I had the same expereince, little to no information before each appointment. They were also poor at sharing the next step or timeframe for next contact overall it was a painfully slow process.
If any help- and I wish I had known the reality of how long it would all take upfront here is my experience in Surrey.
February 2024 - GP appointment following a chemical pregnancy in January 2024. Baseline bloods done for female. No further investigations as only trying for 2 years (I was 36 DH 39). Discharged.
March 2024 smear test during which I was talking to the NHS nurse. She kindly requested a sperm analysis for my husband and also completed STI testing for me. The earliest appointment for the sperm analysis was 7 months later in October 2024.
Sperm take around 90 days to develop so assessments are advised to be 3 months apart. To avoid waiting for the October date, and then needing to repeat in January we decided to pay for a private sperm analysis in July 2024.
I am glad we did as while all parameters for count were in the ideal range, my husband had 0% morphology.
He spent the next 3 months exercising, taking supplements and improved his diet. He also stopped working and sitting on the sofa with the cat sat on his lap.
October 2024 NHS sperm analysis. Morphology had improved to 4%. Passable but not ideal for a natural pregnancy.
Follow up GP appointment in November 2024 we were referred. Different doctor, trying for 2.5 years at this point. Our ages indicated 6months should warrant an investigation, but referal is discretionary.
1 month for fertility clinic to acknowledge the referral.
Requested some additional tests that were not on the GPs referral list.
As it was Christmas/ New Year it took a few attempts to get an appointment booked for phlebotomy.
January 2025 we received an appointment notification via the app to say we had an appointment with a fertility nurse in June 2025. (I assume this is the appointment you have just received)
February 2025 another notification to say the appointment in June had been cancelled. Distraught doesn't really cover it, we were abroad on holiday and I couldnt get through to speak to anyone.
The next day a notification to say it had been re booked for the following week. Fortunately able to rearrange diary.
February 2025 This consultation was a phone call with a fertility nurse who talked us through our medical history, reviewed all the results the GP had requested. Requested all the bloods be repeated, and another transvaginal scan. The wait for this to all be booked was a month.
March 2025 Attended the scan. It was then another month for an appointment with the fertility consultant to review everything.
April 2025 Fertility consultant covered all of the same again. Agreed we would benefit from IVF. Discussed whether further investigations would be needed. Fortunately for us it was identified as male factor so no further investigations needed, although oddly she offered me a hysteroscopy as ‘endometriosis cannot be diagnosed by other means’ I have none of the symptoms for endometriosis so asked why this was being considered. She said it was something they had to offer as removing even a small sign of tissue would improve chances of a natural pregnancy. However she committed to refer us for IVF as it wasnt a barrier to it. I still dont understand why this was discussed, sharing as it was a frustration at the time I would be subjected to a very invasive procedure with no indication of need. Booking, recovery also adding to the timeline unnecessarily when they had diagnosed our issue as male factor.
April 2025- another appointment with the fertility nurse to prepare paperwork to apply for funding. This was a lot of back and forth, fortunately I live near the hospital so I was able to collect/ drop the paperwork in with their reception to avoid the extra time it would take for Royal Mail and NHS internal mail system. Repeat of blood test and sti testing for both of us.
May 2025 Once the referral was sent it took the ICB 1 week to agree funding, the private clinic we selected ( Care UK) applied the same day and we were approved within a week.
June 2025 The lead time for an appointment with Care UK was 1 month, ahead of this they repeated all bloods and carried out another tranavaginal scan.
Once we had seen the consultant there was 1 month of education videos, consent paperwork and arranging pharmacy drops.
Started treatment on my next cycle, end of July.
Had egg retrieval a few days ago so waiting now to hear if any make it to blastocyst. Fingers crossed.
I hope the above doesnt dishearten you, I just wish I had known that the process from referral to starting treatment would be so convoluted and time consuming. I’m sure plenty of areas have it far better or far worse, but the past year has been more upsetting than the 3 years prior trying without a positive test. The total lack of urgency or efficiency as I had another month of dissapointment with AF arriving has almost broken me before I’ve even started the hard bit!
Saying all that, it will be worth it all but politely keep on top of them with requests for updates. I found when I chased, the next bit was slightly more efficient. But I’m not someone who is concerned with being labelled a PITA.
Good luck!
(Edited for typos)