NHS fertility waiting lists after lockdown

[orangeloo]

Hi, I'm due to be eligible for fertility referral in a month or so and just wondering 1. If nhs fertility although they are open have they only resumed ivf or is your hospital doing investigations too? 2. If they are what are waiting lists like? Tia. I'm in the south east but would love to get a general idea also.

Thanks @Banoffeepie91, I’ve been looking at the Leeds Fertility clinic and might give them a call Monday to see how much it all is.
I got looked at for endrometrisis about a year ago after some pain after a kidney infection and they did a pretty good look up inside of me with an internal ultrasound so I’m assuming that would have flagged anything major blocked or any cysts. I did some day 3 bloods that you send away and they were ok too so just keen to get the OH his SA to rule anything immediate out.

@LS2020 Leeds is who we’re going with. They look very good. If you want a private appointment you need to book with one of the consultants directly through Nuffield or Spire. It’s about £250 for the first appointment and then there’s a list of test and investigation prices on the website to give you an idea of how much everything else costs. It might be worth asking how long the NHS wait is as well because it might not be that long. One of the reasons we’ve gone for private is appointment times, with private we can get them out of work hours and it’s a bit more flexible so works well for us around work. Good luck with everything!!

@Banoffeepie91 thanks that’s really helpful. Yeah at the minute we’d just really like the SA done for piece of mind. We’re only 27 so if that came back clear we’d probs be fine trying out the the rest of year so probs with NHS waiting lists will work out about right?

@LS2020 yes I think you’ll be fine. I understand about the peace of mind thing. My OH had one done about 2 years ago before we started trying because he’s older so was worried there might be something wrong with him but it came back fine so we put off ttc for a bit longer and now it’s been a year of ttc and still nothing so we’re wondering what’s wrong. Most of my tests have come back fine as well apart from 1 blood test so hoping we can get to the bottom of what’s wrong soon!

@Banoffeepie91 fingers crossed for you and hope you get some answers soon. In a weird way I was annoyed mine came back clear, I was hoping for a oh it’s your oestrogen, here’s a nice pill, good luck! Somehow feels worse that everything til now has been fine and similar, we’re 27, not full active but do running and stuff. I’m overweight but only a dress size 12-14 so not huge and kinda expected it to be easy 😒 the only thing I can think of for us is that I was on the depo for 10 years and it does say it can take 2 years for fertility to return but I got my periods and positive OPK back within a couple of months and started then so assumed everything was back to normal

@LS2020 yes I know what you mean my oestrogen test has come back low so I’m hoping they’ll help me with that and maybe that will be the answer but who knows! I was on the pill and then the coil since I was 16 and my mum is convinced they have messed up my hormones but loads of people are on birth control and don’t have problems conceiving so I don’t think it is that. Looking forward to getting more answers soon!

I rang my GP last week as I’ve now got to the 12 month mark. I’ve got an appointment for 21day bloods and ultrasound next week which I’m so surprised how fast that is! We’ve been given the stuff to do SA too and just need to book in with the lab (GP warned that they may not accept appointments yet though). We’re manchester area

Good luck @Banoffeepie91 let me know how you get on!

@Nat4392 sounds similar to where we are. I still need to call GP. I’m 13dpo so been waiting for AF but feels daft as will mean I probs miss day 3 bloods

@Nat4392 how did your bloods and things go? Finally got sorted with GP and in for tests on the 10th August 😊

@LS2020 I’ve had bloods and ultrasound, should get blood results tomorrow and ultrasound results next week. SA is on hold as the lab is not accepting referrals right now, we may consider going private if they don’t reopen soon. I’m also going to query why they haven’t done day 3 bloods. Good luck with your tests 😊

@Nat4392 hope they come back ok for you! Our SA lab has literally just opened and said they contacting old patients first but we can call next week to book so hopefully will be soon. We asked for private at Leeds but they said they weren’t sure if they were doing and that there’s still a chunky waiting list so hopefully you get more luck than us!
Yeah they didn’t say anything about day 3 bloods to me but they said they’d provide more of an update when I go in

Managed to get in for day 21 bloods next week and OH is in for a SA on 21st at Seacroft hospital which was so much quicker than we thought @Banoffeepie91! How are you getting on? Nervous for bloods next week.

