Hi Everyone - Thanks for the calls during the week - hope this information summarises things for you.

1) Does a public funded fertility clinic actually exist in Perth?
Yes it does - it is located at King Edward Memorial Hospital, in the West Wing Clinic. It runs only on a Monday afternoon and the delightful clinic nurse coordinator is called Noreen.

2) What is the waiting list?
Unfortunately this is the downside to the clinic. It can take patients at anywhere between 12 months to 18months to get seen for an initial appointment and subsequent reviews can also take a long time to be scheduled.

3) Am I just seen by medical students?
Not at all - there are sensior registrars and consultant gynaecologists who consult to the team. You might even be seen by Dr. Lucy Williams (Medical Director of Concept Fertility Centre) or Dr. Roger Perkins (Hollywood Fertility Centre) both well respected gynaecologists.

4) Can anyone get public funded fertility treatment?
Currently patients requiring egg donation, surrogacy, wanting a second child with their partner or couples who have male factor fertility issues due to vasectomy would not be seen. Noreen the clinic nurse can outline other criteria. Also elgilibility will also be affected by modifiable life factors - if you smoke, are obese or drink excessive alcohol you will need to modify these .

5) Where will I be treated?
All initial assessments and exploratory surgery are conducted at KEMH. Basic fertility treatment such as tracking, timed intercourse and ovulation induction are also done at KEMH. The more complex IVF or ICSI treatments or recipients of donor sperm are referred as public funded patients to the private fertility clinic Concept Fertility Clinic.

6) As a public funded patient at a private clinic will I be treated differently?
Absolutely not - all patients (private or public) are treated equally and with the highest regard. All patients are treated with the same standards of medical and nursing interventions. At Concept you are not seen by medical students but by senior consultants.