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Original poster

What counts as NHS cycle Northern Ireland

4 replies

try9ng · 13/05/2023 17:06

Can anyone help me. Based in Northern Ireland and can't find definitive answer. We are entitled to one cycle of ICSI. Went for egg retrieval yesterday. Got 3 eggs, 1 abnormal, 1 immature and the other failed to fertilise. I believe the clinic left me far too late for retrieval as the dominant follicle was over 35mm at last scan and they went on to stim me for another 2 days. And at that stage there were another couple already very big. So I believe we lost those eggs. Does this count as our cycle as we had nothing to transfer? NICE seems to define a cycle as one where 1 or 2 embyros are produced. Do you think we are in with a chance of going again or should I give up?

[Title edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

OP posts:
Fox01 · 13/05/2023 17:33

In Scotland, where we usually get e rounds of ivf, if you get 3 or less eggs retrieved then you are not entitled to any other rounds. It's a little clause bit. From the sounds of things they might not do anything else but you can fight it out if those follicles were egg containing and not just cysts? I've not heard of a follicle being so big so early on but everyone is different I guess. Contact them and ask and if you are not happy they should give you emails and contacts to fight for it. Whatever body permits the consent to your hospital will be the ones you're fighting. Good luck and sorry to hear 😔

Original poster
try9ng · 13/05/2023 17:39

Thank you for reply. Northern Ireland criteria is really vague a lot of line areas in england define this as abandoned cycle and would therefore be entitled to another free cycle. We paid for 2 rounds privately before and had 100% fertilisation from them but just didn't implant so I really don't know what has went wrong this time. In previous rounds they went with lead follicle which is why I'm thinking they have made a mistake and I always went early this time I went over. The Dr had said they can't tell which follicle the egg came from. We have a review appointment on Wednesday but lost where we are going to go from here now. We have already spent so much money I don't know how much more we can do.

OP posts:
LongerthanMrTicklesarms · 14/05/2023 00:29

Sorry to hear of your recent cycle, it's crushing. Take some time to process this news, you and your partner must be shocked. It's horrible anyway but when it feels like the opposite of making progress it is even worsem
On a practical note you could report your thread to mumsnet and ask them to edit the title to include Northern Ireland so that you might get specific answers. I'm afraid in England it varies so much in the areas that bother to fund IVF so the answers probably won't help you much. Where I am for NHS treatment if you go to egg collection it counts as your cycle. Others are possibly more flexible.
Hope you get answers, and maybe consider if counselling could help you figure out what you might do next.

Original poster
try9ng · 16/05/2023 17:15

Thank you for your response. I don't think there are many from here on this forum but I will give that a try

OP posts:
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