@Nat4392 if it helps, within 3 weeks we’ve gone from shut indefinitely, only pre Covid patients and now new referrals with a 2 week wait So hopefully your SA clinic should open soon and quick too!

@LS2020 we’re doing everything privately now. We had our initial consultation a few weeks ago and I’ve got an ultrasound and AMH blood test this week and that OH has his SA next week. Got to book in an HSG as well but they have to do that between day 6-12 of your cycle so need to wait a few weeks for that. We can get evening appointments with private which works better for us. We both work together so if we were both taking time off work for an appointment I think everyone at work would be a bit suspicious and we don’t want to tell people at work about infertility stuff just yet.
All ours is through seacroft as well so exactly the same treatment anyway.

@Banoffeepie91 yeah you’re lucky you have the ability to go privately, it’s such better treatment. I was at Spire in Roundhay for a different issue in Jan as get some medical things covered by work and the quality of treatment and speed was so much better.
Luckily we’re both wfh at the moment so can pop out for appointments quite easily but would be a nightmare if in office!
Hope all your tests go well, keep us updated 🤞🏻

@LS2020 yes, luckily we are due to move house in a few months and because of the new Government stamp duty changes we’ve saved some money there so putting all of this towards fertility as it’s money we’d already saved up as part of the house move.
Will let you know how everything goes. Good luck with yours and keep me posted too! It’s nice to know someone in the same area going through all the tests at the same time,

@LS2020 both my blood and ultrasound results were normal, I’ve got day 3 bloods booked in at the end of the month. SA booking reopened today but they have a massive backlog so that’s not until the end of October! They said this is reviewed every week so there’s always a chance it could be cancelled. If that’s the case we would definitely go private. That’s great how quick you’ve got your appointments though!

Managed to get a cancellation appointment for my laparoscopy and tube dye operation. Been waiting on the 'urgent' list since December. Had a phone call last week so I'm in next Thursday for the op. Hope everyone gets some sort of appointments soon 🤞🏻🤞🏻 xx

@Banoffeepie91 well some good from the current situation at least.. let’s hope we don’t get locked down next 🤣 yes and it’s nice to have a group where when we get the weirdest results from doctors we can empathise as well!

@Nat4392 glad to hear yours have come back clear though I’m kinda weirdly hoping they find something?
Ah that’s annoying on SA, we think we were lucky as basically rang weekly and don’t think other people had got round to booking yet. Tbf we rang to go private and they said their wait list was really bad too so deffo start inquiring if you think you want to do that route.

Oh my gosh, good luck @Mich2020, hope all goes well. Are they looking for anything in particular?

I have severe endometriosis so they are removing that, they also told me at my scan that my left ovary is stuck to my tubes with the endo. So he's hoping to free it without having to lose my ovary 🤞🏻also flushing my tubes to make sure there are no blockages. Thank you. I am a bit worried not knowing what's going to happen until I come around. And I can't have anyone with me in the waiting room, or afterwards xx

@Mich2020 I really hope it all goes well and you notice an improvement afterwards.
They’ll keep you drugged up and the most important thing is to take the rest before you start moving around. I was in hospital last August (not for surgery tho) but once I learned to just veg and take lots of entertaining things it was a lot more bearable. I feel for you not having anyone there, I would be a wreck but see it as a chance to sleep and feel a bit sorry for yourself and visiting hours were normally fairly short anyway. Wishing you all the best 🤞🏻

Thinking of you today @Mich2020 hope all goes well

Thank you 😊 here waiting now xx

Good luck @Mich2020. My referral went off on the 5th August. No idea how long things will take. I'm in south east. Will update when I hear back.

All went well I'm home again now and in pain. But rest and OH waiting on me hand and foot will help. I've had the dye flushed through and a substantial amount of endometriosis removed. Hoping this will resume my fertility now. Good luck to everyone still waiting. Hopefully it won't be too long for you all whatever procedures your having 💐 xx

@Mich2020 glad to hear it went well and you’re recovering - really hope you get a BFP soon!

@orangeloo please let me know as due our day 3 bloods and SA next week so hoping they’ll get ball rolling then!