Further information
We have included the following organisations because, on preliminary investigation, they may be of use to the reader. However, we do not have first-hand experience of each organisation and so cannot guarantee the organisation’s integrity. The reader must therefore exercise his or her own discretion and judgement when making further enquiries.
ACeBabes (Families Following Assisted Conception)
Doriver Lilley 8 Yarwell Close Derwent Heights Derby DE21 4SW
Tel: 0845 838 1593
Website: www.acebabes.co.uk
Provides a network of families who have been successful after assisted conception, supporting couples from early pregnancy through the issues of parenting and beyond.
Adoption and Fostering Information Line
Tel: 0800 7834086
Website: www.adoption.org.uk
Information on adoption available anywhere on the internet, with specific information on agencies operating in regions of the UK and concerns UK adoption by those resident in the UK only.
Benefits Enquiry Line
Tel: 0800 882200
N Ireland: 0800 220674
Minicom: 0800 243355
Government agency giving information and advice on sickness and disability benefits for people with disabilities and their carers.
British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF)
Head Office Skyline House 200 Union Street London SE1 0LX
Tel: 020 7593 2000
Website: www.baaf.org.uk
Coordinates standard setting for family placement, raising awareness of issues affecting looked-after children, advocacy and influencing social policy in the UK and child placement services.
British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA)
69 Division Street Sheffield S1 4GE
Tel: 0114 263 1448
Website: www.bica.net
With members drawn from a variety of professions, BICA is the professional association for infertility counsellors and counselling in the UK. It represents members involved in counselling people with fertility issues and seeks to improve the training of infertility counsellors.
Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy (COTS)
Lairg Sutherland Scotland IV27 4EF
Tel: 0844 414 0181 (local rate call) or 01549 402777
Website: www.surrogacy.org.uk
A support network to surrogates and would-be parents, to understand surrogacy before entering into an arrangement and deal with problems that may arise.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
21 Bloomsbury Street London WC18 3HF
Tel: 020 7291 8200
Website: www.hfea.gov.uk
This statutory government body regulates clinics providing IVF, donor insemination and embryo research. It produces an annual Patient’s Guide, with extensive information about all licensed IVF centres in the UK (including their success rates).
Infertility Network UK (INUK)
Charter House 43 St Leonard’s Road Bexhill-on-Sea East Sussex TN40 1JA
Tel: 01424 732361
Website: www.infertilitynetworkuk.com
Provides advice and information for members of the public and for professionals on all aspects of infertility, helping couples make informed decisions throughout the infertility process, providing emotional support and working with infertility professionals.
Miscarriage Association
c/o Clayton Hospital Northgate, Wakefield West Yorkshire WF1 3JS
Tel: 01924 200795 (Mon–Fri, 9am–4pm)
Helpline: 01924 200799
Scottish helpline: 0131 334 8883
Website: www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk
Provides support and information on all aspects of pregnancy loss.
Multiple Births Foundation
Hammersmith House Level 4 Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital Du Cane Road London W12 0HS
Tel: 020 8383 3519
Website: www.multiplebirths.org.uk
Seeks to improve the care and support of multiple birth families through the education of relevant professionals.
National Edometriosis Society
50 Westminster Palace Gardens Artillery Row London SW1P 1RR
Tel: 020 7222 2781
Helpline: 0808 808 2227
Website: www.endo.org.uk
Funds research into endometriosis and raises awareness, among medical professionals and the general public, of endometriosis.
NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence)
MidCity Place 71 High Holborn London WC1V 6NA
Tel: 020 7067 5800
Website: www.nice.nhs.uk
Provides guidance on treatments and care for people using the NHS in England and Wales. Patient information leaflets are available for each piece of guidance issued.
TAMBA (Twins & Multiple Births Association)
2 The Willows Gardner Road Guildford Surrey GU1 4PG
Tel: 0870 770 3305
Helpline: 0800 138 0509 (10am–1pm, 7–10pm, every day, all year round)
Website: www.tamba.org.uk
Profiles information and support to families with twins, triplets and more, and to those involved with their care.
