Annual leave needed?

[Wildflower2]

Hiya, wondering if someone could advise. We've been trying for over a year and have initial blood tests booked in with the GP. I was wondering how much annual leave I need to make sure I set aside for fertility investigations/treatment (assuming I don't get pregnant soon). I'm guessing this is a how long is a piece of string type of question but I really have no clue about what comes next-are half day/full days needed?
We've got some things coming up which I need to use chunks of annual leave for and I want to make sure I have enough annual leave for appointments if needed. Thanks for your help.

Hi. I’ve not heard of initial investigations being extensive before. Most (including me) just had a day 21 blood test, some might order a day 3 blood test as well, and the man has a semen analysis. There’s really not a lot to it, an hour at most in the hospital when I did it, and only 5 mins of that was with the nurse who did the blood test, most time there was spent in the waiting room.

I've heard that it is just tests and consultations and then a lot of the 'treatment' doesn't happen until months and months after. It might be wrong but someone told me that if you go via NHS then you're months waiting on the list then it's a few months of bloods, sa, scans and then things like ivf isn't until you've been trying for 2 years. May be rubbish and dependent on your local area but I wouldn't think you would need a lot. Depends on your job as they may offer you 1 hour for an appointment or you could work a bit later or earlier 1 day or you can arrange appointments around work.

After the initial blood tests (Day 3 FSH & LH, Day 21 Progesterone), they'll need a sperm analysis which your partner maybe able to do at home and drop in to the hospital. Then you'll have an ultrasound which will require a hospital trip, so timings will depend how far away you live from your fertility clinic. If no problems are found then they'll offer you a HSG x-ray to check your tubes, you probably won't want to return to work after this, as it can leave you with cramps. If everything still looks fine then you'll be given clomid or letrozole to encourage ovulation, this will require monitoring so you'll need to attend an ultrasound probably once each cycle. If this doesn't work after 3-5 months, then you'll be offered IVF which will use up more time but if you're with the NHS you won't get to that stage for around a year. So I wouldn't worry about annual leave for that just yet.

I only had day 21 bloods with my GP and my partner had his SA. We were put on referral and then around a month later got a letter with our date for attending fertility clinic
At the clinic I was offered a HyCoSy to check tubes were clear. Didn't have to do it but I did anyway as I wanted to know.
We were not offered clomid as I ovulate regularly and it can be dangerous to give this to women who ovulate naturally. So it's not always the next step
After that we were put on waiting list, which took about from April 2020 to Jan 2021 before starting. I had a couple days annual leave but could have used half days tbh as clinic appointments weren't that long. They just scan you every 48 hours when stimming to check. I did take time off after egg collection but as I work from a desk I could have gone back, I just didn't know how I'd feel.

@willithappen it wasn’t offered to us either, even though I’m a possible candidate. All I’ve learned from this process and being on here is that it’s very inconsistent from one GP to the next. We first saw them a year ago and all we’ve had on that time is a couple of blood and semen tests. Had a referral, told we’re unexplained (we’re not unexplained) and to go away and have a day 3 test. Nothing much done at all. So yeah, very dependent on area, personal circumstances and current primary care level of service you’re receiving.

@thislittlebird thank you for that as I'll be getting referred next month so I'm interested in stages. Can I ask why they said you were unexplained but you said you're not? I have heard that nhs aren't the best if you want answers or not to wait

@Loops01 it seems from being on here that most people get the standard care and route through the system but unfortunately, I guess like with all things, we have been unlucky and had a poor experience. My GP surgery has been particularly poor over the last 18 months which hasn’t helped. Initially they got both of our results wrong (told us they were fine and I trusted them, but they weren’t fine). I lost six months to this before I realised something was up and got the results in writing.

After the GP surgery experience we saw a gynaecologist (a much delayed referral) who was incredibly unhelpful and told us we’re unexplained. Offered me nothing but a day 3 test which she said will likely be fine anyway because I have a high AMH, didn’t even address my very low progesterone which was why I’d been referred. The GP who referred me said you will be given something to help with this, but nope, nothing. On top of my issue is my husband’s issue, he has very low motility (9% at the last test) and the gynaecologist wasn’t interested in this, told him it’s poor quality but “not enough” to be an explanation. Fair enough if she thinks clomid isn’t for us because of his motility but this wasn’t even raised, never mind explained.

Anyway, I’m in the process of complaining about all this because according to a private urologist we went to see and the CCG guidance we are explained and I at least want them to acknowledge that. We’re venturing into private treatment now, I’m too old (38) to hang around waiting anymore.

I guess I would just say read your CCG guidance (you may well have already) before you go in so you know what’s what because it’s a bit of a minefield.

Some workplaces actually have policies around this issue. So appointments don’t come out of annual leave. Seems fair to me. It’s a medical issue and you don’t need to use annual leave for medical appointments. My DD is an HR manager and introduced it at her company.

Hi OP,
When I was in your situation I took the following...

Half a day *2 for scans

Half a day for HyCoSy - mine was in the afternoon. If it had been in the morning I would have needed the whole day. Definitely not one to go back to work after!

Half a day for consultant appointment.

So 2 days in total, could have been 2.5.

PP are correct that your work might have a policy that means you don't need to take annual leave. Mine did but I wanted to keep it private at this stage (just a personal thing) so just used the leave as I had plenty anyway.

Good luck

@Soontobe60

Some workplaces actually have policies around this issue. So appointments don’t come out of annual leave. Seems fair to me. It’s a medical issue and you don’t need to use annual leave for medical appointments. My DD is an HR manager and introduced it at her company.

There's no right to paid leave for any medical appts except antenatal. So yes, you do have to use AL or unpaid for medical appts unless your employer makes an exception or had a more generous policy than the legal minimum.

Thank you @thislittlebird. Im sorry to hear you had a bad experience or that the nhs in some way made it a bad experience. Its nice to hear that you have clearly done your own research and are compiling something to remind them that actually diagnosis is one thing but patient interaction and expectations are not being met or realistic. I'm 32 next month and I'm worrying about things now so understand your struggle to some extent. I hope it all has a happy ending!!

Thank you all for your responses, that's really helpful. Gives a better idea of the time involved and what the next steps might be.

Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience@thislittlebird