IVF waiting times in South Wales

[JJ2704]

I live in South Wales, Cardiff, our gp has just sent off our referral for us to get support from the nhs fertility clinic. Just wonder if anyone has any experience of this, and how long we should expect to wait till we hear anything about our first consultation? Many thanks

[bunnieboo91]

Hey there!

I'm based in Swansea.

I’m currently going through my first ivf cycle and we only waited a couple of months for it to happen after the referral went through. They said it depends on the waiting list of your local clinic and living in the capital I can't imagine you would be waiting long. Must be many clinic in your area. We have a clinic in Port Talbot.

Hope this helps and get excited!

[Kelly199]

Hi, hope you don't mind me posting on here. I live in Bridgend and am in the early stages of infertility tests. Do you mind me asking what tests you had before eventually being referred for IVF?

[bunnieboo91]

Hello @kelly999

I had two scans! The Ovary scan (don't know the proper name) and then I paid to have a HSG scan (when they see if the tubes are blocked) I paid for that because the waiting list is around 9 months on the NHS at the time.

After I bought the results in they referred me there and then. Hope this helps

[Kelly199]

Hi @Bunnieboo91

Thank you for that. I've had bloods done and having a transvaginal scan on Tuesday. Hate wondering what's ahead of me!
That is a long time to wait! I'll have to see what they say.
Good luck to you with everything.

[Be21]

Hi girls, hope you don’t mind me getting involved, I also live in South Wales. I went private to get some tests done quickly and found we require IVF but can’t afford treatment privately. I am concerned about the waiting time but this is helpful! I have not had the HSG yet but been referred for it, I have been told it’s a 3-4 month wait in my area. Although I may pay private if it quickens things up. Thanks :)

[bunnieboo91]

Hey be21 and more the merrier!
I paid £350 and was done within a week by London fertility clinic which is based in Swansea and I think Cardiff also. Annoyingly they require to have a fertility MOT which is £100 before you have the HSG. I took the results back to NHS and they knew I meant business because I was willing to pay to speed it along.

Hope that helps

[Be21]

Ok thank you. I have had 3 scans and my husband has had two semen analyses done privately with CRGW but I will definitely consider the HSG privately too. Anything to speed things up.

Good luck all :)

[JP020]

Hi JJ2704
I’ve just stumbled across this thread while research IVF waiting times in Wales. I live in Newport and received my letter confirming I had been referred for IVF today. I paid privately for a few tests through CRGW, so that sped up the referral process. I noticed you posted in Feb, any updates on waiting times? X

[Juju17]

Hi! I’ve just come across this looking for IVF Wales waiting times too! We live in Chepstow and are being referred. I don’t have any children but my other half has two with his ex, we’ve been trying for two and a half years. Just wondered if anyone else was in the same position as me? I’ve had a HSG test earlier this year and scan and he did a sperm sample at the London Women’s Clinic in Cardiff last year.
Good luck to you all!!!

[JP020]

Hi 🙋🏻‍♀️
UHW received my referral on 10 July. I called the clinic to find out waiting times, I was told to expect 6 months but it may be less as they have been seeing patients much sooner than this so I guess it's just a waiting game

[jodesxx]

I'm the Bridgend area and apparently the referral is going in next month when I see Gynae again. Not sure if we will be seen in Cardiff or Port Talbot but any experience in this area?

[EJStrange]

The waiting times are ridiculous in some places, but not as ridiculous as the lack of fair and equal access to treatment. I've set up a campaign to end the IVF postcode lottery on the NHS and I need your help with to get signatures on and share the parliamentary petition link below. It's not right that something as arbitrary as postcode should dictate the treatment we receive for infertility on the NHS. I started the campaign as I had to cancel a round of treatment halfway through when my GP misinformed DH and I that we could have 3 rounds of IVF on the NHS. As you can imagine, we were devastated. 3 months ago (after a year off due to depression) we paid to restart that round privately, but sadly my pregnancy ended in MC at just shy of 8 weeks.

The campaign has backing from Fertility Network UK, IVFBabble, The Dovecote.Org, and my MP Layla Moran who will be submitting an Early Day Motion to Parliament about this next week (Sept 2019).

The petition runs until Feb 2020 - please show your support for the campaign below, sign and share widely so we can get this issue heard. I'm very open for ideas about how to keep pushing this forward so do feel free to post these below!

If you're interested the campaign is also on Facebook and Twitter @IVFfairness.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/266747

[SP2014]

Hi @JP020

I also live in an area covered by Aneurin Bevan Health Board, unfortunately the waiting times just for initial fertility investigations / HSG test were 9 Months. So I also paid privately to have these through CRGW.

I am currently waiting for my first apt. with the consultant and I was wondering how long the process took from initial consultation to referral, with all the test results already in hand. Hoping the UHW list is still 6 months.