NHS IVF - what to expect

[over30sclub]

Hi all

hoping for some wise words 😊 for some context after over 2 years of trying and lots of sperm analysis, blood tests etc we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility last year. I had a Hycosy in the summer and was told at that time that we would be eligible for IVF. We decided to hold off to see if I got pregnant after the Hycocsy (heard some success stories) but here we are in Jan with no positives meaning we’re at the 3 year mark of trying.
I have a telephone appointment next week as a check up and I’m assuming I will again have the option to opt for IVF on the NHS. Is there a further long waiting list after they put the referral in? Any ideas how long it could be or what I can expect in the coming weeks/ months
Appreciate any advise anyone can give going into this I don’t have any real life friends who have gone through this

[waitingforourmiracle]

Hi @over30sclub

Sorry you are in the position as well, I know it's shit!
After my last gynae appointment where we was told we would be referred they advised it we should hear within 3 months if funding had been accepted, 10 days later we had the confirmation letter to say it had been and our GP could send our information to our chosen clinic (CREATE) couldn't believe how quick it had gone though going off past experience of months and months of waiting!! This was November, had our initial appointment beginning of December with CREATE where we met the consultant and our patient coordinator, I had a scan and both me and my boyfriend had bloods taken. We have another consultation tomorrow where they will discuss protocol, medication and consent forms and then we'll be starting treatment in the new couple of weeks, depending on when my period decides to make an appearance!

So all in all, pretty quick!! I hope this helps. I'm Manchester based :)

[over30sclub]

@waitingforourmiracle thanks so much for replying!
glad that you didn’t have a really long wait, hopefully we have a similar experience.
All the best for your consultation tomorrow and the treatment in the coming weeks sending lots of baby dust your way 😊

[Waitinggame42023]

Hi @over30sclub, just wanted to say I'm in a similar position to you, I've just started a similar thread! The waiting and uncertainty is rubbish

We've been trying for 4 and a half years and our GP has just put our referral through, we have no idea how long any stage of this will take, and no one can tell us even the process- so I've really just been educating myself via Mumsnet!

[over30sclub]

Anyone who comes across this thread looking for timeframes I had an appointment on 17th Jan and a referral was sent, documents were received in the post on Weds to confirm eligibility/T&Cs and they’ve just been sent back. I’ve been told I should expect an appointment in 6-8 weeks from the original referral (I’m in a London borough)
good luck to anyone else going through this!

[over30sclub]

Another update for anyone who comes across looking for timelines, had a call today from the hospital and the initial IVF consultancy appointment has been booked for 22nd March (although they did offer me next week which I was unable to do) so approx 8-10 weeks after the referral was sent!

[over30sclub]

Keeping this as more of a diary now to remember the dates and for anyone who comes across it 😊
Initial appointment on 22nd went well and as I was on CD3 they have said I can start treatment on CD21 so a few more nurse appointments this week to get the initial scans and paperwork completed.
I should then be back at the hospital around 9th April for my initial injection to start the process.
All feeling a bit real now and a little scary, hoping the egg retrieval all goes well - the expected time I would do a pregnancy test will be around 25th May if all goes well and I can do a fresh embryo transfer.
I’ll be searching other threads for guidance and positive stories 😊

[waitingforourmiracle]

@over30sclub good luck!!

I had my first round in Feb and honestly wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be! Medication was for the most part a breeze and got lucky with a straight forward egg collection, unfortunately from there was when it got difficult for us, we definitely got carried away with the positive updates to find out on day 5 sadly only 1 of the 21 eggs collected made it to blast stage. Try to enjoy the journey but remember it most definitely is a rollercoaster! We're preparing for our FET as we did a freeze cycle due to high risk of OHSS, so we still have hope for our one! :)

[over30sclub]

@waitingforourmiracle glad you’re doing okay! Thanks, we are trying not to be excited but it feels proactive after so long of letting nature take its course and nothing happening

sounds like you’ve been on a rollercoaster, the journey is so tough. Wishing you all the very best of luck for your FET - how long do you have to wait for transfer?

[waitingforourmiracle]

@over30sclub absolutely, it is exciting!

Thank you, just waiting for AF to arrive then I'll start on my medication, think I have another couple of weeks yet, joys of irregular cycles! Hopefully not too much longer 😊

[monica3287]

Hey everyone, been reading these comments and wondered if anyone had a similar situation? I'm getting confused thinking of timelines!

We had private testing done in December, which resulted in a letter from that clinic, saying we would be eligible for NHS IVF treatment. My GP then sent this off as a referral to the hospital. We've now got an appointment with fertility specialist the hospital in May.

Does anyone know, what we could expect from there? I know it will vary, by area, we're in Sussex. I'd read some people had been asked to redo their tests... and some hospitals took the private clinic results... I've also read that waiting times for treatment were then another 4+ months, I've also read that some were told they could start the next month.

Does anyone have experience of the initial appointment at hospital onwards?

Thank you! Just trying wrap my head around it, and essentially not get too excited that we could be looking at June start date.

[waitingforourmiracle]

@monica3287 in my case they pretty much just read our results and made the decision we would refer us for IVF, my partner had to redo his SA which delayed us because the wait for the next appointment at the hospital was something like 4 months. Regards referral for IVF, we were referred to a CREATE so a private clinic that took on NHS patients and we would of started on my next cycle but the clinic closed for Christmas so started the cycle after. Good luck x

[monica3287]

Thank you very much for this - I appreciate you coming back!

Did you have to go down the hospital route for the repeat SA, rather than go to GP?

[waitingforourmiracle]

He had one with the gp originally where they discovered a low count and low morphology, because our referral then to the hospital was about 8 months they wanted a more up to date test but the results were exactly the same! Because the referral was then done to the IVF clinic quick he didn't have to repeat again with them :)

[monica3287]

Ah ok - got it. Thank you. That sounds like a similar situation - we had private SA in Nov, then went back to the GP to get one in Jan.
Thank you again.