NHS referral for IVF - process and timescales

[daiquiri22]

I was wondering if anyone could share their experience of referral for IVF by the NHS.

We are in the South West London area and so far the journey has taken one year - blood tests, HyCoSy, hysteroscopy/partner had a semen analysis. We just submitted the application form for funding. The clinic (Kingston ACU) can’t provide timescales as to response time to approve funding or when could we start treatment should we be approved for funding.

Does anyone have any recent experience of NHS referral?

How long did it take to get funding approved after submitting the request? Once approved, how long before you could start treatment and did you have to do any further tests before you could start?

I understand this may differ by region and other factors but any advice would be appreciated.

We are surrey.
We originally had private testing and were told that we had male factor infertility. We were told costs of a cycle with ICSI and concluded we couldn’t afford it and would have to go down the NHS route.

When we were referred to NHS they said that my partner’s sperm wasn’t bad enough to qualify as NHS male factor so had to wait for 3 years as we then classed as unexplained infertility. We finally submitted forms at end of May, funding approved in mid-July and I am currently on my cycle with egg retrieval tomorrow.

All the best for your funding coming through quickly!

I am in south east London. The whole process took about 4 months for us, I think we were very lucky to be honest. After a miscarriage in may 2020 it took me a while to start thinking about trying again, but I also wanted to test myself and my partner. We tested privately but were encouraged to explore the ivf via NHS route, the recommendation was that we would qualify for the funding. Initial appointment was in September, then we got a call from the clinic in October, submitted an application and a week later we got approved, this followed by egg retrieval in February.

Hi - i am based in East London and got approved for funding in January 2021 then started ivf in October 2021. Was a failed round then was told to come back in April 2022 for my 2nd round only to be told all ivf was cancelled indefinitely due to staff shortages. And my GP wouldn't refer me elsewhere. Due to my age (36) and the length of time we had been trying (4 years) we went private and am now pregnant. My nhs clinic has still not resumed its treatments. My case is slightly different from the norm. But found it took a really long time, over a year from initial referral to actually start ivf.
Best of luck!!

@daiquiri22 As Kingston is a small clinic with a small team it’s hard to put a precise timeline on it. i applied recently and funding took 4-5 weeks from what I remember. Once approved, another month or so to see the consultant and nurse and then you can start based on how long the wait ahead of you is

Hi, can I ask which private clinic you went with and would you recommend it?

I went with Create fertility in St Paul's. I had a good experience there and was very fortunate to have success but I was looking at clinics that specialise in treating poor ovarian reserve and low AMH. Also I think another thing to think about is the distance for you.
That clinic was near my work so I could walk there in 10 mins which took away a lot of stress for the amount of appointments you need to go to.

Hey guys,
I know this is an older post but thought may be worth asking anyway. I was wondering if anyone had any past or recent experience with Kingston ACU and their consent protocols around IVF and FET’s. Besides doing a new consent forms each time time you’re doing a cycle and besides seeing your male partner for their sperm sample, were they also made to turn up face to face for at-least one appointment to reconfirm they still consent?
If you can share your experience either way and include when it was as I understand protocols can change periodically.

I have called multiple private clinics who besides consent forms don’t make male partners physically attend medically unnecessary appointments to re-confirm they still ‘consent’. Surely that is the point of the consent forms and surely they are aware of their right to withdraw consent at anytime.

I am a bit peed off he needs to keep taking time off work for this as if he is incompetent and doesn’t read what he signs. It just hammers home our infertility plight and the way it has cost us so much in terms of other commitments.

Anyone who doesn’t mind to share their experience on this even if at different clinics would be hugely appreciated.

They have refused him attending via a video call and their excuse this time was ‘poor’ connection even though last time it was that they had an incident where a couple broke up female partner and used frozen embryo without their male partners consent, which ai am assuming means they didn’t have him coming in to ‘reconfirm’ as nothing gets done without at least a consent form

Thanks and baby dust to all :)