First NHS Fertility Community Centre appointment

[Laura3190]

Hey everyone

So quick backstory - we’ve been ttc for 2.5 years now, we had one early miscarriage over a year ago and no luck since.

We’ve had all the tests and my GP finally referred me on the NHS for fertility treatment now that it’s over 2 years. No obvious issues with either myself or my fiancé, my progesterone is perhaps on the low side but I’ve had progesterone suppositories before and still no joy.

I got a letter through in June for an appointment at the community fertility centre to see the GP specialist - it’s been a 9 week wait but my appointment is next week so it’s finally almost here. I wondered how long I can expect it to be now from this appointment to starting treatment at a clinic?

How did the process work? My understanding is that they will look at all of our results and discuss best treatment options, and then apply for funding and then refer on for the treatment elsewhere, I have tried Clomid in the past with no luck, and have a feeling it might be IVF which I’m totally fine with but having had an incredibly stressful and upsetting experience with my GP thus far I’m just so keen to get going and started…. I’m worried I’ll have this appointment and be told the funding is going to take a crazy amount of time or something. Did you get to choose your clinic or do they advise best one to go to?

Any advice would be so very appreciated… sorry for the rambling post I’ve been desperately scouring the web trying to find out what to expect! I’m based in West Sussex if anyone has had a similar experience

Thank you x

Hi, I hope you get some answers from others on here who have experienced this journey.
How was your appointment?
I'm in a similar position to you with TTC and miscarriage a year ago, although our trying has been more like 1.5 years.
I have been referred to gynaecology at the Womens hospital for next month but have just received a letter to say it will be a phone consultation. My other half had a semen and blood test through our GP but I haven't had any tests. Should I be pushing for anything further from my GP or will this come from Gyno? GP hasn't been helpful so far and wondered exactly what you meant by tests by GP.

Thanks and good luck x

Hey! The appointment was good, she basically went through all of our test results and because they were all fine she said the only next step would be IVF as we are ‘unexplained’, so she gave us 3 clinics to choose from, and will be sending our referral off this week. It then takes around 3 weeks for NHS funding to come through and at that point we choose our clinic and go for our first appointment to learn the process of IVF properly. However… 2 days later, we got our BFP!! Just incredibly anxious at the moment really praying everything goes well, I am constantly checking to make sure I’m not bleeding etc, hopefully I’ll relax soon! Couldn’t believe it though I didn’t think there was any chance of that happening!

I would 100% push with your GP, mine was so unhelpful I’ve had many tears and constant backwards and forwards with mine, I’m not sure if it varies by area but with mine in order to even get a referral sent off by my GP for fertility treatment there was a whole list of criteria and tests we had to have had done. For me, this included a pelvic ultrasound, day 21 bloods for progesterone, another blood test which can be done any time of the cycle and measures prolactin etc, a rubella blood test, vaginal chlamydia swab, Umm there may have even been a few others but the thing was they all had to be within the last 6 months otherwise I had to redo them (this happened as my doctor didn’t explain it to me). My partner had to do a semen analysis and that also had to be within the last 6 months. But it took such a long time to get all those results together just to be able to get it sent off. It might be that the gynae will do these tests? Or depending where you are it might be slightly different. I would definitely push and ask your doctor what the process will be, I had to do this so many times and kept chasing. Part of the criteria is that we had to have been trying for two years minimum UNLESS there was a known issue, but that’s why the tests are important as if something flags up you may be able to get one sooner.

The appointment we just had, we had to have an HIV blood test as part of the clinic criteria. She also suggested the test where they put dye through your tubes to check for any blockages, but I wasn’t prepared to wait another 3 months for that (because then all my other tests would need redoing etc!!) so she was happy to send my referral off without that so I don’t think that one is 100% vital well not if it’s the IVF route anyway.

Good luck 🤞 and if you have any other questions feel free to give me a shout, I know how stressful it is xx