Are early scans available on the NHS or do you have to pay privately?

[madgiebean]

Hi all,

Got my BFP yesterday and I'm going to see my GP later on in the week. I was looking online at the hospital I'd be going to for scans etc and they said the earliest scan is around 11-13 weeks and that was to check heartbeat etc, but I was wondering if I could request an earlier scan or would I have to pay somewhere else? Its only early days at the minute but waiting another 8 week to confirm a heartbeat seems like far too long to wait! I dont mind paying to have it done privately I think the price is around £100? But if I could get it at my local maternity hospital that would be brilliant.

Thanks x

Congratulations

Where I am they will only ever offer early scans if there is a need such as multiple miscarriages, pregnancy loss or if you have had a bleed etc.

If you go to the right place private scans can be great

Hth

Hospitals vary in their protocols, but generally you wouldn't be offered an early scan on the NHS unless you had previous miscarriage or similar or bleeding in your current pregnancy.

You can see a heart beat from around 6 weeks.

Hope that all goes well.

Generally only if there is a reason aside from normal pregnancy. Babybond places tend to do decent scan prices.

I think you only get an early scan on the NHS if a problem is suspected or you've had miscarriages before.
Plenty of places do them privately though. Wouldn't recommend having one before 8 wks as you're unlikely to see much and it can just cause more worry!

Sorry to sound blunt but the NHS can't afford to scan people as and when.

Unless you are considered high risk or have previous mc's etc you won't routinely be offered one.

Earliest I've had one is 12 weeks.

After having a tfmr at 22 weeks with my last dd (she had edwards) I will get an 8 week, 10 week and 12 week scan plus any other ones I want. That's only because I'll now be considered high risk with additional anxiety issues added.

I think 10 weeks seems to be the earliest 'viability scan' offered privately.

I will be having an 8 week one to accurately date as the tests I will want/need have to be done in specific weeks.

Hi Madgiebean, I felt the same as you and had a private scan at 7 weeks exactly just so I could make sure there was something there in the right place with a heartbeat etc.

It only cost £40 and was well worth it as it was a lovely experience and made it seem more real for my OH. I think the price varies a lot from between £30-150 depending on where you are.

You'll probably need to go privately, I think I paid around £100 to.have a scan privately after work in the evening.

Thank you for responding everyone!

I'm aware the NHS cannot afford to give out scans as and when. I lost a baby at 8 weeks in November (just as I found out I was pregnant) so I'm eager to find out that everything is going well as soon as possible. I wasn't sure whether the NHS only offered earlier scans if you'd had multiple miscarriages.

Thank you for your help

cost of a private scan depends on where you live, mine cost £60 and I had it done at just under nine weeks. Any earlier and you might not see much, although some do, but bear that in mind

I had a very early scan with 1st pregnancy as I had severe pains and complex gynae history so they suspected ectopic - turned out to be ok but follow up at 8weeks confirmed MMC, as a result I had an early scan with my next pregnancy so where I am it doesn't seem to be only for multiple mcs more on advice/request from GP or gynae...

Not saying it's a given, but there's no harm in asking GP in case your trust would cover it?

I had an early NHS scan with second pregnancy as my first had ended in mc and I had had a bleed. I don't think they'd have done one just because the first pregnancy had ended in m/c.

Early scans are available if there is a medical reason (which can include trauma from a miscarriage etc). I had multiple early scans in both my pregnancies because I had bleeding from about 6-12 weeks and they wanted to check (amongst other things) that they weren't ecotopic pregnancies etc.

I couldn't give a date of last period for both pregnancies as irregular - so had early scans for both...

I am at risk of eptopic and bled at 6.4 weeks so they scanned me on the NHS. It was an internal (vaginal) scan, and we could see a heartbeat and it confirmed my baby was in correct position.

Was scanned again at 7.4 because I bled very heavily so they suspected a miscarriage. In fact I had to wait 2 days to stop bleeding. They assumed it would be a vaginal scan again, hence why I had to wait. This time they managed to see the baby with an abdominal scan. The baby is now 9 year old

What I am trying to say is, if you scan very early, then it will be vaginal which is not very pleasant. At 7.4 he just looked like a kidney bean with a flicker of a heartbeat. By 12 weeks there is much more to see.

TheUnwilling aw what a relief! I had a vaginal last time as my womb tilts backwards so it's difficult to see with abdominal.. Hoping it will be abdominal at my first scan for this pregnancy, I felt very uncomfortable with the vaginal although I think wombs tilt back to the position they should be by 12 weeks.. At least I hope so!

Some EPUs will allow you to self-refer if you've had a previous loss. You can check policy here:

www.earlypregnancy.org.uk/FindUsMap.asp

Ah if you've previously had a loss, especially one around 8 weeks I can totally understand why you'd be anxious.

I imagine each trust has a different policy but my friend who had an early loss previously got an 8 week dating scan on the nhs.

It's worth asking, call your gp or your community midwife and explain. It's obviously causing you great anxiety (not surprisingly)

12 week scan isn't just to check the heartbeat. As others have said early scans are normally only available on the NHS if you've had bleeding, cramps or symptoms of an ectopic. Sometimes if you have anxiety due to a previous early loss you'd maybe be referred to EPU by an understanding doctor.

I've had an private early scan (£50) with my second pregnancy where they found a MMC. Then had to self refer to the NHS for them to scan me. Third pregnancy I had a private early scan (£39) at a different place so I could see a heartbeat. But your anxiety won't go away after that, the wait between 8 and 12 weeks is equally awful and I still worry every day that my baby's heartbeat will have stopped when I get to my 12 week scan.

If you live in or near a city I'd have a look around at different places because £100 seems expensive.

Good luck with your pregnancy

I have scans every month due to previous problems in my pregnancy but they are not offered routinely.

Hiya, I also fell pregnant quickly after a miscarriage, and can confirm that you only get early scans on the NHS after 3 or more miscarriages, or if something indicates a problem in the pregnancy, such as bleeding.

I was scanned at 6 and 7 weeks on the NHS as I had heavy bleeding and severe cramping (and had a nasty cycling accident at the same time), but if it's just for reassurance you'll have to pay privately.

I paid privately for the Harmony test package at the Fetal Medicine Centre, and had a scan from them at 10 weeks as part of that, and it was a really good experience.

You only get one scan at 20 weeks where I live, so we have shelled out for an early scan. Money well spent in my opinion, was really cool to see the heart beating !