Merrion Fertility Clinic’s Top Ten Highlights of the Past Decade

No. 1: Expanded Facility

2010: We moved into our current facility in no.60 Lower Mount Street which gave us the space we needed to grow and expand our services, while still being part of the National Maternity Hospital complex. We also had a state-of-the-art laboratory built.

No. 2: Donor Egg Service Launched

April 2015: We announced that we had established a satellite service to support appropriate patients requiring donor egg treatments. Our satellite service comprises pre-pregnancy medical advice and counselling, psychological support, arrangement of pre-requisite tests and prescriptions, provision of necessary ultrasound scans and tests during treatment, and relay of results to overseas clinic.   READ MORE

 

 

No. 3 Launch of MFC Support Group

August 2015: We began our support group which runs every month and is facilitated by our very experienced fertility counsellor, Kay Duff. This allows our patients to share their feelings and stories. The fertility journey can be emotionally demanding and many couples and individuals have benefited from the support of this group.   READ MORE

 

 

No. 4 Awarded Guaranteed Irish Membership

June 2017: We are a not-for-profit, Irish clinic. Not all fertility clinics are Irish-owned; some are owned by foreign corporations, which are answerable to shareholders. Our partnership with Guaranteed Irish reflects our MFC values of quality in patient services and care, and our commitment through education, research and training. As Ireland’s only fertility clinic with ‘Guaranteed Irish’ membership, we take great pride in reflecting the Guaranteed Irish beliefs of Provenance, Quality and Trust.   READ MORE

 

 

No. 5 Prof Mary Wingfield Launches ‘The Fertility Handbook’

June 2017: This comprehensive, research-based book provides excellent guidance on the fertility journey. Proceeds go to the Merrion Fertility Foundation, our sister charity which provides financial support to those who cannot afford fertility treatment.   READ MORE

 

Fertility

 

 

 

No. 6 Prestigious Grant for Fertility Innovation Received

July 2018: We received the highly competitive grant for fertility innovation for our research on the role of endometrium (lining of the womb) in embryo implantation at the 34th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). Dr. Louise Glover, Research and Development Coordinator at MFC, was awarded the Merck GFI (Grant for Fertility Innovation) for this project. Dr. Glover is pictured below with Louise Brown, the first child born through IVF at the award ceremony.   READ MORE

 

 

 

 

No. 7 Certified as Complying with ISO 9001:2015 

November 2018: We are regularly audited by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) to ensure compliance with the highest standards in relation to the Tissues and Cells legislation. We decided to transition to ISO 9001:2015 from the 2008 version of the quality management standard, which ensures that all processes are governed by Standard Operating Procedures and that any non-conformances result in corrective action so that our system is continuously improving.

 

No. 8 First Baby Born from Frozen Eggs

December 2018: We were delighted to announce the arrival of our first baby born through our egg freezing program. Egg freezing or ‘oocyte vitrification’ was first introduced in MFC in September 2016, so this successful pregnancy and birth within only 26 months of establishing the service was a testament to the expertise, hard work and outstanding dedication of the MFC team.

READ MORE

 

 

No. 9 First Baby Born through the Donor Sperm Program

December 2018: We were delighted to welcome our first baby conceived using the donor sperm service at our clinic. This successful pregnancy and birth occurred less than one year after introduction of the donor sperm program in MFC in 2017.   READ MORE

 

 

No. 10 MFC Patients

We are delighted to have been able to help thousands of patients achieve their dreams over the last decade.  We help patients through our various services, some of which are Ovulation Induction, IUI, IVF, ICSI, Egg Freezing, Donor Sperm Services and SSR.  One of our patients shared the following story on her IVF journey:    READ MORE

 

 

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Also, if you ever wish to consider fertility treatment, you can self-refer to our clinic by clicking here.

IVF Add-Ons: Do à La Carte Menus Serve Infertility Patients?

IVF Add-Ons

“Add-on” treatments and medications in IVF are highly controversial in the infertility field. At Merrion Fertility Clinic, we believe that strong evidence from clinical trials is needed before add-on treatments should be offered as part of the IVF cycle. These experimental techniques are expensive and poorly regulated, meaning that they can be introduced into routine practice before they have been shown to improve live birth rate.

In some cases, they may even have adverse effects on patients. A recent series of articles by specialists in the field, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, looked at add-on treatments used by fertility clinics. All concluded that there is still not sufficient evidence to show that these techniques work or what their long term effects are for patients and their babies.

To read more, please follow the link below:

https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(19)32454-9/fulltext

 

Dr Nita Adnan – new member of the MFC Clinical Team

Dr Nita Adnan

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to a new member of the MFC Clinical Team.  Dr Adnan has been working as a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in National Maternity Hospital since 2017 and recently joined Merrion Fertility Clinic.   You can find out more about Nita and the MFC Clinical Team on the following link:

https://merrionfertility.ie/about/why-mfc/clinic/our-clinical-team/

 

What is the IVF Process?

ivf process The IVF process is emotionally intense, physically draining and  expensive. But advanced medical knowledge and pioneering lab techniques are making the ‘take-home baby rate’ for women and couples better than ever, writes Danielle Barron.

