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.

Hey. Was reading through this thread and just thought I'd update incase it's helpful for the Leeds fertility people. I'm mid ivf cycle with them as a private patient (had cycle delayed just after lockdown). I had a scan with one of the consultants this morning and he was really positive about things getting back to normal. They have reopened on Saturdays now but are still running at 50% normal capacity. He was sounding positive that they will be up to full capacity soon. Hopefully this will lower some of the wait times!

I was referred to gynae for my endo in Leeds but just found out when I called yesterday they had just cancelled the referral due to Covid backlog and not let me know so god knows how much time I’ve wasted waiting for that - going private now as the NHS keeps letting me down but can’t afford to go private for everything.

Can anyone recommend the most affordable / time saving bits to go private for?

@NommyChompers hi, someone with endo might be able to advise you of any specifics u need but for general fertility tests. Cheapest would be your day 3 and 21 bloods, semen analysis about (£110), transvaginal ultrasound, tubal patentcy test around (£550). Obviously these vary clinic to clinic this is just around what I paid. If you can afford it; do as many tests privately as poss. I imagine each one has weeks and weeks waiting list on nhs. Every box you can check on your own is just one less thing to wait for them for, that was my thinking anyway. Good luck x

@NommyChompers side note. bloods and maybe semen analysis you shouldn't have to wait long for so maybe try find out before spending. X

Thanks orangeloo! Great starting point for my research! With endo you are supposed to get investigations sooner but obviously that isn’t happening at the moment (if it ever was)

@NommyChompers we got bloods and semen analysis all organised within a month of initial calling GP at end of July in Leeds so those bits shouldn’t take too long.
We called Leeds fertility about going private as thought SA would take a while but they said we’d still need to do all initial consultations with a private doctor so not sure how much can save if have to still pay for a doctors time at start to discuss where you’ve got so far

@LS2020 how is all your stuff going? We’ve had all our tests now and the consultant has said our main option is now IVF due to OHs sperm so he’s just referred us for that. Apparently we have an initial consultation with a nurse and then everything starts when I start my period. Not sure how long until nurses appointment but at least we now have a plan!

Hi all just an update. My referral was sent off on the 5th of August and I have a phone call with fertility nurse on 4th September so not too bad a wait for that. I was kind of hoping I would see a consultant as I have already been under an nhs gynae who referred me to fertility. But at least it's moving.

@orangeloo exciting times for you! That was quick with how short it took to get an appointment. I’m sure the nurse will be very helpful, they do these things day in day out so you wouldn’t have been referred for this type of appointment if it wasn’t the right one for you.

@Banoffeepie91 I’ve had my day 21s and they came back fine. Vit D was low but still in an ok range so got some supplements for that. Tried to go in for day 3 bloods but they said ‘that’s not a thing’ and then when I pushed, they said I didn’t need because my day 21s were ok 🙄 so we will see on that! SA was done last Friday so just have to wait 2 weeks on that. When that’s back and OH has results, I’ll ring GP up for next steps.

Glad to hear that you’re being referred and getting on the list, hope it’s not too long for you 🤞🏻

@orangeloo it’ll be a nurse because they’ll be doing more task based stuff I would have thought but as Banoffeepie91 says, they’ll be well equipped for role if they do day in day out ☺️

@Banoffeepie91 @LS2020 very true. How odd they said day 3's aren't a thing? Mine tested FSH, LH and oestradiol. I think that's it.

@orangeloo I know so annoying but they’ve basically said once OH SA come back they’re happy to refer us so they obviously don’t see need to do any more testing on me!

@LS2020 I think GPs have little knowledge about fertility so that’s great they’ll refer as soon as you get SA back. Mine said my estradiol test was low so I got really upset and then since I started seeing the fertility consultant he didn’t even mention that it was a problem!
We’ve now got our nurse IVF appointment on the 22nd of September and my period should be due a few weeks after that so really hoping they’ll say we can start our IVF from that cycle. With my family at the moment and have told them about our journey and they are so supportive. My mum said she doesn’t want to get excited because she knows it could be a long road ahead but you can see the excitement in her eyes.

