Harley Street Fertility Clinic Reviews 6

It is difficult to summarise the hideous experience at HSFC. Firstly, Dr Venkat makes all the treatment decisions and she is 100% owner of the business (available for anyone to see on Companies House). This means she has a terrible conflict of interest - the more treatment you undertake and the more money you spend, the more money she makes. She should not be the physician in charge of any decisions. They have successfully taken all my money but when it came to implanting the one fertilised egg i had, she refused. If there is any risk of it not succeeding, then her statistics are affected. The clinic is a mess, disorganised, chaotic. You never speak to or see the same nurses. When you go to their inhouse operating theatre, there are no cubicles so you hear all the conversations with other patients which is highly traumatic. You have no idea what is going on with your treatment and then when you ask to speak to Dr Venkat you have to pay £150 to speak to her. I was constantly correcting the billing as they always made errors. I am left with nothing and it was the worst 2 years of my life. I was also in my early 40s when treatment began and she should never have given me any hope of success.

I just wanted to express my heartfelt thanks for the warm and professional care I received during my first visit. From the moment I walked in, I felt welcomed, supported, and truly listened to. Every member of the team was kind, and patient, making what could have been an overwhelming experience feel hopeful and reassuring.

Especial thanks to Nurse Hazel and Neil I’m truly grateful for the time you took to explain everything and answer all my questions. Your compassion and professionalism mean a great deal, and I’m feeling more confident and positive about the journey ahead.

Very friendly drs and nurses very kind and reassuring

In September 2023 I started my first round of IVF treatment at this clinic based on a recommendation from an acquaintance. My first impression of the waiting room should have told me all I needed to know as the carpets and couches were stained and dirty. The area feels very makeshift and unprofessional with boxes from delivery in the walkway for clients to bump into. I didn’t go with my gut and overlooked this and was assigned Dr Venkat. I found that the Doctor isn’t too forthcoming with information and relies on you to tell her what treatment you want. You can’t discuss pricing at all with the Doctor which means they don’t take into account all aspects of your situation and what the best treatment options are.

The clinic invoices you as you go along and very often get this wrong. You had to constantly chase and when you were at you most vulnerable and anxious the night before an egg extraction, chase you for funds which you have already paid. There were so many administrative errors that it leaves little faith in the other departments performing well in the business. The nurses that take your blood tests are really great and I can’t fault their customer service. They have an inhouse pharmacy which on some medications is an 80% mark up compared to ASDA Pharmacy. These kind of mark ups are very unjustified. You need to remember that this is a business and they very much run it like one praying on the already desperate woman that come to them. Following my first unsuccessful treatment, I changed clinics and am now pregnant with twins.

I would not recommend this clinic for your treatment and urge you to meet with a few London clinics, meet the doctors and staff before you decide. Always follow your intuition!

It’s been a while I wanted to write this review, regarding my experience back in August 2023, and it was not a good one.
This fertility clinic is a disorganized mess, and it’s clear they are more focused on money than patient care. I chose a treatment plan that included the exams prescribed by the doctor, but the receptionist, Albana, completely mishandled the process. She attempted to charge me more than the actual cost, and someone else had to step in to resolve the situation. This was extremely stressful, and unfortunately, it wasn’t an isolated incident. Every time I needed a new medication or exam, there were issues at reception—incorrect charges, miscommunication, and unnecessary stress.
Additionally, when I arrived just 10 minutes late one day, Albana was rude and spoke to me in a condescending manner as if I were a child.
When it came time for the egg collection, the clinic excitedly informed me that they had retrieved six eggs. However, I later found out that only two of them were mature. This made their initial announcement misleading and frustrating since only mature eggs can be frozen.
When I later discussed this with the doctor, I questioned if the eggs were not all mature why not waiting more, and she said that the mature ones couldn’t wait. I asked them if wouldn’t be better waiting to have 4 and risking loosing 2 wouldn’t be better to have more mature eggs and she said she could have done it. Why didn’t then?
This was incredibly frustrating because I was relying on the clinic’s expertise to make the best decision, and it was not cheap.
Overall, I would not recommend this clinic. They lack care, organization, and empathy, which is especially unacceptable given the emotional sensitivity of fertility treatments. It is clear that their main priority is financial gain rather than genuinely helping their patients.

Sceptical about fertility centres offering false hope of getting women pregnant in their 50's for huge rewards? Well here's a company who offers the chance "for every woman to have a baby" while giving completely overinflated statistics. The long and incredibly frustrating experience begins of course by saturating you with incredibly expensive drugs that mostly have little to no chance of working.
I have been left sick, scarred and close to penniless after three attempts, even after all the hardship they had the nerve to chase me with more bills a year later, never answering any letters and not even the decency to respond to my entreaties with even a tiny note of kindness.
If you are desperate to have a child, bear in mind this company will hardly ever answer the phone. You will be waiting on hold for days at a time, even when there's an emergency, hoping in vain for some support or proper bespoke medical advice to come your way, while just simply listening to the same tune on their answering machine. Forget ever being able to speak to the director (the head doctor dictating all the rules) she's way too busy. There is no emotional support and really once you've paid an unending list of expensive chemicals, thrown up continually and sustained lasting problems from the drugs, so that a year later you are still sick, you realise at last, in your naivety, that they really just don't care. Your suspicion that the director and her son are motivated by greed is absolutely confirmed and in your heart you see that their efforts now are really pretty much to line their own pockets. It is a real shock to see that those in charge, who you thought were on board to help change your life, were just offering polite hospitality while racking in huge profits. You end up knowing this by their refusal to answer letters, to show any kind of remorse for over-prescribing hurtful steroids, which have a permanent and lasting effect. The drugs have permanently damaged my hearing, made exercise almost unbearable and the injections have left deep ugly scars and even a year later there is no improvement. What really is the last straw is being billed a year later, with no reminders until 10 months later, because their account department is entirely incompetent. I was their most determined, conscientious patient and they repaid this with a level of cynicism and negligence which beggars belief. Think very carefully and examine every other option before going here, because the process is tedious, horrifically expenses and you will be offered no support. They are so busy trying to secure as many clients as possible, who practically they can't look after in the end, while you pay for top class care, you'll never receive it because there are not enough nurses (or receptionists) to go round. No one ever answers the phone or deals with your problems even if you are heartbroken, ill, or scarred for life. Some of the healthcare team were a bit compassionate and tried hard to do their best, but communication at HSFC can be appalling and the billing department is deaf to all entreaties, unacceptably cruel and negligent.