Male fertility tests - what does gp offer?

[Muddysocks1]

Will the GP do blood tests for the male partner? And with semen analysis - silly question but is that done at the gp (as in a sample to do and bring back), or do they get referred elsewhere for this?

And should you go for a joint appt with partner, or separate? Sorry lots of questions! I discussed with GP recently and they advised to come back in a few months if no joy, including partner for tests.

my husband had a blood test at the GP and a referral to a fertility clinic to do the semen analysis. We went through it with the GP in early 2022, I had a phone consultation with a GP about it then they arranged the blood tests for us both and the clinic referral for his analysis and referral to general fertility at the local hospital who then took over

That all sounds very efficient! Did they do that straight away?

the GP did say to me (as I’ve had bloods before) that we we have no luck and come back they’ll start further investigations, so I’m wondering if that means a referral onwards rather than repeating at GP. I imagine it varies depending on where you are unfortunately too

I would assume they’ll repeat blood tests for both of you and get your partner to have an analysis done then do the referral or they’ll do the referral and leave fertility to do all the testing. We met the criteria for immediate general fertility referral. A friend and her husband went after a year of trying and had the bloods and analysis done came back no issues so were told to try another year then they’d get a referral to general fertility. It’s worth reading your local trusts fertility treatment policy it should be available online so you can go into any appointments knowing if/when you’ll meet it. We’re in the Bristol area and they were honestly amazing