The NHS does not support same sex couples!!!!!

[coulin]

So my same sex partner and I decided the we love to extend our family and try for a baby last June 2010. First things first we went to our GP who was very supportive and referred us to Tameside hospital to have all my bloods and tests completed before being referred on to ST Marys Manchester. In December 2010 we go a letter back from St Mary's stating that " there is no funding for same sex couples". We are both heart broken by this discriminatory decision, and area now looking at paying for the treatment by our selfs. I have asked my GP to forward all my results onto sheffield assisted conception unit where we hope to have the support from the staff. My partner has proceeded with the appeal process and has the support of our local MP who is looking to take the matter to the PM question time! Was wondering if there is anyone else going through something similar?

OP, you dont seem to get the point - you have not been treated unfairly or differently by nhs because you are a same sex couple.

The NHS's job is not to "support" same sex or for that matter heterosexual couples. They support people with medical problems.

s'alright, just made me chuckle !

look, we'd all love to have whatever treatment we needed/wanted on the NHS . but it just can't and shouldn't work that way

"But my main concern was that they denied us funding with out knowing the medical history were I was or wasn't fertile!"

but the fertility tests are irrelvant before you have attempted to concieve. there is no actual problem until you have attempted it and it not happening.

do you ndertsand what i am saying? your test results are not the basis on which the funding was being granted.

yes she is entitled to try for a baby.

Her sexuality means that she cannot have a baby with her chosen partner, but that is not a medical condition. In the same way as a single woman cannot have a baby without a male partner or sperm donor, the op cannot have a baby with another woman.

If we were talking two men here would people think it acceptable that the nhs pay for not only ivf treatment but a surrogate to carry the baby as well?

I personally don't think any ivf should be available on the nhs but given that it is I do think there need to be certain criteria, i.e. that there have to be fertility issues, before this is allowed.

You can say you've been trying for a year if you want. But that still doesn't entitle you to help. They'd then test you (which they did) and would want to test the fictitious man you'd been trying with.

Of course they'd say no before testing as they haven't discovered a reason for funded intervention. They still did the testing for you. Presumably you got that for free?

It's not discrimination because they're not refusing to help you have a baby. You can have a baby the way everybody else does with a sperm and an egg. There's no bar to that.

I have never been asked by anyone weather my gp or my pct if we have been trying with a donor sperm?

I do agree that if you have been trying and cant then you should get treatment! I'm just a bit shocked by the way the pct have gone about it thats all!

well, did you ask for referral to a clinic for donor inseminatin?

I'm not sure why you;re shocked

you're not infertile

what are you shocked by?

That the pct didn't know our history if we here trying or not and didn't have the results from all my tests and just said no because we were gay!

they didn't say no because you were gay. they said no because tehre is no current know fertility probelm. you haven't produced a man for tehm to test so all they have to test is you. and based on the fact that tehre is only you, they don't even need your results because as you are aware conception requires sperm, and that is not something you have produced for there to be a problem with it.

ok, I'll try and put thsi in a clearer way.

a woman (single) turns up at the clinic for AI. can AI take place without sperm? no, can the NHS fund soemthing that cant take place? no

you are spectacularly missing the point

you are not being turned down because of your sexuality, but becuase neither you nor your partner are infertile

you having these tests done is the equivalent of teh single woman turning up for AI, teh fact that there is no sperm means tehre isn't even the chance for tehre to be a fertility problem yet, so funding is refused on those grounds.

So even though they didn't know if there was a problem that not helping us cause there isn't a man?

I might be wrong but I though NICE states that single woman are meant to be treated? as I said i might be wrong!

i don;t know about the guidelines re single owmen, but that;s irrelevant, you have a partner

but you were applying for AI, how can you be treated (or any single woman applying only for AI) be treated without any sperm?

I don't know what the NICE guidelines are but what I do know is that they are guidelines. They are not enshrined in law, they do not have to be followed. They are for guidance. Then each PCT or hospital look at them, look at their budget, etc and make a decision.

the fact that there was no man, in other words, you have not yet attempted to conceive, means there is no problem conceiving.

I've read through the NICE guidelines and it states that they do not take social situations into account (same sex relationships/single women etc) so you are subject to the same rules as everybody else.

The NICE guidelines clearly state the situations in which you should be given funding for donor insemination. Neither you nor your partner have any of the listed medical conditions.

wow. you are all arguing the semantics of fertility and comparing a lesbian couple to a heterosexual couple in terms of their entitlement to reproductive assistance, and what NICE does or doesnt say, surely the whole point should be that in this day and age there should be specific guidelines pertaining to same sex couples. by law a same sex partnership is recognised and we supposedly as a nation support all types of family unit and as such we should make provision to assist same sex couples in starting a family.

the 'sense of entitlement' to which many references have been is a little unfair; again, this couple live in a country where their union is supposedly recognised and supported, surely it is not unreasonable to expect assistance in conceiving a child. i didnt detect a 'chip on the shoulder' either, which i found remarkable in the face of some of the remarks on this thread.

the op simply was hoping for some help in conceiving a child through the NHS, through no fault of their own this couple is unable to conceive a child (unless you wish to get into the semantics of sexual orientation and choice which i get the feeling some of you do).

do you hear of any heterosexual couples who have a problem such as low sperm count or the egg and sperm simply not being compatible being told to 'go and shag a male friend'