# Anyone in Yorkshire and the Humber region?



## M2M (Sep 16, 2009)

Just wondered if there's anyone in Yorkshire who's with a fertility clinic that treats same-sex couples?

We've been to a seminar at the London Women's Clinic and really liked them, but the journey is a bit of a chore. We're in East Yorkshire and it's a 3-hour+ train journey plus Tube and finding a place to stay, not to mention having to take a whole day or two off work.

It may still be our best option and they seem like they're REALLY good with lesbian couples, but does anyone up here in Yorkshire know of another clinic which they can recommend as being good with lesbian couples?

Thanks in advance.


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

I can't give you any recommendations as I am all London!! but I thought that LWC had a branch in Darlington if that is closer, and CARE has one a branch in Manchester and they are very single / lesbian friendly at their other branches.  Leeds is a large centre centre. 

Good luck


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## nismat (Mar 7, 2005)

I would say that you definitely need to find a clinic closer to home - unless you get lucky and get pregnant within 1 or 2 goes, you will find all the travelling/time off work becomes really tedious - not to mention adding to stress levels, which is exactly what you don't want when TTC. For our son, I had to commute into London (approx 2hr journey) to LWC, and it was a real drag. Unless you are having completely natural, un-monitored IUI, you need to go to the clinic several times each cycle, so I honestly thing that LWC (London) is out of the question for you.

I'm not Yorkshire-based (although I am a Yorkshire lass by origin ). However, I do know of Yorkshire lesbian couples who have variously used LWC Darlington, Leeds Reproductive Medicine Unit, and Care at Nottingham (travelling from S****horpe - this is Rosypie/Evelet who are on this forum). I wouldn't get too hung up on whether a clinic is "really good" with lesbian couples; I don't think that it's such a big deal now in selecting a clinic - pretty much all clinics have lesbian clients now (lots of gaybies everywhere!) so you are very unlikely to encounter any prejudice etc. And often the more provincial clinics are very happy indeed to treat lesbian couples, as they are coming for treatment because they need access to sperm, and don't generally have infertility issues. So you're likely to boost their success rate statistics! Since switching to our more local clinic, in an attempt to conceive a sibling, we've been so much happier than we were at LWC first time around. We weren't unhappy there, but it did feel much more like a conveyor-belt operation. At our current clinic, the care feels a lot more personal.

Basically, I would find out which are the nearest clinic options for you in travelling terms, visit a couple of them, then plump for the one where you feel most comfortable. A really good starting point is to use the HFEA website, initially simply to find out which clinics are local to you, and then to read about them more in depth.
http://www.hfea.gov.uk/

Good luck!

/links


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## b&amp;l (Oct 8, 2009)

Were in Leeds 

Our situation is slightly different though, Ben is post op F2M (also Bi) I am cisgendered female Bi and Queer.

Feel free to send us a PM if you want to chat?

Lea
xox


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## M2M (Sep 16, 2009)

Thank you JJ1, nismat and Lea for your replies. 

nismat, I am thinking you're probably right that travelling down to London will be too stressful. I've been looking at some of the closer options, such as LWC Darlington and CARE Nottingham. Both seem good. There's an IVF unit at my workplace but their website is very much geared towards talking about the "husband" and there are no stats whatsoever for IUI so I'm wondering whether they only cater for heterosexual couples who want to go down the IVF route.

At the minute we are venturing into the unknown, though I'm feeling much more positive and excited about this baby-making business than I was when we were going through the adoption process (which was unsuccessful). I know it's likely to be an emotional rollercoaster but I'm already fastening my seatbelt and getting ready for the ride...


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## b&amp;l (Oct 8, 2009)

Pop over to the Yorkshire board hun, say hello to people, they are all lovely  x


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## isobel snow drop (Feb 2, 2009)

I think Hull does, when we went for our open evening there Im sur I noticed a couple of same sex couples. good luck .


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## lmb15 (Jun 12, 2009)

M2M - if you're considering Nottingham, Nurture is statistically better than Care (and in the top 3 in the country). We had our IVF there and they're a lovely bunch of people, very gay friendly. They have quite frequent open evenings if you wanted to pop along and have a chat with them and see what they're like. Here's the website:

http://www.nurture.ac.uk/forum/forum-logged-in?node=553

here's the link to their open evenings:

http://www.nurture.ac.uk/events/information-sessions

Good luck!

Lisa x

/links


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## Battenberry (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi M2M,

We live in North Yorkshire and were told that there was quite a long wait for donor sperm in Leeds (we were not eligible for funding being a same sex couple in our PCT) so we had one cycle at LWC in Darlington, but then changed to Manchester Fertility Services (MFS) in Manchester, which suited us better. Very gay friendly and welcoming, and they too have regular open evenings. Still a bit of travelling of over an hour each way but it was worth it. Just depends on where in Yorkshire/Humber you are as to where is easiest to travel really. I second what Nismat says about travelling to clinics, I was so tired during our treatment from getting up early for appointments and still trying to get to work on time, so travel time is a big consideration! 

Good luck!
B x


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## M2M (Sep 16, 2009)

Thank you everyone, so much! We are in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  We have a lot of options to consider!


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## whisks (Feb 10, 2009)

hi m2m

i know this a bit of a late post as you may have already chosen a clinic but only just seen your post, 
i was at lwc darlington and they are very good but the travelling was too much (i live in sheffield), then i discovered care sheffield (they also have a branch in nottingham and manchester) so far they are very good and have no problems with treating same sex couples, they are also cheaper than lwc!!

if you prefer to go closer to home though, as the law has now changed there shouldn't be a problem with you getting treatment at any clinic but i guess attitudes may remain the same, its worth checking some clinics in your area though you never know. 
the reason i chose to go to lwc was because of them not having a problem with same sex couples but if i had realised about care also being ok i would have just gone there to begin with.

whisks


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## whisks (Feb 10, 2009)

ooh i forgot to mention there are no waiting lists at care for donor sperm either


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