Devine Bronwyn Dr 261 Condamine Street, Manly Vale NSW 2093

"This review is to express my deep disappointment and frustration regarding the services provided by Dr.Devine and IVFA during our experience. The treatment we received left us feeling like mere numbers rather than individuals seeking care and support and our limited encounters with Dr. Devine left us feeling disconnected and undervalued as patients. As the partner involved in this process, I felt marginalised and treated as a sideline person rather than the future father of a child. Furthermore, we specifically requested to conduct all necessary tests before initiating stimulation therapy. However, after 4 failed cycles and changing doctors, we discovered that the symptoms of my partner pointed towards severe endometriosis which can affect egg development and embryo implantation. This was one of the first questions the new doctor asked us after looking at my partner’s symptoms and listening to her complaints about painful periods. My partner had consistently complained about these and other symptoms to Dr. Devine but the treatment had never been suggested nor were we informed of this possible condition and the implications. The handling of the medication was a big disappointment as well. We are foreigners and had to pay everything ourself and despite us explaining repeatedly our situation to the nurses, and requesting to get only the necessary medication on a weekly basis to avoid being stuck with hundreds of dollars worth of medication which we wont use at the end I was asked rather annoyed on the phone if the nurse should calculate the medication. Well, YES!? Furthermore, we were forced to make multiple trips to the pharmacy due to the clinic's failure to order medication in a timely manner. We have done 4 IVF cycles and the best outcome was only 1 embryo with mosaic syndrome. Despite Dr. Devine claiming we have a beautiful embryo, we are struggling to get any information for our new doctor and found out, that our embryo is not at all beautiful. It took multiple attempts for us to receive all the necessary data for our new doctor from IVFA, and yet, we still find ourselves lacking crucial information. Having to watch my partner being stressed by the bad or non-existent communication, lack of support with counselling, getting her or our requests ignored and receiving phone calls about updates at work and expecting her to just function normally - all this is still heartbreaking for me. I do not believe that the nurse and Dr Devine had an understanding of how bad the experience was and what their negligence in respecting the wishes of their patient had caused. We did not have unrealistic expectations and certainly did not expect Dr Devine to create wonders and have a magic wand. We do understand that the chances are slim, that there are various factors involved, and that sometimes it simply doesn't work. But we expected a superb level of service, attention to detail and special focus on the needs to the patient who struggles to conceive and fears that the most important thing in her life might not work out. This is IVFA's, the doctors and nurses everyday work, and they should certainly have enough experience to provide a better service than the one we had to experience. After 4 failed cycles, the endless stress, worries, and the depletion of all our savings, we feel like an entire year of the chance of pregnancy has been stolen from us. It's not just about the money but also the reduced chances of conceiving due to this poorly managed and wasted year of treatment. The constant and avoidable stress caused by extremely poor internal and external communication leaves us deeply angered. As patients, we put our trust in our doctor and their team to know what's best for us, but we often found ourselves questioning their competence. It's only now, with a different care provider and a new doctor, that we have discovered how different and more relaxed the experience can be. We finally feel like we are in better hands, receiving effective communication and proper follow-up from both the nurses and the doctor."

"We’ve been with Dr. Devine for over a year. Having done four cycles all with devastating outcome. It took me over a year to write this review as I wanted to be objective, try other doctors, to see if we were maybe overly sensitive due to our situation or if our experience with her and IVF Australia was really as BAD as we felt. I picked just few points. First Cycle introduction- none, Dr. Devine forgot! Missed Diagnosis- Since day one I complained about my severe abdominal pain issues during my period and we repeatedly asked Dr. Devine and the nurses to do all possible tests before we start any IVF treatment. I feel robbed of the time and my chances to get pregnant since changing doctors resulted in finding out that I had a very severe form of endometriosis which can very much affect the IVF outcome. Ignoring Requests- I have been asking repeatedly to make my partner the point of contact since I work in hospitality and I’m in direct contact with customers. Or contact me anytime after 2:30pm. This has been most of the time ignored and resulted in me getting repeatedly devastating informations in the middle of my shift hiding in a storage room, crying and not being able to go back to work. Availability of Dr. Devine - I basically saw her just on egg collections. She was very hard to get to talk to. I was crying and pleading with a nurse after a third failed cycle to get Dr. Devine to talk to me about important things anytime during the week via phone with my partner present since I was too distressed to be capable of taking all information in and ask the right questions. Instead I got yet again an unannounced phone call during work, my partner obviously not present, finishing my shift early and very distraught . Counselling- I was so depressed due to the devastating outcomes and mostly the mishandling of care from Dr. Devine and IVF Australia that I asked for counselling. Promising they will get back to me asap, I had to call them after three days since they forgot about me. It took them another week before I got a counselling appointment. Impatience -we weren’t happy with one nurse and the way of her delivering information, her informations being short and very confusing and her getting impatient with us when asking questions. This could throw me into days of depression. I complained and I felt terrible about it. Dr. Devine ignored my complaint and this nurse was our point of contact even for the cycles after.I felt so guilty back then that I had complained and that maybe I was overly sensitive, but now going through this process again with someone else and how smoothly everything is going, I very much know how poorly this was handled. Information transfer - we had no idea how challenging it could be to transfer all our treatment information to our new doctor. It took several attempts because they have been failing to send all documents. Follow ups - After IVF 4 me being on antidepressants and devastated and again no healthy embryo I got one missed phone call from a nurse two days after while on my shift ( I stopped picking up phones at work by that time) with the promise to call me back the next day to check on me. Yet again, no one called ! It took Dr. Devine a week to check on me ( I had a missed phone call while I was working, what a surprise). I have sent her a text message and never got a reply! Just to compare, my new doctor called me a few hours after a failed cycle despite being on holiday! Dr. Devine was always very nice to us, that was the reason we have stayed for so long and also because this was our first IVF experience, and we’ve been told that this is the standard approach. Trusting her. But the reality was, that during this time we felt totally left alone, unheard, having trouble to get to talk to her at all and dealing with misinformation, miscommunication and impatience. Being with someone else now, the approach between doctors and organisations couldn’t be more different. Giving me the peace I need to focus on the process and my wellbeing."

"Bronwyn is an amazingly skilled doctor with a wealth of knowledge in fertility and pregnancy. She guided us through our IVF journey and we were so happy with the care we were given, we decided to stick with her as our obstetrician throughout pregnancy. Bronwyn and her team treat their patients with great empathy and care, every visit put us at ease. Cannot recommend Dr Devine enough."

"I’d highly recommend Dr Bronwyn Devine. She’s very knowledgeable, skilful, easy to deal with and always makes you feel at ease. She’s always available for her patients, very welcoming and always ready to address any of my concerns. Dr Devine is so passionate and has provided outstanding care through my pregnancy and labor. I’m so lucky to have gone through this journey under her care!"

"Outstanding care throughout my pregnancy and post-partum - Dr. Devine is passionate and really cares about her patients. She is not only brilliant in her field but is caring and attentive to your individual needs. I had a wonderful birth & knew I was in great hands. Cannot recommend her enough."