Secondary infertility referral/entitlement Barnet

[secondtimelucky87]

Hello,

I've been TTC for a second after a history of fertility struggles conceiving my first (took 3 years). I've been trying again for 2 years, 3 months and counting. 37f and 49m. Also have rubbish AMH of 2.85 so feel the odds are pretty stacked against us. I'm trying to slowly come to terms with potentially remaining a family of 3 and realise how lucky I am. This is a bit of a last ditch attempt and I imagine I've got another 6 months of trying in me before it all becomes a bit much. To date, in terms of tests/investigations we've had:

Randox full female fertility bloods. Normal aside from since resolved low iron levels and low AMH.

Several pelvic ultrasounds. All normal

A HyCoSy. Normal.

3 semen analyses and DNA frag. Last one as of Jan normal aside from slight viscosity and slightly elevated ph. Andrologist told us overall normal, as have two fertility consultants.

We're both on all the supplements you should be. Track with CM, LH and both BBT and progesterone confirm I ovulate.

I've paid for two private rounds of medicated cycles which I responded to and produced dominant follicles. Two trigger shots and Cyclogest. Both failed. Hit me very hard emotionally.

My question is: before all these private tests and treatment (which tbh we can barely afford), I had started the process of pursuing an NHS referral but the GP was so useless I gave up. Do I bother going back? Does anyone happen to know what it anything I'd be entitled to in the borough of Barnet? I know definitely not IUI or IVF but what about further medicated cycles? I'm reticent to fork out for more private treatment as it just isn't financially viable to keep doing it and I don't know what else to try.

If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading.

P.S. I've looked at the North Central London fertility policy but can't work out/see information about medicated cycles if you've had a child.

Hi, sorry to hear you’re going through secondary infertility. Unfortunately as you already have a child you won’t be entitled to IVF on the NHS x

Thank you for replying. I'm aware of this and referenced it in my post. I was asking about medicated cycles (timed intercourse with Letrozole/Clomid to boost follicles). 😊 This is what I can't work out from the fertility policy.

Ah sorry for misreading! I’m not sure about the medicated cycles but good luck x

No problem at all and thank you very much 😊 x

Hi, I’m with North Central London too and before we went to IVF, we were offered medicated cycles (IUIs etc), however we would have had to pay for these out of pocket even though we were eligible for NHS treatment (I think rough costs at Homerton were around £800-1000 per medicated cycle). We’re unexplained infertility though, so our consultant thought it best to skip medicated cycles and go straight to IVF so I didn’t look any further into it.

If these costs are massively lower than the private clinics, it might be an idea to reach out to the admin teams via email to get the price lists from the NHS clinics?

Hi there, thanks for your message. My medicated cycles were £400 each including monitoring scan, Letrozole, dual trigger shot and Cyclogest pessaries so actually a fair bit cheaper! A clinic on Harley Street too. I'm just curious to see if anyone knew whether in north Central London you were entitled to these on NHS if you have a child and have been referred to fertility clinic. I imagine the answer is no but just the thought I'd check. 😊

@secondtimelucky87 yeah, as I understood it, they weren’t even free for those couples without a child that were referred for fertility treatment, so I think you’re right.

ah that’s interesting about the price difference, I would have assumed the NHS (but paying privately) clinics would always be cheaper so good to know they’re not!