Gynae Referral

[CloudySky82]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I have been TTC for 2 years now with no luck. I contacted my GP and they did a day 21 blood test to confirm I was ovulating and said they would do a referral.

I assumed this was a fertility clinic referral but have now found out it was a referral to a gynae clinic for which the waitlist is over 3 years. Is this normal to have to be referred to gynae before fertility clinic or should I ask for a fertility referral?

thanks in advance for any advice

I would try to determine with your GP practice whether this referral you've got and a fertility clinic referral are one and the same.

I would not wait 3 years regardless of how old you are and would look into private based clinics. Do your researches very carefully before parting with money as some private based treatment can be very poor.

I'm based in n.ireland and I waited 3 years for a referral appointment to see gynae. Gynae wasted 7 months of my time we had to go to a different doc immediately referred to fertility clinic and that took 9 months. Still waiting on second review appointment now ( its been 4 years since original referral from gp at this stage)

Sorry I will also add yes it's completely normal for gp to send you to gynae. That seems where most go. Only in certain circumstances will your gp refer you to fertility clinic themselves.

@MK85 I’m based in Northern Ireland too, it’s awful that our wait times are so long atm! Thank you for sharing your experience, hopefully it won’t be too much longer for you now.

can I ask what tests the gynae did for you? Im wondering if I pay for them privately could I maybe skip to the fertility referral.

@CloudySky82 My advice is If your over 35 then I'd definitely push things along as the whole process can take a while.
If you have time on your side then I'd try to get as much as possible done via nhs as private investigates are expensive.

The basic tests are really an ultrasound, two sets of bloods, one done on day 3 I think of your cycle, this is to check all your hormone levels. Then day 21 to check if ovulating or not. Since you've had that done you won't need that. What did your results say , are you ovulating?

Your husband will need a semen analysis done. Those are all arranged at the first appointment.

Depending on what consultant you get and your results, they may or may not organise a dye test to check your tubes following that. After they have completed investigates weather they refer you on to fertility clinic or not afterwards depends on your own Individual circumstances really and what the cause is. They'll only refer you on if it's unlikely you'll be able to conceive naturally I.e blocked fallopians or semen results.
If they think your just not ovulating for example or it's a hormone issue they'll likely just try you with medication first and upon that will review if you need a referral to fertility clinic or not.

If you do the tests private I'd recommend it's through a nhs gynae as if you go completely private
i think an assesment is around £450
the dye test alone cost around £500 ,and on top of this a consultation fee of around £250+ . Ultrasound alone was around £180 think ultrasound its built into assessment package with amh blood.
if you haven't had all those blood tests done prior they will want to perform those before looking at your case

It seemed even if you just booked in for semen analysis around another £200 they were looking a consultation fee aswell to give you the results. It just all racks up .
In my experience there's lots of waiting between appointments and you'll never see the same consultant twice. Your just passed around.
My advice to you like I said try to get as much done with nhs as possible . You can book a private appointment with an nhs gynae consultant ( you will bypass your waiting list) you'll only need to pay the initial consultation fee and you can be put straight back on nhs for any treatment needed.
By the way they will only treat you upto age 42 and have a strict bmi requirement for fertility treatment. You and your partner must have no prior children separately and In n.i were only offered one funded round of ivf.

Oh,
Take a notepad with you and write down any questions you have prior as honestly once you get there and questions are being flung at you , it's really distracting and you end up leaving with more questions than answers. That's probably my biggest tip.
If you have any further questions or want a chat then your welcome to message me.
I'm due my review appointment with the fertility clinic in belfast next month to discuss the next steps. I'm currently only on my second medicated cycle. Its crazy how long this process takes over here

@MK85 thank you so much for all that information that is so useful. I am only 26 so hopefully time is on my side but it’s still hard having to wait so long.

my day 21 came back that I do ovulate and from tracking with the tests at home my ovulation is regular so at least that’s one test ticked off.

thank you so much again for all your advice and good luck for your next appointment. Hope it goes well for you!

Hello!
Jumping on this post because I thought the exact same, I have had blood tests and transvaginal ultrasound, my blood tests showed I didn't ovulate at the correct time but ultrasound looked pretty normal!
I have just got my referral appointment through for a gynae for 7th July but no idea what happens from there
X

Bloods and scan were done through GP :)

If you have a gynae referral and they think you need fertility treatment, do you go to the bottom of the fertility wait list or can gynae give you ovulation inducing medication?

@TTCEnquirer I got referred straight for IVF so skipped that step but I would presume that that was done through the hospital before rereferring to a fertility clinic, however I'm not 100% sure sorry! My referral from the gynae referral to the clinic was pretty quick (albeit that was a couple of years ago now) so hopefully if they do refer you it isn't too much longer to wait X