Merrion Fertility Clinic featured in the Sunday Business Post and answered the most common fertility questions.

Keep reading to see full article.

 

 

The IVF Process

Whether it’s Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or standard In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), the procedure is the same for the couple. Professor Mary Wingfield, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the National Maternity  Hospital, and clinical director of Merrion Fertility Clinic, outlines what a typical IVF cycle involves. “We try to get between ten and 15 eggs, and to achieve this the woman has to go on fertility drugs that she self-injects for ten to 15 days.”

The eggs are removed vaginally, and on the same day the man produces a sperm sample. The eggs and sperm are placed in culture, and by the following day, it will be obvious which eggs have been fertilised and are on their way to forming embryos.

Three to five days later, all proceeding well, an embryo is selected to be put back into the woman’s womb. Any extra viable embryos are frozen to be used in the future.

ivf process - newborn

IVF Success Rates

The good news is that there have been a number of incremental improvements in IVF over the years, which has seen the “take-home baby rate” soar from 10 per cent to 30 per cent on average, says Wingfield.

“It’s much better than it used to be. If the woman is under 35, then with one treatment it is 50 per cent – you can compare that to couples with peak fertility who will only get pregnant every third time they try.”

To get pregnant naturally, around 15 million healthy sperm are needed, but for IVF you need about 100,000. Of course, just one sperm and one egg make a baby, but understandably with an IVF cycle they like to maximise your chances.

For more common causes of poor sperm production and motility (the movement and swimming of the sperm), urologists have a range of strategies and interventions that can help improve sperm quantity and quality.

Continue Reading the Full Article Here

IVF Clinics Face New Crackdown on add-on treatments

Add Ons

As a not-for-profit clinic, we at Merrion Fertility Clinic and the National Maternity Hospital are passionate about fairness and making our treatment as affordable as possible for all our patients. We urge patients and the general public to carefully consider all the information regarding different treatments and pricing.

And we encourage you to write to the Minister for Health advocating for public funding of IVF for all Irish patients.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/10/ivf-clinics-face-new-crackdown-on-add-on-treatments

Children and Family Relationships Act 2015

We are delighted to say that we received confirmation from the Department of Health yesterday that the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 will now not commence until the 5th May 2020.  This is good news as it gives us, the fertility clinics, and the Department of Health time to ensure that all the necessary arrangements are in place before the Act is commenced.  It also means that patients have more time to discuss and plan their options.

We will be very happy to discuss this further with you at your next appointment at the clinic.

 

Concern as IVF funding still not in place

funding

Despite the official government announcement last year that €1 million would be allocated for public IVF funding, these funds have still not been released. Those awaiting the much-needed financial and legal supports around assisted reproduction, as promised by the then Health Minister Leo Varadkar three years ago, continue to face uncertainty about when these funds will be made available and what criteria will be required to qualify for assistance.

The Government approved the IVF financial aid plans in October 2017 and a specific €1m fund was then announced by the Taoiseach last December.

In a statement, the Department of Health said a model of care for infertility, tied to long-awaited assisted human reproduction (AHR) legislation and the provision of financial assistance, was still being worked on by officials.

MFC continue to advocate for public funding of IVF for all Irish patients.

To read the Irish Examiner article, please see below:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/concern-as-ivf-funding-still-not-in-place-922418.html

HFEA report (May 9th 2019): “IVF more popular, successful and safer than ever but reasons for treatment are changing”

HFEA

The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority has just released its latest report on trends and figures in fertility treatment. Their findings have been welcomed by the British Fertility Society, who highlight the increased uptake of fertility treatment, improved success rates and confirmation that “IVF remains a safe and effective approach to address fertility issues”. Figures in the report also show that multiple births, the single biggest health risk from IVF, has now reached an all-time low of 10%, a sharp decline from 24% in 2008.

Other key highlights from the report include:

  • in 2017, more than 54,000 patients underwent around 75,000 fertility treatments in the U.K, with IVF treatment cycles increasing by 2.5% since 2016 and resulting in over 20,500 babies being born.
  • the average birth rate for women of all ages using their own eggs reaching 22%, while women under 35 using their own eggs have the highest birth rates (30% – fresh embryo cycle, 27% – frozen embryo cycle.
  • the fastest growing fertility treatment type is egg freezing, which has increased by 10% since 2016 to 1,463 cycles in 2017.
  • frozen embryo treatment cycle success rates (23%) have overtaken fresh embryo cycle success rates (22%) for the first time since records began, indicating that freezing embryos can give as much chance of success as a fresh cycle.

To read the HFEA press release and access the report, please follow the link below:

https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-press-releases/2019-news-and-press-releases/ivf-more-popular-successful-and-safer-than-ever-but-reasons-for-treatment-are-changing/

For the British Fertility Society response to the HFEA report on trends and figures in fertility treatment, please follow the link below:

https://www.britishfertilitysociety.org.uk/2019/05/09/bfs-welcomes-latest-hfea-trends-report/