I’m still feeling considerably upset that my myomectomy has been cancelled for the summer and pushed back to December. This now means our treatment has been paused till summer next year. We have already been try to conceive for 5-6 years. I feel my mental health is really starting to suffer. I know they said the operation isn’t classified as urgent so it can wait December but the fact it’s knocking on my ivf for another year makes me feel sick. I’ve tried everything to make myself feel better, counselling, I’ve started yoga and Pilates, meditation, just positive thinking. But I feel so let down that I brought this fibroid up before my last ivf cycle and only after the loss of 3 embryos did anyone take any notice. My mental health is suffering for it. I’ve heared of the Pals service within the NHS board and I’m considering writing to them to tell them my predicament that it isn’t just the surgery, I feel like my whole life is waiting on that op ! I turn 33 next year I’m worried about my age also. Has anyone had any experience with using pals or has any ideas on how I could speed the process up. I feel so down and tearful all the time 😢 xxxx
PALS service ? : I’m still feeling... - Fertility Network UK
PALS service ?
Yeah I used PALS recently; slightly different situation. My follow up appointment with my endo surgeon was supposed to be within a month due to a complication but the clerk messed up and sent a date 2 months post op! Bearing in mind I’d been sent home with no notes and my surgeon visited me on recovery ward ☹️ I phoned PALS and they sorted it all out quickly. I contacted them Friday and by Monday it was dealt with. The secretary offered me the 22nd August for my follow up appointment ( he’s on hols & that was the nearest date available tho I still have no written confirmation of this appointment) PALS were lovely and very efficient. I’d use them again! If I still get no where with written confirmation I may use them again 😡
To speed my surgery up I saw my GP and told her all my symptoms & the severity this was having on my health. She wrote to the consultant & the admissions department offered a surgery date within 2.5 on receipt of this letter. Originally I was quoted a 30-40 week wait which like you also mean my trying went on hold. The specialists weren’t very supportive but my GP letter & fertility DR got involved ( I involved him) and it was sorted out very quickly 😏
I’d email then and then call them. They will ask what you are hoping to achieve; be factual they are there to help you. 👍
Good luck xoxo
Thank you so much !! That’s really helpful ! I’m in a sticky situation see my gynae surgeon is a good friend of my aunties. I full faith in him because he’s a retired fertility specialist also, so I don’t want it to appear I’m complaining about him. However it was bookings at the hospital that said it was a routine operation not urgent but I pleaded with her down the phone that my ivf was waiting on it and she said well there’s nothing I can do about it, I started crying on the phone so it was obvious how upset I was. It’s just ridiculous that my whole IVF has to wait a year on a 2-3 hour procedure. I may go to the gp and see what I can do xxxxx
Don’t feel bad; it’s not about him it’s the admissions team. Don’t worry. He doesn’t control the waits. Honestly I’ve had so much hassle with this hospital ( I’m still getting hassle now) and know how it feels to feel like you are constantly fighting the system. Thank goodness it’s not my local hospital 😂The clerks have no power but PALS and GP letters do. You have nothing to lose by doing this. Sorry that the clerk wasn’t very nice what is with receptionist s and secretary’s so rude they are re known for it ☹️ It’s not okay xoxo
Thank you lovely ! I’ve already written my email and sent it this morning to the health board, I mentioned that this was no means a complaint against my surgeon as he’s been wonderful ! But I did say how the wait for surgery will affect my ivf and not to mention my mental well-being and my partners, my oh is 37 next year and he’s definitely feeling the struggle now. They contacted me to say someone will be in touch ! So that’s a start atleast 
next stop the gp if this doesn’t go any further ! It is exhausting fighting the system our hospital notes were even lost at one point, we waited 2 years for our refferal because apparently we went off radar ! After I’d called them on numerous occasions 🤯 if infertility wasn’t hard enough as it is without trying to keep one step ahead all the time ! Thank you !! All the best to you xxxx
Glad I could help.🙂
I really hope PALS push it forwards for you 🙂 It’s great they responded so quickly you must feel better knowing it’s in hand 🙂 let me know how it goes ❤️ I found PALS very understanding & supportive 👌🏻
I contacted the booking department & I got good news too my appointment has been confirmed. 👌🏻Apparently they have a new system & aren’t using Royal Mail anymore. So they are resending my confirmation letter. 👌🏻
It’s never the surgeons or nurse staff that are the problem it’s admin & errors. You just don’t need it!
