Are we eligible for fertility treatment?

[SarahScone]

Hi

Totally new to the trying to conceive ball game and don’t know if my situation is unusual or not. Essentially after some advice as to how access fertility services in my area.

In short, partner has low sperm count (3million). As far as we know, i am fine in this regard. I had a termination a few years ago so we know I can get pregnant. Additionally, despite low sperm count, I managed to fall pregnant immediately after coming off pill on first cycle (2 months ago). Unfortunately pregnancy was ectopic, subsequently not viable and I was given methotrexate to treat. I am now in the three month window before we can try again (methotrexate is chemo drug and could potentially harm developing embryo etc).
Partner had semen analysis several years ago, was told he would never father a child. However, six years after this test his daughter was born. Just had another analysis and told very low, difficult to have child naturally BUT i fell pregnant on first cycle.

There is a good chance that it was just very good (and then very bad) luck that I got pregnant so quickly. I am 36 and he is 39. We want to know what options are available to us in terms of fertility. I know the cut off for fertility treatment is 37.5 in my area. Does anyone know if that is the age cut off for referral or for when they will not provide any funding for whatever treatment would be necessary?
We are concerned that because I got pregnant so quickly, even though it was not viable, they might not view us as a ‘worthy cause’.
Does anyone have any advice as to how we can ensure we access what we are entitled to (if we even are entitled to anything).

Thanks in advance all.

Criteria are different between health boards and CCGs, but almost everywhere states couples aren't eligible for NHS treatment if one of them has a biological child. So, your partner being a father already will be the main barrier to accessing NHS fertility treatment. You can double-check with your GP, and it may be that your local services might be willing to do some initial investigations. However, the likelihood is that, if you need fertility treatment, you'll need to look at private clinics.

If your partner has a child already very few areas will provide IVF on the NHS additionally you having an ectopic will be classed as a pregnancy and many area will then "reset" the clock for when you can get a referral ie 6 months to 2 years depending on CCG

It's a total mind field and without knowing where you live you are better of speaking to your GP

As previous poster said if you aren't eligible for IVF then you will likely get investigations but honestly I'm not sure I'd bother- between your termination and the ectopic sounds like you can and do fall pregnant easily. If the issue is with your partners sperm you'd be better of looking at going straight to private funded IVF with ICSI

If the cut off is age 37.5 for your area then you need to have started treatment by that age - at the moment covid delays and backlog means some wait lists are up to 2-3 years.....