Fertility treatment to resume

[barbites]

Great news if you are having fertility treatment. Not sure why this is a priority given all the critical treatments and investigations put on hold.
Would really like dd to get her braces put on at the Orthodontists but obviously it's closed. Don't understand why fertility treatment has been prioritised?

@babasaclover ❤️

So glad you got your miracle x
I don’t think the trauma will ever be fully gone, just managed xx

@FlashesOfRage

I agree - I didn't expect to be 36 with no tubes left. I am self funding my own treatment but even if I wasn't I'm pretty sure the obese chain smoking alcoholics will cost the NHS more and take up more resource that an IVF cycle ever will.

@ivfgottostaypositive

I’m sorry you are going through this shitty challenge in your life and I hope there is a happy ending for you 💐 x

Whilst I'm delighted for individuals I'm also worried .

I'm currently pregnant and the antenatal care in my area at least is terrifying for first time mums . We can't see midwifes . We can't have scans .

Even high risk pregnancies have had scans cancelled ( mine have been ) if things don't get much better and these services don't resume there could be even more issues for antenatal care .

At this point in my pregnancy I should be seeing a midwife every fortnight but I now have to wait 8 weeks .. basically till just before birth.

I was given 24 hours notice of my cancelled scan and I was told although I'm high risk I'm a lower risk than others so mine won't go ahead ..

My limited knowledge of fertility treatment (and I apologise for that ) is that it can have higher risks for multiple babies .. thus needing more care . I know Mums due twins that are also not getting that care .
I really think they need to fix antenatal services as well as resuming fertility

My limited knowledge of fertility treatment (and I apologise for that ) is that it can have higher risks for multiple babies

That's a misconception

IVF clinics are governed by regulations which limit the amount of multiple births they can cause - which is why it is near on impossible to be able to transfer more than one embryo in the U.K.

Given the NHS resources at the moment I'd pay for private scans - they aren't expensive (£50-75) and if it can be afforded then it should be used

@FlashesOfRage - you’re right, there’s an assumption that we were all feckless women who left it too late. I was 26 when I started trying for a baby and according to another mumsnet thread on here recently, early 30s is ‘young’ for trying for a baby.

What a delightful thread- I'll be honest, I was waiting for a thread like this to pop up on Mumsnet because, for some reason, it seems to be on-trend to rip into hopeful/expectant/new mothers as of recent.

I'd much rather pay some of my taxes towards fertility treatments than a lot of other things the NHS offer.

However, as someone who is currently pregnant, I would definitely warn anyone considering going ahead with treatment to wait (if they can). I had a fairly traumatic first birth (this is my second baby), and a lot of the things I'd discussed with my consultant midwife who deals with birth related trama, cannot go ahead. I am incredibly lucky that my elective c section is still booked, but a lot of options are scaled back/not available as of now. Also, partners in my hospital are only permitted to be at the birth and cannot stay afterwards- they must leave and not return until you are being discharged.

If you can afford to wait a year and see how things pan out, do it. You really don't want to have added stress surrounding something that is supposed to be so joyous.

Are people totally missing the point here? Its not about if you are self funded or not, it is about the added burden on the NHS with all these extra pregnancies that could be avoided/postponed. My worry is that over the coming winter there will be extra burden on the NHS, not everyone is going to have a no complication pregnancy. It has been drummed into us for weeks now to protect the NHS, what about when the flu season hits, and the second Covid wave ? The NHS will struggle to cope

As someone who has had life saving treatment withheld due to "protecting the NHS", this announcement really sticks in my craw.

Sorry if I have no sympathy.

@SmartestSpeciesOnThePlanet - Some helpful posters have pointed out that freezing eggs may need to happen before cancer treatment can go ahead, that's very important. Others have pointed out that it isn't a direct resource competition, in particular with private dedicated clinics. Others have identified that there can be time limits where individuals are already near the end of the time they can be supported, so it's now or never. Women will be having babies anyway, any delay is affecting a tiny proportion of those pregnancies from proceeding. This point perhaps hasn't been covered - I've just checked the figures for you and in a normal year it's less than 3% of babies. It averages to just over 1 extra birth per UK hospital per month, that's right, ONE PER MONTH. Take all that together and you can see that these few extra women getting treatment will have no impact whatsoever on your hospital appointments or mine taking place, it's the pandemic that's stopped those appointments not a few women (hopefully) getting pregnant.

@SmartestSpeciesOnThePlanet

Life saving treatment wasn't suspended by the NHS - "non essential" was - what is presumably life saving to you obviously wasn't that essential in the NHS' opinion.....

If you don't like it go private like most of us have done for IVF

And if you are in any way overweight or a smoker etc you'll be impacting the NHS far more than a pregnant woman will do

ivfgottostaypositive

I have been reading your posts, I am sorry but you do come across as very short sighted and entitled.

Chemo and cancer treatments have been cancelled, how on earth can you say that these are Non-essential??

@ivfgottostaypositive

I agree you’ve come across a tad insensitive and I’m one of those who fully supports access to IVF on the NHS. Slagging off other groups of people e.g. overweight, is unpleasant especially when some of us are on your side!