I think we both deserve a sneaky glass of wine tonight 😏 xoxo
Ah that’s great news ! Hope the process will be smoother for you now I don’t think Wales has a Pals service but I emailed the complaints service for Aneurin Bevan Health Board ! Definitely deserve a glass of wine xx
Sorry to jump on this thread, I’m just wondering if you think they could help me. I live between two maternity hospitals, so when I got pregnant I decided myself which one I’d prefer (purely based on ease of drive for hubby as the other is city centre based vs out of town and if you get kept in private room vs a ward as one I want to go to is newer) but because my doctors surgery is based in the catchment area for the other my community midwife is not assigned to that hospital (different NHS trusts). I was happy enough having my 12 week and 20 week scan at the other hospital and when I saw my midwife at 25weeks she put through the transfer paperwork and told me to call the other hospital to check it had arrived and I’d have no problems going there plus to book ante natal classes. After many phone calls I’ve gotten nowhere and it’s stressing me out, been through the main switchboard and got wrong departments, midwife and ward clerk told me there was no way to check (????????) and couldn’t help and neither with the classes as my midwife is supposed to book them (despite me telling them my midwife is in a different NHS catchment area), wouldn’t even tell me the right number to ring if I went into labour! Said it’d all be in their ‘blue maternity book’ which my midwife should give me. Rang her today, long story short, different trust she has no numbers, no books and can’t do anything, she has access to as much info as me. I’ve decided to ring for classes on Monday for the numbers I have for my current area even though I’m not under them anymore and hope I can get away with it and hubby is going to drive us to the maternity unit at the hospital we want to be at just so we can try and explain face to face and make sure we won’t be turned away. If we get nowhere is this something you think PALS could fix as I’m running out of options and stress isn’t good during pregnancy and when you’ve been through the mill with IVF becomes even more precious 😕 I just want confirmation I can give birth at my chosen hospital and get booked in for ante natal classes, I’m just about to hit the 3rd trimester and time is ticking!
Hiya I think they could certainly help they’ve already contacted me today ! It’s worth a try good luck x
That’s great news! Think I’ll try my plan B but if no joy then get them involved, sounds like they are very helpful. I hope they manage to help you, if I’d been told I’d have to wait another year for treatment I’m sure it would have affected me the same way. Infertility really does feel like your life is on hold x
I emailed PALS when I had to and they responded very quickly.
Is there any chance you could go ahead with egg collection but freeze any embryos for implantation after the op?
Well just a little update It’s a little bit different in Wales I don’t think it’s called pals but it’s a simular service through the health board... they rang me back within a few hours, they had contacted the Gynaecology manager that then called me personally to say how sorry she was that we have been through such an awful time, that she would do everything she could to try and book me in for my op in SEPTEMBER !!! She said if I still wasn’t happy with the date given to call her personally and she will do everything in her power to sort it. She was very empathetic to our struggle and is the only person so far that has wanted to really help us ! I’m so pleased thank you Jesse1981 ! Amazing what an email to the top can do xxxx fingers crossed it’l be sooner rather than later xxx
That’s AMAZING so happy for you! Hopefully your IVF won’t be too delayed now. It’s sad sometimes what we have to do to get heard but well done you 👌🏻 xoxo
Feeling rushed into IVF before trying anything else! 
Hair bleaching, nail varnish etc during IVF 
So many questions. Male fertility affected by Covid? Diminished Ovarian Reserve? 1st Failed IVF with 5AA embryo? Any additional advice? 
Feeling a bit depressed 😞
Good response from PALS. 
