Accessing NHS fertility services (UK)

[LauraJ89]

I wanted to share a very personal situation to ask if anyone has any advice or shared experience.

My husband and I have been trying for a baby for 3 years. We have been pregnant twice. In October 2024 I had a ruptured eptopic pregnancy and my left fallopian tube was removed. In June 2025 we lost another baby at 12 weeks after a slow heart beat at 11 weeks.

I asked my GP to refer me to the fertility clinic at our local NHS hospital, Queens Medical Center in Nottingham, for investigation to see if anything is wrong with me that they can help fix. The GP said they can't refer me because the criteria is trying to concieve for 18 months and because we fell pregnant and miscarried we are not infertile. I explained we've been trying for 3 years and lost two babies, plus I'm 36.5 years so my age will be affecting my chances. It seems unfair that because we miscarried we can't access support and scans to look at egg count etc. I am at a loss and don't know what to do. We will keep trying but it's been 3 years already and I am worried I will never get to be a mum.

Does anyone have any advice to access NHS fertility support. Or failing that, what might it cost for us to go private?

Thank you x

Hi, sorry to hear all that, I know it’s tough.
We paid privately so we didn’t have to wait the 18 months. I didn’t have any cycles at all so the 18 months were just a waste of time.
we found a doctor through circle health group, was approx £250 per appointment. We ended up paying quite a lot as I had multiple things / procedures that needed to happen.
once all that was done, our doctor was able treat us in her NHS clinic.
we had all that done, I have had IUI and I am currently 22 weeks pregnant and would have only be eligible for NHS GP referral last month!
it wasn’t cheap, but did as I say include surgeries, and worth every penny to cut the referral time! X

Congratulations Hannah, that's such wonderful news. I'm really glad you both took the financial plunge and you are going to be parents. Thank you for sharing your experience and pathway. Private care is something we may need to consider. We've saved a baby fund for when they're born, so maybe we could redirect that into investigation and IUI. At school they made it sound so easy to get pregnant!

Im sorry for such a rough 3 years with your losses. Im Australian so not in the UK but it seems unfair that you are not eligible for the NHS funding because you have fallen pregnant previously which resulted in miscarriage , I would think the losses inbetween would be considered. Can you request special circumstances?

Thank you and good luck to you.

I would say it’s definitely worth an initial appointment to see what they say.
when you are looking for a doctor, my advice would be to find someone who is a Gynaecologist but also deals with assisted conception so can see you through to the end, and someone who does both private and NHS treatment as that really helped us.
ours was really good at knowing what the NHS can do / VS what we should pay for and how to do everything as quickly as possible x

hope it all works out.

I'd try to go private if you can. It sucks, but lots of us aren't eligible for NHS-funded support, and it is better to crack on.

I know there's different criteria in different places for what help you can get, but it's not the case with the NHS overall that you aren't eligible for help if you've got pregnant but miscarried.

For ivf, it may 'reset the clock' in some trusts but again not everywhere. It might be worth speaking to a different GP and asking to see the exact wording of the rules for your area, as sadly a lot of GPs are really quite useless in this area! It might be they won't refer you for IVF until 18 months of no pregnancy, which is completely insane in my opinion, but worth checking - my trust said it was 24 months from starting TTC but said my losses didn't affect that.

I did private IVF anyway as I was 38 with a TFMR and a chemical behind me at 18 months TTC, and didn't want to waste time to even start the lengthy process. It was expensive but I'm glad we did. We started private ivf last September, did 2 egg collections and 2 embryo transfers, plus another attempt at a transfer that was cancelled, and I'm now 21 weeks pregnant.

Good luck, and my advice is be pushy!