Egg freezing - no funding available within the UK

[Spangalow07]

Hello all,

I posted a little while ago to mention a visit to my GP to ask for him to refer me to and NHS Fertility provider for further discussions around freezing my eggs for IVF within the next 24 months. I am based within West Hampshire CCG, and had a double salpingectomy late 2017 due to adhesions and a long list of other Gynae issues.

I heard back from the lead GP today to tell me that no funding of this kind is available on the NHS, they categorically will not fund me just for freezing my eggs. The only way i will receive any funding is if i am committing to a cycle of IVF. Right now, this is not an option for my partner and I, but I wanted to safeguard my future whilst i know my AMH levels are looking good and before I have to have any more laparoscopy surgeries (7 so far in total) which may damage my ovaries as there is always a huge risk this will happen.

Is it a case that if I want to freeze my eggs to be able to preserve my fertility this must be done privately as the GP has said, or is this just based on the postcode lottery we all find ourselves in?

I am feeling a little upset at the news, as it has been a battle consistently to even get to this point and now it feels as though everything has been in vain and for no reason. I am angry that I am being penalised for not wanting to start a family right now, but instead to safeguard my chances so I can provide the best for my partner and my health moving forward.

Does anyone have any experience of egg freezing and funding that they can share with me at all, please?

Thanks so much x

[EmGLA]

Hello

I live in Scotland where we are lucky enough to have really generous NHS fertility access but freezing eggs has to be done privately here too unless the patient is undergoing cancer treatment. I'm pretty sure that is the case all over the UK.

I think if you definitely want to guarantee your fertility you might have to progress with IVF and then freeze the embryos. I did read somewhere that there is more success with embryo thawing rather than egg(or sperm) thawing after being frozen.

It sounds like a very difficult decision. Good luck