First appointment

[ChateauProvence]

Hi, I have just had my letter to confirm the date of my first appointment at the fertility clinic. I have had all my blood tests and scans done privately and my private consultant has referred me to the NHS clinic with a recommendation that I need to start clomid. Can anyone tell me what to expect from the first appointment? Also, my husband is working away on the date of my appointment should I change it so he can attend? Or can i go on my own. Thanks x

Hi, good news about your appointment. We are going through the NHS and every appointment we have had so far has been addressed to both of us. Our first appointment we had to both sigh paperwork and take 2 forms of ID. We had a letter explaining everything we needed to bring. I would definitely take him and both your IDs to be on the safe side

I had tests done privately and then moved on to NHS; however, the NHS process, to my knowledge and experience, doesn't work for a private consultant to refer to a NHS fertility clinic (the reverse can happen, with GP referring on to private treatment). In our case, we had to go to our GP with our private consultant's recommendation (and the private test results) and it was our GP who did some eligibility checks and referred us on to a NHS fertility clinic. I am assuming something similar happened with you (and you have just skipped out the GP bit).

What to expect in your first appointment - depends on what tests you have had done privately. In our case, they accepted privately done SA report and AMH test results but they did not accept the privately done AFC scan (or the overall recommendation). They repeated the AFC scan in our first appointment and arrived at more or less same conclusion as private consultant; they then spoke about the next steps, options, etc. They also do further eligbility checks re NHS funding for any treatment recommended.

Should your husband go along for first appointment - depends on whether you did his SA privately and what the results were. If you didn't do it privately, they may want him to do it.

If the recommendation was just to take clomid, wonder why the private consultant didnt just write you a prescription for it - any reason why they didnt?

Thanks so much. My private tests were done due to irregular bleeding and then I was sent back to my GP who made the referral to the NHS clinic. The consultant would prescribe clomid but I would need 3 scans a month at £450 a time which we can’t afford unfortunately- my other tests were covered by health insurance due to the irregular bleeding. I have had all my bloods done and my husbands sperm analysis was done through the NHS as we were told that had to be done before any referrals were made. I think I will call them this morning and see what the best thing to do is….