Half of infertile women find their GP unsympathetic about their situation or ignorant about their condition and what services are available that might help them fulfil their desire to have a child, a survey has shown.
The leader of Britain’s family doctors said the findings were “surprising and worrying” and the profession should do more to help patients who were suffering what she called “a hidden pain”.
The National Infertility Awareness Campaign (Niac) surveyed 456 women attending fertility clinics, asking if their GP was sympathetic and helpful. Of the 419 who answered, 78% said yes and 22% said no.
When asked if their GP was knowledgeable about their condition and about infertility services, 52% said yes but almost as many, 48%, said no – “a very worrying statistic”, said Niac.
When the group cross-referenced answers to the two questions, it found that 50.5% said they found their family doctor was either unsympathetic or did not know enough about infertility. Read full article.
