Nhs ivf - what happens to what is left over?

[kelsbels88]

Hi lovelies,

Hubby and I were discussing our upcoming ivf journey and we’re having a bit of a dispute.

What kind of restrictions do they put on your eggs from your retrieval? So when you get your fertilised selection (however many that is) what happens to what you don’t use? Do they become frozen embies? He seems to think that you have to use all you have or it will be destroyed which doesn’t make sense to me, how can they destroy what is yours? What happens to them if you have no nhs cycles left? I was under the impression you could keep frozen what ever you had left but he seems to think that the nhs won’t do this only private clinics will.

I know we will be able to ask these questions later when we eventually have our appointment but that’s ages away and I know you ladies are all powerful fountains of ivf knowledge.

Thank you

Kelly xx

[PenguinBlue]

Hi - any additional embryos which are good quality to be frozen, will be frozen! If you have no more nhs transfers, you can move your frozen embryos to your new clinic ( not sure but assume there is a charge for this).

You will pay for storage fees for your frozen embryos on a yearly basis (regardless of nhs or not) - that’s the experience I had anyway

[kelsbels88 in reply to PenguinBlue]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I knew there would be charges somewhere but just didn’t know what you may get with your nhs funding. Thank you ♥️

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely, our NHS clinic freezes any embryos created and will store for up to 10 years. X

[kelsbels88 in reply to Millbanks]

Thank you ♥️

[Nic_o_la_la]

Hiya. If they are good quality that can be frozen, they will be. It might depend on your local CCG funding as I know that is so different everywhere but mine will fund the cost of freezing any embryos for 12months. After that, you take over the cost. I think typically they are frozen for 10 years. You can usually find you local CCG fertility policy through a quick google if you want to check 🙂 In terms of any that aren’t of quality to freeze, this will be discussed at your consent appointment. Basically you can choose whether you would want them to perish/be destroyed or whether you would donate for research. Similarly, you consent to what you want to happen to them after 10 years too x

[kelsbels88 in reply to Nic_o_la_la]

Hi! This is very helpful thank you. We are south coast so will be interesting to see what they say when we get there.

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain your experience. The info was very helpful 😉♥️

[Nic_o_la_la in reply to kelsbels88]

No worries 😌, it’s a minefield of information and questions isn’t it! I find it so mad that there are such different policies around what is NHS funded around the country! Wishing you lots of luck for your journey 💜 xx

[kelsbels88 in reply to Nic_o_la_la]

It really is. I do too how can k ok e person get 3yrs funded storage and another only get 12months? It’s mad!

Thank you so much I still have time to go before it will be our turn but it was a hubby debate I wanted to try and answer xxx

[Sparklylife]

We managed to get one little embryo to freeze and our NHS clinic (also a private one) has frozen it for us and they store it for 3 years - after that we take over the cost and it can be kept in storage for up to 10 years. We only had one funded cycle with our CCG - so if we wanted/needed to transfer our frozen embryo, we would have to pay for the transfer 🥰❄️

Just wanted to wish you all the best with starting your ivf treatment!! Hopefully wait won’t be too long! Xx

[kelsbels88 in reply to Sparklylife]

Hi 😉

Thank you so much for your reply.

I feel a little more at ease with the journey now having had major surgery where I had to inject myself with blood thinners for about 16-18days. This info was greatly appreciated and very helpful.

Thank you ♥️

[Goldie24]

Same as what the others have said, where I live they will fund storage for 3 years and only get one attempt on the nhs. After that you start paying for storage but they will store for up to 10 years. We have 13 left in storage and I’m now 13 weeks pregnant with a very big surprise natural conception which happened a couple weeks after our failed FET. I think about the embies quite a lot and have no idea what we will decide to do in the 2 and a half years we have left before we have to start paying. x

[kelsbels88 in reply to Goldie24]

Hi!

Firstly congratulations 🎉🥳 I’m so pleased for you.

Secondly, thank you so much for replying. It’s very much appreciated. This has also highlighted some questions to write down to ask at our appointment.

Thank you so much and lots of luck for the rest of your pregnancy ♥️♥️

[Rain415]

Hi it might be different at other clinics but with our clinic we had 1 funded NHS cycle but that includes frozen cycles until we have a birth. We had 1 fresh transfer and 3 frozen we don't have to pay for any storage or frozen transfers until we have had a birth. I was surprised following our fresh not being successful I thought we would have had to pay for our frozen transfer but no they include the frozen transfers as the one cycle of ivf as they came from the same cycle. X

[kelsbels88 in reply to Rain415]

Hi. Thank you for taking the time to write this.

This is really interesting I too would have thought you would pay. Thank you for sharing with me and for the information. It is great to have an idea of what may happen and what may be included.

Thank you so much ♥️♥️