I’ve had a huge amount of private health treatment. I’ve not been able to access this. I understand why. I pay a huge sum of money for private insurance that I can’t use. I’m not complaining, it’s the way it is. I’m simply saying you are not the only one in difficult circumstances and I do support the right to access IVF. Some people have been breathtakingly vile but please don’t start attacking others. An eye for an eye and all that...?

^ Actually I take back my comment about “slagging off”, I apologise that was harsh and not true. You didn’t do that. All I’m saying is NHS treatment should be equal, we don’t discriminate- fat, thin, fertile or infertile - we are all entitled to fair and equal treatment. I acknowledge some people use the healthcare system more than others. That’s the way it goes.

My whole point of this thread wasn't to bash people having IVF treatment and I apologise if that's how it seemed. My only point to consider and discuss was why IVF treatment was one of the first to recommence in comparison to other services. I have learnt that for some it is time critical and this will be a great relief, I'm all for that. I think other services should also be urged to find a way to resume quickly so other people awaiting important treatments aren't denied or left at risk of deterioration or irreversible consequences of waiting.

@Schuyler

Your right I wasn't "bashing" or "slagging off" I'm making a point that there are certain groups of other people who will cost the NHS more in time and resources than a pregnant person or those going through privately paid for NHS

@pintofpills

Maybe you should actually read my posts where exactly do I say that chemo ISNT life threatening. The guidance from the government was that all NON ESSENTIAL treatment be stopped. Everyone can agree that cancer treatment IS essential. Many trusts didn't actually suspend cancer treatment

And as for being "entitled" - I'm paying for treatment privately

@barbites
*
My only point to consider and discuss was why IVF treatment was one of the first to recommence in comparison to other services.*

I think you've missed the point of the announcement - they are not saying IVF can restart before anyone else but talked about in the sense of what the government classed as "non essential". ALL non essential treatment can restart assuming they have in place safety protocols.

@ivfgottostaypositive

Absolutely. Some people cost the NHS a bomb but nobody should feel guilty for it. An IVF pregnancy does add strain on the NHS, to pretend it’s “just a couple of scans” is silly but so does a non IVF pregnancy. You’re not more or less deserving however you conceived.

Your comments about non essential treatments weren’t very kind, just as some people’s comments about IVF weren’t kind. Lots of very essential treatments were stopped. Chemo was stopped because it was believed the risks of an immunosuppressed person catching covid was too high. The problem is they made blanket decisions for groups of patients without considering the consequences of each, unique individual. The whole “go private” comment was ridiculous as private hospitals are - rightly - not prioritising private world. As I said, one of those things.

it is about the added burden on the NHS with all these extra pregnancies that could be avoided/postponed

If everyone is being asked to avoid tcc this is a rational response, otherwise it makes no sense to ask ivf people to cease trying to conceive since they are a tiny volume of pregnancies.
In fact if you are concerned with numbers of pregnancies you should definitely raise this issue with those who are having sex to reproduce first, it would do far more to reduce strain on the NHS.

*Are people totally missing the point here? Its not about if you are self funded or not, it is about the added burden on the NHS with all these extra pregnancies that could be avoided/postponed. My worry is that over the coming winter there will be extra burden on the NHS, not everyone is going to have a no complication pregnancy. It has been drummed into us for weeks now to protect the NHS, what about when the flu season hits, and the second Covid wave ? The NHS will struggle to cope

As someone who has had life saving treatment withheld due to "protecting the NHS", this announcement really sticks in my craw.

Sorry if I have no sympathy.*

Your post is vile.

Firstly, maternity services are one of the few areas within the NHS that has carried on, generally speaking, as business as usual. There's been some reduction in services to reduce Covid-19 transmission, but on the whole, most scans and birth options are going ahead. Yes, there's a substantial change in terms of who can be with you for these services (reduced/no visiting including partners), and telephone consultations when appropriate, but it hasn't changed.

Therefore, I really cannot see how the incredibly small percentage of successful IVF pregnancies will be such a 'burden' on the NHS. These services will be running regardless. Nurses, midwives, consultants etc from the maternity departments are not being redeployed to different wards. There might be a pooling of services (so one hospital's maternity department closes and the women are relocated to another one, but the staff from the first hospital are also being relocated, too!)

You're taking out your anger at your services being stopped at a group of people who, honestly, have absolutely nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter if the flu season hits or a second wave of CV- maternity services will still be running as usual. They are not going to leave thousands of women to give birth at home without medical assistance. Also, to put it bluntly, our economy relies on birth rates replacing death rates. We still need people to be born. It's kind of essential.

Now, as I said previously, I would advise any women considering TTC (whether that's with fertility treatment or not) to wait, if they can, because their experience will be impacted. There will be less support and it will definitely be a much lonelier journey due to restrictions that have been put in place. But, I'm also aware that some women do not have the luxury of time. If the government has decided that fertility treatment going ahead will not be detrimental to the NHS, then I fully back their decision, and I back women making their own informed choices.

I can appreciate that you are upset that your medical treatment has been postponed/cancelled due to Covid-19, but your anger is entirely misdirected. I also don't think it's appropriate to refer to women trying to have a child after years of struggle/heartache as a 'burden'. It's downright nasty. You are not going to get sympathy from anyone with that attitude, regardless of your own situation.