Bourn Hall: Counselling Sessions

25 October 2011, 15:02 | Updated: 25 October 2011, 15:13

Couples struggling to have a baby are being offered free counselling sessions at Bourn Hall IVF Clinic near Cambridge.

The first session will run on the 3rd November, and is open to both NHS and private patients.

They are open to anybody who is suffering fertility problems and wishes to get support, help and advice.

The sessions will be run by two female professional counsellors who have had experience of fertility problems themselves.

Thomas Matthews, Medical Director at Bourn Hall Clinic said: "Patients find it very difficult sometimes to accept the fact that they need help to have a baby.

Everybody assumes that when they want to have children, they can do so straightaway.

But when they find that there is a problem, it can be a shattering emotional experience."

Bourn Hall was the first IVF treatment clinic to open in the world, and was set up following the birth of the world's first "test tube" baby in 1978.

Nationally, around one in seven couples encounters problems when trying to conceive.

In 2010, there were 1,880 cycles of IVF at Bourn Hall Clinic near Cambridge, along with 555 frozen embryo cycles.

Click here to visit the Bourn Hall Clinic website.