NHS Vs Private Fertility treatment

[mrsrichy]

Hi everyone :)

Wonder if anyone can help. I've been googling but struggling to find the answer.

We have been waiting months for my first face to face hospital appointment. I've had initial blood test in June to confirm ovulation, husband has had semen analysis in May and I've had an STI swab. All fine.

My hospital appointments to get the ball rolling keep getting cancelled, so we are considering paying privately for the investigation element to try and speed things up.

My question is...

1. is this even possible?!
2. will this go against us when it comes to finding i.e. we get told "if you can pay for the investigations then you can pay for the full treatment"

I can't seem to find anything about this on the CCG pack (we are Bury CCG).

Any thoughts or comments would be hugely appreciated :)

I would go private. I did both and only when I went private was the actual issue discovered and sorted. After my single nhs attempt there was no feedback at all.

Are you waiting for your referral to the fertility clinic? They will accept most results done privately usually and definitely won't hold it against you in a "well if you can afford you can't get this" kind of way. Usually they'll have you do a hycosy or HSG as well though and I don't think they'd accept those results if you do them privately.

Thing is - the private stuff is quick and might result in them recommending IVF pretty quickly. Would you be willing to pay for that or would you end up having to wait until the NHS refers you to IVF? If the latter you might as well plod along with the NHS? I'd get your AMH tested privately though in case your egg reserves are low and you need to get a move on.

If you can, I'd recommend going private.

I called a private clinic, they booked me in for blood tests and baseline scan 1 week later, husband in for sperm analysis 3 weeks later and the consultation to discuss results 4 weeks later. So within 4 weeks of me calling, we had the results we needed and the recommendation for next steps.

All in all cost us £550 which includes the baseline scan, sperm analysis, AMH blood tests and the consultation.

We never even attempted to go via NHS, as friends of ours have been waiting around 9 months already for appointments and then just decided to go private anyway as was taking too long so we figured we'd just get what results we could as fast as possible and go from there.

So helpful, thanks both!

I think I have my referral. I'm not actually sure, my appointment (that's been moved) is at the gynaecology department of a local hospital at the end of November. Unless they move it again without telling me!!

If we need IVF I think we'd have to wait for the NHS funding of the actual treatment.

I've managed to find the Care Manchester accept NHS patients from Bury CCG, which I think we qualify for although haven't had that confirmed yet.

Everything just seems so vague and so hard to get answers, I'm made to feel like a nuisance when I ask any questions 🤦‍♀️

I'm waiting for Care Manchester to call me back to explain how it would all work. Not sure if I could swap from the current local hospital.

Sorry I'm really waffling, but your comments have really helped

@TeaTime27 our comments crossed over. Wow that's amazing! Now you have your baseline results, will you continue privately? Or are you planning on using those to continue with the NHS?

Just to add to what @Juno231 said they did accept my private HyCoSy and I’m pretty sure it sped up proceedings for us (I say sped up, it’ll be 5 months or more on the waiting list by the time we get to ivf) but they won’t mind you asking if they’ll accept the results, I’m sure.

I have just done this. You can just pay for tests, they were super quick, NHS were totally happy to take private results and added me to their fertility wait lists.

I’m not sure if this thread is still going, but I think I’m in a very similar situation @mrsrichy so thought I’d message!

For background, I’m 35, I saw the GP in June after about a year of TTC #1. Had bloods (all fine), ultrasound scan (which showed subserosal fibroids, but reviewed by consultant and thought unlikely to impact fertility) and partner had semen analysis (also fine). Referral to local hospital for further fertility investigations, but told it is a 7 month wait for appointment!

I have also been wondering if it might be possible to see some privately for the investigations (to avoid the 7 month wait!!), but worried this would then mess-up the possibility of having any future NHS treatment if it were needed. Although from this thread it doesn’t sound like it necessarily would. However, I’m also unclear what the process would be once you have got private results if you needed treatment and wanted to go back to the NHS - @TheDaydreamBelievers once you got the private test results, did you just self-refer to the fertility clinic to be added to the NHS waiting list?

Like @mrsrichy we’ve already had the initial GP tests, but I’m guessing the fertility investigations at the hospital would be more in-depth. I’ve not had AMH, HyCoSy - would these usually be done as part of hospital fertility investigations?

@mrsrichy, have you heard any more from Care Manchester? That’s my other query. If we go private, is it best to go to the clinic you might end up at if you were to need treatment?

Sorry for the long message and all the questions, but would be great to hear from others about this!! :)

@kamaha hey! Sounds like we're in exactly the same boat :) I've found the responses on here so useful and interesting.

I'm still doing some digging. I managed to speak to Care fertility on Friday afternoon however they gave me a very vague response along the lines of "it depends on your area" lol. I thought I'd rung the Manchester number, but clearly not.

One thing they did say is that you can push with your GP to ask them to refer directly to them. I'm not sure I'd be very successful with that but I will give it a go. I think I'd have some grounds given they keep cancelling my appointments at the hospital and not telling me!!

I'd be really interested in more about @thedaydreambelievers process went logistically though, as in, where you went, who you called, how it all worked etc :)

@mrsrichy my GP referred directly on the back of a letter from a private clinic saying we had problems. That was after we’d done the initial nhs tests and some private tests. We were also dismissed by an NHS gynaecologist who said there was nothing wrong before our GP referral after waiting months for the appointment and she refused to refer us for IVF. So I wish we’d gone straight to private and to the GP first in all honestly, it would have saved us 6-8 months.

