Exceptional Funding Requests for IVF

[YourTipsyDog]

Hello,

My husband and I had IVF with ICSI this January which was unsuccessful. In our area we were funded by the NHS for one fresh cycle and one frozen cycle. Unfortunately, we did not get any embryos to freeze and therefore we lost both opportunities in one go.

We have contacted our local MP who was very helpful and found out that you can apply for an Exceptional Funding Request through your GP so I have an appointment to discuss this with them at the end of the month.

The criteria for the EFR are as follows:

For funding to be agreed there must be some unusual or unique clinical factor about the patient that suggests that the patient is
• Significantly different to the general population of patients with the condition in question; and
• Likely to gain significantly more benefit from the intervention than might be expected from the average patient with the condition.

I am wondering if anyone has any knowledge of this area at all as I am trying to be as informed as I can ahead of the meeting.

Thanks in advance

Hello 👋🏻 sorry you didn't get any embryos to transfer/freeze. Not to be the bearer of bad news but my care board offer one fresh transfer and are very specific that if you don't get anything to transfer then that still counts as your funded round ☹️ maybe check the wording on your ICB fertility policy and see if you can find anything in the wording that might mean you can apply for exceptional circumstances. No harm in trying. Good luck 🤞🏻

Hello. Yes it definitely counts as our funded round but we are just enquiring about the Exceptional Funding as I am a firm believer that if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I am fairly sure that it will still be a ‘no’ but worth asking before ploughing ourselves into debt 😥

Thanks

Exceptional funding could be say if the patient has a disability / long term health condition that effects their every day living and / or they are getting near age limit aswell and / or they had private hyfosy that showed blocked tubes etc etc

Ultimately we got through on the exceptional funding but that was our nhs round ( not an extra round etc )

We had miscarriage history and additionally many factors in my health history / status that made things exceptional

( it was our consultant who did our exceptional funding request ,)

Ok thank you for your reply, that is helpful to know :)

Just to add, it would be more appropriate for your consultant/fertility clinic to do an exceptional funding request rather than your GP.

Wishing you all the best going forwards.

I second this

@YourTipsyDog did you ever have any luck?

@Khloe9 Hello! Unfortunately not; we went through the process but they wouldn’t allow us any extra funding. I can find out the criteria for you if it would be helpful, although I don’t know if it’s different in different areas?

We are preg from our attempt

@worldwidetravel2017 thank you for responding. So pleased you had some luck! I wish you a healthy pregnancy ☺️

Thanks so muc
Unfortunately i have a hematoma
And pregnancy apls

So its tricky
But theres a heart beat
And we keep the hope

@YourTipsyDog so sorry! I didn’t see that you’d also replied. Thank you for responding. So sorry yours didn’t get accepted. I just feel like trying as even if they refuse, we’ll just be in the same situation as we are now and we do have an unusual situation/cycle that may be considered. do you mind me asking why they said they rejected yours? If it’s too personal to share, I understand.

@worldwidetravel2017 so difficult. I really hope it continues and you have a healthy baby at the end 🩷

Thanks so much

@Khloe9 I don’t mind at all; they said that I have ‘no clinical exceptionality’. I posted the criteria at the top of this thread; I didn’t fall into that criteria, although they didn’t elaborate on it. Basically, I think that because I have no known issues, I am not exceptional. However, I feel assured that I explored every option available to me and it could well be worth a try for you.

I just looked back at some of the other comments and I’m not sure why others had to apply for the exceptional funding through their fertility clinic; I had to go through my GP. However, I did obtain a supportive letter from my consultant which might be a consideration for you.

I wish you the best of luck :)

@YourTipsyDog thanks so much! Such a shame they didn’t fund it for you.

I really don’t know if ours will but I’m going to give it a shot. I do feel our case is quite unusual and that we could benefit from a slightly different protocol but I don’t know if it will be enough. Did it take long to be sent off on your behalf and was their decision timely?

I think that’s the boat I’m in. I just want to try and explore anything and everything I can so I know I’ve done everything I possibly can. I’m going through my GP but that’s more because I wouldn’t want another cycle at the same clinic. Thank you very much for the information ☺️

@Khloe9 We had to wait about a month to have the appointment with the GP (worth knowing a bit about exceptional funding requests in advance as they didn’t know an awful lot) then it took them a couple of weeks to send the request. I think that the ICB then had to respond to it in 40 days or something similar and they made their decision in that time.

It’s always worth asking if you don’t mind waiting a couple of months. We did that whilst I was recovering from my first round and I now feel ready to start again. The other thing we found was The Fertility Foundation who offer grants; again we weren’t successful but it was worth a try. Let me know how you get on!xx

@YourTipsyDog I really appreciate you sharing your experience, thank you!

I will try even though I know it’s unlikely. Will let you know xx