IVF

[josyjose]

Hi there am I right in thinking the NHS give 3 free cycles to same sex couples and is that all ages. Could someone let me know please. 😊 thanks

Sadly it’s not that straight forward. Very few areas of the UK qualify for three fully funded cycles. When I first started IVF I didn’t qualify for anything, so far I’ve paid for three cycles, and about to part with the cash for another two. It’s a horrible horrible post code lottery, and the criteria within those postcodes varies massively as well. Your best bet is to look up your local CCG for more accurate information x

In Scotland if you meet the criteria, that's can be the case. We started with 6 NHS cycles, but are now on IVF

Thanks guys. It makes me so sad that it's so expensive. Its not fair. I'm gonna contact the local ccg and c if I can gather some more info. Need to lose about 5 stone tho. Which is more of a stress and added pressure. X

I’m in Wales and have been offered 2 rounds via the NHS. That’s pretty good as I hear some areas offer only 1 or none at all. Good luck in your journey x

The number of cycles offered varies from 0-3. There are also all sorts of restrictions, age (there is an upper limit and some areas will be reluctant to treat women below a certain age too) there are upper and lower BMI limits, restrictions if either party already has a child (even if there isn't an on going relationship with that child/children) and varying requirement for how long a couple have been trying to conceive, testing to see if/what the problem is (there may be a solution that is not IVF or a problem that IVF will not solve so they do not jump straight to IVF without establishing that it is a suitable treatment).
Some areas have a requirement for other procedures to be tried before IVF (I had to have six cycles of IUI before I was was considered for IVF (one cycle as that is all our area funds). It is absolutely not as straight forward as hetro couple decide they want a baby and if there is no pregnancy after a few months they are given three cycles of free IVF. For me it was almost six years from first trying to get pregnant to having the one round of IVF the NHS funded.

It is a postcode lottery tbh. We were in london and got 1 round on the nhs (I was 39). It was all we needed (first round worked and we froze some too, then our second child was a frozen transfer) but we got lucky. I’m quite surprised some places offer 3. Good luck to you.