How to handle work while doing IVF

[ForRubyRaven]

Hi All,

We are planning to do IVF next month and could really do with some guidance or to learn from first hand experience from how others handled time off. Currently the UK does not provision for time off for IVF and its at your companies discretion. I reached out to them and they simple suggested making use of my annual leave and taking unpaid leave (Which I cant really afford due to the IVF expenses). I am stumped on how people manage to go through this process while balancing time off for all of the appointments etc.

I wonder what people normally do? I imagine most suffer through work? Even with an annual leave allowance it seems like you leave yourself exposed to no time to mentally recover after the process or to handle emergencies etc.

I should say it is my wife who is undergoing all the treatment but I would really like to support her as best I can and unfortunately as we are commuting to a London based clinic, it seems most of our time will be spent in transit next month! I am not sure but I suspect on certain key dates and generally due to the medication it may not be best for her to travel alone.

Any guidance/ personal experience would be extremely beneficial!

Although there is no specific IVF provision in the UK it should be treated the same as any other medical appointment or sickness so if your wife would usually be paid for medical appointments or paid for being off sick then these rules should still apply for IVF.

I am sorry her work do not have any allowances for this, I know my employer does have flexibility and time for IVF or fertility appointments so it is a shame more don’t do this.

Hello, aren't you a real gentleman looking out for your wife.
Unfortunately yes, my partner and I had to take unpaid leave during treatment.
We only needed to attend two scans to check on progress and see how many eggs were developing and then egg collection and transfer. Our clinic was 100 miles.
Medication wise, I personally didn't feel any different and didn't suffer any side effects of such medication.
Egg collection, while unpleasant I wss generally fine right after it. I was able to go for a meal and a nice walk after it. I was just slightly crampy for few hours. No worse than period pain.
That's my experience of ivf

You sound lovely!

I’ve read before because it’s an elective procedure companies don’t necessarily have to give you paid time off. Could she request some sort of TOIL arrangement?

Wishing both of you the best of luck!

I can't advise re time off, I work for a small company and told them I had medical appointments, did not disclose what and they were very kind about it. The office also closes for a week in August and my fertility clinic helped plan it to try and make it likely my EC and transfer were during this week. But as a previous poster said, it may be just 2 scans after she starts injections, then the collection and transfer, so may not be too many days off hopefully. My clinic was also 2 hours drive, I used to ask for their first appointment so I could be back on the road and back in work by lunch, for scan days. I went to those appointments by myself, I was in and out fast, just a quick internal scan and chat, maybe bloods. But I appreciate travel to London may not be this simple. I am not uk based. I also felt fine on injections no major side effects. Obv needed my husband for EC day (under sedation, some pain after and also this is where you provide your sample) and for embryo transfer day as that will be fingers crossed your baby to be! Otherwise yes it is a matter of suffering through work sometimes I'm sorry, which I must admit can be hard, particularly when you are waiting to see how many embryos make it to day 3 or 5. It can be hard waiting for updates.
Wishing you and your wife all the very best for a great outcome!