Bear in mind our results did show issues, we had likely PCOS, very low progesterone, very low motility. So I don’t know what would happen if your results were all normal, probably would have to wait the time specified by your CCG for help with unexplained fertility.

The process is so insanely different area to area and quite frankly @kamaha I'm amazed at what you got on the nhs!!! @mrsrichy see below for detail.

So, I have long, weird cycles with no ovulation. I have been trying since March 2020. In june 2020 I had not had a period and GP did day 21 hormone and androgen bloods which showed only not ovulating. Refused any further action. Conceived in Oct 2020 but lost baby at 11 weeks. As part of the follow up, NHS ggc offered some testing around miscarriage, not relevant to overall fertility. In March 2021 GP refused referral to fertility services as they said I needed to try for another year after loss (so until Nov 2021). I managed to talk GP into a referral to gynaecology (generic not fertility) due to cycle length. In August 2021 had not heard from nhs, went private. Sept 2021 private assessment included scans, bloods, AMH, semen testing. Oct 2021 private results come back and also had initial appt for nhs generic gynaecology who listened to private results and referred on to nhs fertility clinic. However, wait is endless so we may just go private.

Like @mrsrichy we’ve already had the initial GP tests, but I’m guessing the fertility investigations at the hospital would be more in-depth. I’ve not had AMH, HyCoSy - would these usually be done as part of hospital fertility investigations?

To answer some Qs - in nhs scotland they will only do AMH if they are planning ivf so only fertility clinic do this. Hycosy sometimes done by generic gynaecology or fertility gynaecology. Another thing to bear in mind is its a big wait for nhs fertility assessment then another huge wait for intervention (up to 2 years for ivf wait in some health boards)

Sorry meant to quote the Q about amh and hycosy not just paste

What @TheDaydreamBelievers says is key about the CCGs too. My friend on another chat did get her AMH done, even though she’s not entitled to IVF. Meanwhile they never tested mine until I got to the NHS ivf clinic test stage. It really is very variable, and unpredictable.

@TheDaydreamBelievers I can’t believe they refused action when you weren’t ovulating, did they say they’d retest? I shouldn’t be too surprised though since I’m not ovulating optimally and the gynaecologist we saw didn’t care

@thislittlebird no, GP unwilling to take any action apart from referral at 1 yesterday trying. Unfortunately nhs generic gynaecology also won't address not ovulating and has just forwarded to fertility clinic

1 ýear not 1 yesterday!

@mrsrichy, yes I think we’re definitely in the same boat! And completely agree that it’s really useful to see the responses on here!

That’s really interesting that they suggested pushing the GP for a direct referral. I would say that’s definitely worth a try, especially with all the cancelled hospital appointments. And if the clinic are the ones suggesting it (our ‘local’ fertility clinic told me they couldn’t accept GP referrals, it has to go via the hospital!), I can’t see why the GP wouldn’t be able to do that?! 🤞🙏

I spoke to the fertility network [https://fertilitynetworkuk.org/] earlier and they suggested checking the local CCG eligibility criteria about whether seeing someone privately for investigations would affect later NHS funded treatment (they thought it unlikely as it just meant one less thing the NHS would need to pay for!). I’ve had a look online and it doesn’t look like it would be a problem, but I think I’ll send them an email.

@TheDaydreamBelievers - thank you for all the info - that’s really helpful. I’m so sorry to hear about your loss 😢and all the difficulties you’ve had getting referred - it’s shocking that they refused a referral after finding out you weren’t ovulating and then made you wait another year after your loss. It’s just mad that it can differ so much across different areas!! I really hope you don’t have to wait too much longer now!

@thislittlebird - that’s really useful to know about the different CCGs, thank you!

Thought I'd just update in case it's useful.. :)

I pushed my GP to refer me directly to Care Fertility a couple of weeks ago (thought I'd have a fight on my hands to be honest, but she pretty much referred me without any questions).

When I spoke to Care we were willing to pay for the private initial tests, but they basically told us not to as we are eligible for NHS funding.

Care have been fantastic and they have booked me in for my AMH blood tests and an internal ultrasound. My husband has been booked for another SA. Then they have booked a 2nd appointment in for the day after my 1st to go through our results with a consultant.

I'm over the moon that things are finally moving, and hopefully there won't be as much waiting and cancelled appointments now.

Was really pleased to hear that our funding has been approved from our CCG so quickly too.

Hi all, mind if I join the thread? We've been TTC for over 12 months and I am 36. I was referred to fertility clinic by my GP back in August and yet to hear back from them. I've been told there is up to a year's backlog to clear before I can be seen. So we are seriously considering going private from next year. We think this will help us at least get a diagnosis. Do you think it's worth getting private medical insurance or is this unnecessary? Thank you!

@Tinkerbell098 I would keep following this up. I was referred by gp on 12 October and have my first appointment mid-December.

Is it the clinic saying there is a year backlog? Might be worth seeing if the gp can refer you to a different clinic in the area?

@Hopefulhedgehog yes it's the clinic that initially told me about the backlog and then I asked the GP and she confirmed it's true. The first GP I spoke to said it's about 4 months, and it's past 3 months now. I'm due to have more bloods done next week and I'll ring up the GP when I get results back and ask if I can be referred to another clinic in the region and see what she says. Thanks for the suggestion xx

@Tinkerbell098 I wasn't given a choice and didn't mind but I know from other threads on here that some others seemed to be able to pick another hospital in the region. It may be that was further down the line but worth asking