Verity
Unit AS20.01 The Aberdeen Centre 22–24 Highbury Grove London N5 2EA
Website: www.verity-pcos.org.uk
Self-help organisation for women whose lives are affected by poly-cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Overseas adoption
For information on international (intercountry) adoption please visit the government information and services
website: www.direct.gov.uk/Parents/
Intercountry Adoption Centre
64–66 High Street Barnet, Herts EN5 5SJ
Tel: 0870 516 8742 (Mon–Thurs, 10.30am–1pm and 2.30–5pm) and 020 8440 5675
WEBSITES
Any websites on infertility that are accredited by ‘Health on the Net’ (HoN) should carry good quality, reliable information. A useful starting point is:
www.repromed.net
www.britishfertilitysociety.org.uk/ links/index.html
Part of the website of the British Fertility Society, the professional organisation for clinicians and scientists in infertility practice in the UK.
This page has extensive links to information and other useful sites.
www.clinicalevidence.com/ceweb/ conditions/woh/0803/0803.jsp
Infertility and subfertility, Clinical Evidence (BMJ Publishing Group).
www.ivf-infertility.com
Designed by infertility specialists primarily for couples who are experiencing difficulty in having a child, and think that they might need medical help.
www.netdoctor.co.uk
Particularly www.netdoctor.co.uk/ womenshealth/index.shtml
A useful site containing articles written by specialists for patients.
www.repromed.co.uk
Website for patients of the Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University of Bristol.
THE INTERNET AS A SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION
After reading this text, you may feel that you would like further information on the subject. The internet is of course an excellent place to look and there are many websites with useful information about medical disorders, related charities and support groups. For those who do not have a computer at home some bars and cafes offer facilities for accessing the internet. These are listed in the Yellow Pages under ‘Internet Bars and Cafes’ and ‘Internet Providers’. Your local library offers a similar facility and has staff to help you find the information that you need.
It should always be remembered, however, that the internet is unregulated and anyone is free to set up a website and add information to it. Many websites offer impartial advice and information that has been compiled and checked by qualified medical professionals. Some, on the other hand, are run by commercial organisations with the purpose of promoting their own products. Others still are run by pressure groups, some of which will provide carefully assessed and accurate information whereas others may be suggesting medications or treatments that are not supported by the medical and scientific community.
Unless you know the address of the website you want to visit – for example, www.familydoctor.co.uk – you may find the following guidelines useful when searching the internet for information.
SEARCH ENGINES AND OTHER SEARCHABLE SITES
Google (www.google.co.uk) is the most popular search engine used in the UK, followed by Yahoo! (http://uk.yahoo.com) and MSN (www.msn.co.uk). Also popular are the search engines provided by Internet Service Providers such as Tiscali and other sites such as the BBC site (www.bbc.co.uk).
In addition to the search engines that index the whole web, there are also medical sites with search facilities, which act almost like mini-search engines, but cover only medical topics or even a particular area of medicine. Again, it is wise to look at who is responsible for compiling the information offered to ensure that it is impartial and medically accurate. The NHS Direct site (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk) is an example of a searchable medical site.
Links to many British medical charities can be found at the Association of Medical Research Charities’ website (www.amrc.org.uk) and at Charity Choice (www.charitychoice.co.uk).
SEARCH PHRASES
Be specific when entering a search phrase. Searching for information on ‘cancer’ will return results for many different types of cancer as well as on cancer in general. You may even find sites offering astrological information. More useful results will be returned by using search phrases such as ‘lung cancer’ and ‘treatments for lung cancer’. Both Google and Yahoo! offer an advanced search option that includes the ability to search for the exact phrase; enclosing the search phrase in quotes, that is, ‘treatments for lung cancer’, will have the same effect. Limiting a search to an exact phrase reduces the number of results returned but it is best to refine a search to an exact match only if you are not getting useful results with a normal search.
Adding ‘UK’ to your search term will bring up mainly British sites, so a good phrase might be ‘lung cancer’ UK (don’t include UK within the quotes).
WARNING
Always remember the internet is international and unregulated. It holds a wealth of valuable information but individual sites may be biased, out of date or just plain wrong. Family Doctor Publications accepts no responsibility for the content of links published in this series.
