Postponing NHS IVF

[DiscoStusMoonboots]

Hello everyone,

I've just been sent a letter inviting me in for my first IVF consultation on the NHS. However, due to a number of stressful life events (home flooding, multiple close family deaths, including my father) my husband and I feel we should wait a few months until we are less stressed to take this all on.

Has anyone else managed to postpone their NHS IVF successfully? I'm so scared that I'll be told it's now or never, and it has been a fight to get this far.

Thank you.

Sorry for you losses I think you should have the consultation asap, but they probably won't book you in for your first cycle for a few months anyway - I had to wait 3 months a year ago. Usually you have the consultation and they make a plan for your IVF protocol, then you go through your next few period due dates with them and book a provisional date in for your first IVF cycle, so at this point you could just say 'actually can we make it February'. If you wanted to defer the initial consultation I'd be worried they'd refer you back to the GP. That's just my thoughts though!

@potentialdogowner that is exactly my fear. I really can't afford for us to be referred back to the doctor, time-wise. If just one fewer thing had gone wrong this year, we would be going ahead! Just terrible timing, and now I'm second guessing everything.

I think I'll give them a call this afternoon and see what they recommend. Fingers crossed.

It depends on your age? Every area has an age cut off at which point your treatment either needs to have begun or completed or you lose your funding?

Thanks @tiggerwhocamefortea. I'm 35 currently, think the cut off for my area is 40.

I'd definitely recommend going for the initial consultation. In a lot of specialities, if a patient doesn't attend or cancels/asks to postpone, they'll discharge back to the GP and say to re-refer when the patient is ready.

The date of your initial consultation won't be when you start treatment - the clinic may want to do investigations, and there's likely to be a waiting list. Waiting times can vary hugely - some people wait a couple of months, but in other places it can be a year or more!

Thank you @scirocco and everyone else for the advice. I have spoken to my husband and we are going to go to the consultation and take it from there. We definitely do not want to risk having to go to the 'back of the queue', so this seems the most sensible option.

Thanks @Scirocco and everyone else who has replied. I have had to rearrange my initial consultation due to it being an inconvenient time anyway, but will be going to the appointment and taking it from there. Thank you all for the advice, it is appreciated.

It was a few years ago, but I actually postponed my NHS cycle of ICSI for over a year as I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know we’d need it and I needed time to get my head around the idea and prepare myself for it. The clinic were fine, if I’d left it over a year between contact I would to be re-referred by GP.

Nothing will be starting on your initial consultation, and you may need bloods taking and a wait for the results. Then you’ll have a booking appointment to go through all the paperwork before you actually start taking the meds. It could be months before you actually start.

Wishing you luck.

We have just recently had our consultation and we're advised to call the clinic on the first day of my period in January. We're going on holiday at the end of Jan and the clinic have been really flexible with us pushing the start date back to Feb instead :)

Not quite the same but it does echo what others have said. Definitely have the consultation and then discuss a delay in treatment from there

Sorry to hear about all you have been going through. Between my first consultation and treatment was 1 year although this was covid interrupted so it would be worth asking them about timelines when you call them and to consider that when making a decision about postponement.

@DiscoStusMoonboots

Thanks *@tiggerwhocamefortea*. I'm 35 currently, think the cut off for my area is 40.

At 35 I wouldn't be delaying too long. No there isn't the "cliff" after your 35th bday after which your fertility tanks but it does decline and it's accepted that success rates for IVF decline after age 36

@Christmasjumpers that is good to know, I'm pleased they are being flexible for you. The woman I spoke to was very kind and supportive, so hopefully our experiences will be similar. Good luck for January :)

Thanks @RosemaryRosemary - we're going ahead with our consultation in December. Hope your treatment went well - Covid delays must have been stressful.

@tiggerwhocamefortea this was a big consideration, and ultimately what spurred us on the keep the appointment. I also have PCOS, so I'm aware I'm up against it already without even considering my age. Cautiously optimistic about our consultation in December now.

If your consultation isn't even happening until December it's good that you'll go ahead with it.
Many NHS clinics, and some private ones, do have delays over Christmas anyway (because there would be no one to do egg collection or monitor embryos etc for a few days so lots of patients may be postponed) so there may be a bit of a backlog of patients.

It sounds like a difficult time you've had, I think most clinics would be sympathetic if you don't feel ready by the time treatment is due to start, but it might be such a wait or you might feel like a new year is a time for looking forward too (without diminishing at all the awful time you've had).
Good luck 💐

Don't delay. I bet you wont start any cycle until March at the earliest so keep going.

I had another major life event clash perfectly with IVF and i was scared that stress would set me back but it didn't and everything worked out in the end

Hi can i ask what happened? Did you go for your inital consultation and how long the treatment started after? Where you successfully able to delay it? In a very similar situation. Thanks so much

I think you will be fine if you attend the initial consultation as they make a plan, but there will be follow up paperwork such as legal consents etc before you actually start anything.

We were desperate to get started asap so we returned consents and completed education videos the day the clinic issued them. But it was still over a full cycle before we could get started. It’s a very lengthly.

If when your period arrives you dont feel ready, just wait another month before contacting them to say you want to begin treatment.

I agree as others have said that if you defer the initial consultation, you likely run the risk of being discharged.

Hi @Moon4040 this is an old thread but I delayed my IVF cycle by a few months earlier this year.

Waiting lists really vary from area to area, so you might have better luck asking people with experience in your region, because it can move very slow so you might feel like IVF is too soon now but then come when they are ready to treat you you might be feeling very impatient.

My timeline is:
Oct 2024 - referred by GP
Dec 2024 - clinic rings me to book me in for blood tests and consultations
Jan 2025 - Internal scan to check uterus and ovary follicle counts
Feb 2025 - First consultation, given options of IUI or IVF. They recommend IVF given my age (36)
Apr 2025 - Funding approved for 3 rounds of IVF. They say that I should be able to start my first round in June/July.
May 2025 - I decide that I want to try naturally for a bit longer and I ask for a HyCoSy, which checks if tubes are open. They don't recommend this as it's not required for IVF, but I say I want it anyway.
There is a waiting list for this test which delays start by 2-3 months. In this time my husband and I improve our diets, going mostly Mediterranean style and cutting out alcohol, but not super strict.
August 2025 - Have another consultation after HyCoSy results to book me in for IVF, they say I can start next cycle.
September 2025 - start prep for short protocol (this means that you start with your natural cycle, rather than 'down regulating' first which shuts off your ovaries)
October 2025 - egg collection, we collected 17 eggs and made 8 embryos. Because I had so many eggs we did a 'freeze-all' which means I had to wait for my body to recover before I could transfer
December 2025 - just transferred my first embryo 3 days ago. Won't know the result for another 9 days, but currently choosing to be positive especially as we have 7 embryos left to keep trying.

So all in all 14 months from first referral to embryo transfer, although this could have been 10-11 months if I had chosen not to have further investigations. Best of luck!

Hi @CoolSummer89 thank you so much for this information! I am in a temp job and have to reinterview in may, the clinic said I will revieve a letter to confirm IVF in January so I didnt want to have to ask out of work for many medical appointments as I am hoping to keep this job. This information has put my mind at ease. I hope everything goes well for you ❤️