@Banoffeepie91 yeah it feels weird to have so little tested but guess the sooner we see the expert, the better. Mines been the opposite, said I had “slightly” low Vit d and google semi agrees but anything on fertility needs to be over normal range as got to support it for baby and don’t feel too trusting that my Vit D is right so taking an extra supplement to support.
Oh I really hope they can get the ball rolling for you! We haven’t mentioned anything to our family yet as it’ll be first grand child both sides so don’t want that pressure yet but might have to have a talk to my mum soon. As much as I love my mum though she’s one of these health nuts who will have some flower from the depths of the Antarctic circle which promises to boost fertility and stuff 🤣

@LS2020 my vitamin d was a bit low as well but I spoke to the chemist when I got some strong vit d supplements and she said most people’s is low for the levels they want when ttc.
It will be the first grandchild for our families as well. My mum is super practical about stuff so I knew she wouldn’t be like that which is why I told her. Literally just been having a conversation with her about how some people would tell you that they’ve read somewhere if you eat a carrot every morning it will help you conceive 😂. My grandma is like that.
You’ll have to keep me posted on when you get your referral through. Most of the appointments seem to be online at the moment unless you actually need a procedure doing but it seems quite efficient and works well.

@Banoffeepie91 yeah I guess it must be common atm with everyone indoors too. My doctor wasn’t worried but rather take an extra one to be sure!
Yeah I know she’d mean it out of the goodness of her own heart but I don’t need to hear it, I’ll listen to her when I get there 😂
Will do, OH has a GP call on Monday to confirm SA results and my GP has said she’s fine to refer me so hopefully we will get referred on Monday. Hope all goes well with the nurse for you ☺️

@Banoffeepie91 @orangeloo OH SA came back normal - his morphology was on the low end but doctor said probably just a population thing and if he had another that one would be fine and something else would be on a slightly lower end so they’re sending me for an internal scan. My smear is due October so they’re going to get some other small bits done with it next month too.

So I had my first phone consultation a week ago with nurse. Pretty standard questions. Getting a picture of where I was. She said the next step was to do an infection screen and phone consult with a consultant probably around November unless I can get a cancellation. The. She thinks he will refer me for IVF.

Getting frustrated everything is still over the phone and now I have to sort infection screen at gum clinic or pay private. Usually they would do them in the clinic but they aren't cos of covid 🙄.

In scotland, referred for scans etc due to whacky cycles. So far have been told approx 6 month + wait. Gynae Clinic refused to tell me on the phone how long it would be but GP approximated

@orangeloo how have you got on? We had a consultation in November and got put on a 10 week Vit d course and got a scan booked in March (no Hycosys atm). Just had day 3 bloods done and oestrogen is low which is annoying to find out when they should have done in August 😩

@LS2020 hey! 👋 things are slow. Nurse consult sept - doc consult nov he said some tests need to be repeated - nurse in sept should have known that. So more wasted time. Had all tests re-done and some final ones before ivf referral can go ahead- AMH and infection screen. Finally got all sorted with a lot of grief, effort and pushing from myself in December. refered to IVF clinic and funding approved beggining of jan. now waiting for our treatment planning appointment.
This isn't too bad compared to some people but I put a lot of hard work in and paid for a couple of tests privately to speed things up. (HyFoSy was one of them). If you have any funds available. I advise this route. The nhs are so god damn slow. I'm incredibly impatient because my clock is ticking and I wanted a baby two years ago.

So my advice to you would be get some tests privately if you can- I checked this wouldn't go against me for nhs ivf. You may want to also if u go down this route.

Be nice, but very assertive and know your stuff!

@orangeloo sorry to hear that it dragged for you also but glad that your funding has been approved!

Yeah a couple of other people on different threads have started to do elements privately - I might ask on the Hycosy because I just want it done. I think I’ve relaxed off a bit as I had a miscarriage in October so gave me some hope that it can happen naturally. More just fed up that if I have low oestrogen that could have been sorted ages ago!

@LS2020 sorry to hear about your miscarriage

Have you tried seed cycling for low oestrogen? Will they just supplement it?