellors are also on hand to offer you virtual appointments. If you would like to speak to any of our specialists for advice or support at this time, please contact our In-Patient Team on 0161 300 2730.
• To ensure our patients are safe to proceed with treatment, our Doctors will be reviewing medical history. Each patient will be treated on an individual basis but increased risk factors including high blood pressure, diabetes or taking immunosuppressant medication may affect whether a patient is able to commence treatment at this time.  Whilst we understand this may be extremely disappointing, please be assured we have your best interests at heart and any decisions we make are for your safety during this time.
• We are taking social distancing seriously and will be spacing out appointment times to ensure the minimum number of patients are in the clinic at any one time.  We still want to help as many patients as possible though so have extended our opening hours. These opening times will change so please check our contact us page for the most up-to-date information.
• Counsellors are always on hand to support you and will be offering virtual appointments to ensure you get the help and advice you need at this time, please contact our In-Patient Team on 0161 300 2730 to arrange an appointment.
• Hayley, one of our Senior Patient Advisors, runs our private Facebook Patient Support Group, where we can all continue supporting and talking to each other. If you are a patient and would like to speak to other patients and us, please search for 'Manchester Fertility Group' on Facebook. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to contact Hayley with any questions you have on 0161 300 2730 or go on our website to speak to us via our online chat.

Arrival at the clinic:

• We have a dedicated car park at the clinic.  You will be asked to wait in your car and call our reception team to let them know you have arrived. Please call 07436140842. Our receptionist will ask you some questions regarding Covid and then you will be advised of when to come to the entrance. If you are travelling by public transport please call us to discuss arrangements.

• Everyone who enters the clinic will get their temperature tested at the entrance.  This also includes all of our colleagues. If the results show a raised temperature, you will be asked to go back to your car and advised about testing for Covid-19.  We will not allow anyone to enter the building who has a high temperature.

• We require all patients and partners entering the clinic to perform a Covid-19 Lateral flow test on the morning of the following procedures only:
  • Egg collection (only the patient may attend)
  • Hycosy (only the patient may attend)
  • Embryo transfer (patient and partner are able to attend and must complete a test)
  • IUI (patient and partner are able to attend and must complete a test)
  • Pregnancy scan (patient and partner are able to attend and must complete a test)
• Please be aware that your lateral flow test result must be registered using the QR code shown on the test cassette and your confirmation to the clinic should be in the form of a text from the NHS.  Our reception team will ask you to share your lateral flow test result and they will make an entry on your patient record to confirm that you have had a negative result text confirmation
• We will also be asking everyone to remove their own gloves and mask before entering the clinic. You will be asked to sanitise your hands and then given one of our masks to wear before having your temperature tested. You will then be shown to the treatment area. Everybody in the clinic will be wearing a mask and our colleagues will be wearing PPE. We will all still have our friendly faces underneath the masks. We will also be operating a one-way system to ensure social distancing and will ask everyone in the clinic to go upstairs via the lift and downstairs via the stairs (unless you are unable to do so.)
• Hand sanitiser gel will be available at points around the clinic and a rigorous cleaning regime is carried out during the day, paying particular attention to hand rails, door handles and areas with a high touch point.  
• There are things you can do to help too during your time both in and outside of the clinic.  We ask you to be aware of not touching your mouth, nose and eyes, make sure you wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, particularly before eating or handling food and avoid close contact with people who are unwell.  These will all help to prevent the risk of infection.

Treatments

• Partners are permitted entry into the clinic to accompany patients undergoing an IUI, or embryo transfers. . If the patient requires oral sedation for any of these procedures the partner will attend at the point of the procedure. Our priority remains to keep everyone safe.  We will therefore continue to evaluate the situation which is subject to change if government advice or operational practice in the clinic changes. You can also be accompanied by a partner for a pregnancy scan.

• If a patient starts to feel unwell or has symptoms of Covid-19 after they have had an egg collection, we will speak to them about freezing their embryos to transfer at a later time once the patient is well again. Although we know this may not be what was planned and anticipated, we have great success rates with frozen embryo transfer. If you would like to read more about our success rates click here.
• We will be allowing extra time between patients’ treatments.  This is to ensure we can carry out a rigorous clean and sterilise the room and all equipment before the next patient is treated.

Latest HFEA Advice Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy 

On 30^th December the Government updated their advice regarding the Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy. The latest advice is:

Is it safe to take the COVID-19 vaccine if I am currently or planning to have fertility treatment?

• The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have recently updated their guidance on priority groups for COVID-19 vaccinations, which includes a section on pregnancy and those trying to become pregnant. JCVI advises that, for women who are offered vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination in pregnancy should be considered where the risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection is high and cannot be avoided, or where the woman has underlying conditions that put them at very high risk of serious complications of COVID-19. In these circumstances, clinicians should discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with the woman, who should be told about the absence of safety data for the vaccine in pregnant women. JCVI does not advise routine pregnancy testing before receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine. Those who are trying to become pregnant do not need to avoid pregnancy after vaccination. However, if you are pregnant when the second vaccine is due, please be aware that there may be difficulty obtaining the vaccine due to a precautionary approach during pregnancy. The RCOG recommends that individual risk factors be taken into account in pregnant women.

Latest HFEA Advice Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy 

We understand many of you have your worries about the latest Covid-19 vaccine and the potential impacts that this may have on your fertility.  The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives have released a reassuring statement responding to your concerns. 

Dr Edward Morris, President at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "We want to reassure women that there is no evidence to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines will affect fertility. Claims of any effect of Covid-19 vaccination on fertility are speculative and not supported by any data.

There is no biologically plausible mechanism by which current vaccines would cause any impact on women's fertility.  Evidence has not been presented that women who have been vaccinated have gone on to have fertility problem".

You can read the full statement here to answer any questions you might have.

Following the recent announcement from the Prime Minister it is important that you have the COVID-19 booster vaccination as soon as possible. The JCVI has reduced the gap between vaccines and is now recommending people get their third dose three months after their second dose.

We believe that patients undergoing fertility treatment should receive the Covid-19 vaccine if they are eligible. You may wish to consider the timing of having a Covid-19 vaccine or booster during your fertility treatment, taking into account that some people may get side effects in the few days after vaccination that they do not want to have during treatment. These include for example, tenderness at the injection site, fever, headache, muscle ache or feeling tired. We recommend delaying the date of vaccination by three days from egg collection or embryo transfer so that any symptoms, such as fever, might be attributed correctly to the vaccine.

Guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Royal College of Midwives says that it is more important than ever that pregnant women get the COVID vaccine or, for those who may have received both doses before getting pregnant, the booster. All doses of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are safe for pregnant women. You can have these at any time during your pregnancy, but would recommend you try to get both vaccines before your third trimester. The vaccine is safe, it’s effective and it can protect you and your baby

If you have been advised to have the Covid-19 vaccine and have any concerns or questions, please speak to your fertility consultant or one of our senior fertility nurses for further advice.

Keeping you safe

We have everything in place to ensure we will give you the best possible care in the safest way. Everyone at Manchester Fertility is committed to protecting our patients and colleagues and we appreciate your understanding in these difficult circumstances.

We will continually monitor the situation and promise to keep you updated as soon as anything changes. If you would like any further advice and support, please see our contact details below for each patient group.

New Patient team on 0161 958 6142.
In-Patient Team on 0161 300 2730.
 

Last Updated 17/12/2021